Rating: 
Summary: why try so hard?
Review: It amazes me no end how hard the cultists of cultism work to try to bad-mouth the est Training & Werner Erhard and the new Landmark Education Forum, as in a few reviews below. I did the est Training in 1978 and have been using the technology of transformation in my life every day since, something the cultists cannot fathom. And that is so even when I'm not able to participate in Landmark courses, such as the multi-week seminars. I saw a redneck bigot give up his bigotry in a weekend during the CAP Course, and that was not even a covered topic -- the man moved from racial slurs to asking to hug the 250-pound black man that he had offended the day before.I honor Werner Erhard and the est/Landmark technology because it happens to work quite well when applied to one's life. Didn't work for a reviewer below? Maybe because he needs a reason for his life not working... My life might be full of tribulation, but applying the Landmark technology turns things around every time.
Rating: 
Summary: So what happened next?
Review: The book is well researched and collects plenty of hard to find information in one place. The narrative connects the dots in a way the leaves Erhard's reputation intact (using Erhard's meaning of reputation, relayed somewhere in the book), even as we watch his media image go from bad to terrible. This is an important contribution to the historical record. No matter how cynical one is about Erhard, he deserves to have a say in how the story of his own life gets told (even as he works to remain above the "soap opera" in his philosophical outlook).
'60 Minutes' got its chance. Now we get a low budget response by a journalist who is up front about her agenda.
I'm writing this in 2004, long after the events in this book transpired. Charlene Afermow, mentioned in the book as a member of the anti-Erhard camp (and one my my trainers -- Walter Kaufmann and David Raymond enrolled me at Princeton in the late 1970s), is still with Landmark as I understand it (my friend Sara says she led her advanced course). That's interesting. How did that defamation lawsuit filed by Werner's lawyer in a Chicago court turn out? In the book, it's still pending, as was one of the tax court cases.
Again, regardless of one's opinion of Erhard, whether based on first hand knowledge, or a picture of human nature and gurudom in general, he is/was a pivotal figure in my life time. A lot of energy was expended by a lot of people around the programs and organizations he worked to establish, for better or for worse (my own opinion is for better).
I also wonder if Self (the author) has an overly limited view of the scope of the anti-Erhard camp. Sure, the Scientology organization was out to get him at many levels (not true of all scientologists), but perhaps he was considered a threat by others as well -- a global network, connections in the Soviet bloc, rubbing shoulders with policy makers, and in the 1980s, the overlap with Buckminster Fuller. I could see this making a lot of people uncomfortable, besides Church of Scientology execs.
Rating:
Summary: A breath of fresh air into a foul smelling media conspiracy
Review: This book attempts to shead light onto the life and downfall of a great man. A man that aimed and did make a big difference to thousands. Due to unfounded lies being spread for years by Scientology, he was forced to leave the country fearing for his life. A scary but factual account of the lenghts people will go to to cut down tall poppies and an enlightening insight into how easily the media manipulates our society.
Rating:
Summary: A must read book to see how our media can be manipulated.
Review: Werner erhard has received mostly bad press for a long time. In the early 1990's, he was hotly pursued and accused of illegalities and improprieties with the IRS, his family, the participants in his programs, and his employees. In Dr. Self's book, this is reviewed with the facts behind the hype. As we all know, it's much easier to trash someone's reputation than it is to defend it. This is a case study of how a small group of people working for and/or with the Church of Scientology methodically undercut the reputation of Werner Erhard. What is clearly underscored is that the members of the media were willing participants, probably because of the sale-ability of trashing an already controversial person. It also shows that significant money can get people to say almost anything. While I don't think Werner Erhard is any better (or worse) a person than the rest of us, he did stick his neck out to teach people the basics of living a transformed life. That kind of life involves thinking for onseself, and history shows us many people who promoted such ideas who met with hard times or assassination of both character and body. This is not a "positive piece" about Werner Erhard. It's a factual account with dates, times, names, and references of what happened. This book does a lot to set the record straight about a mountain of misinformation. It also sheds light on the process by which our national scandels take shape.
Rating: 
Summary: Get A Clue
Review: What nonsense. Don't believe me? See if you can find anything else written by author "Jane Self, PhD" And check out the rest of the catalog from "Breakthru Publishing." If you think Werner Erhard was run out of town by the scientologists, ask him why he "made himself a victim," or "created his own victimization," why don't you? This is just another feeble attempt salvage or rewrite or rearrange the facts of his - Werner Erhard's - sleazy reputation. Est "acolytes" and Landmark "followers" are so desperate to prop up an image of their hero they will believe anything. Even this kind of garbage.
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