Cosmic suicide: The tragedy and transcendence of Heaven's Gate

Rating:
Summary: Pertinent information lost in the generalities
Review: I am doing a term paper on cults for a sociology class. I picked this topic because I have always found cults, their members, and their leaders particularly interesting. I bought this book to help me in my research, but didn't read far before knowing it wasn't going to be what I had hoped.

The book is not very maturely written, with a little too much tongue-in-cheek wit for its own good. Aware of its own stability among the seemingly lost sanity of the cult, the writers become presumptuous- even boring.

The biggest problem I had with the book is that it is more of a review of cults and sects in general... while it is certainly helpful to offer insight through comparison to other cults/sects, the comparisons in this book overtook it. For every piece of Heaven's Gate information, there were five facts about cults in general-- information that is certainly good to know, but should be in a book titled, "Cults," not a book claiming to be about a specific incident.

The book handles the history of the leaders, but gives little insight into their emotional stances or those of the members. After reading the book, I am slightly more knowledgable about cults in general, fairly well-versed in tidbits about other cults, somewhat aware of what happened in Heaven's Gate, and accutely aware of where the cult's leader went to school and the general idea of hysteria over armaggedon.

Read this book for a little more info on Heaven's Gate. Don't read it expecting insight on the specifics of the cult itself.

Rating:
Summary: All Hail Hale-Bopp
Review: Suicide cults! Apple sauce! Sexless androgenoids! Sure there are satanic cults, drug cults, Ufo cults, Christ cults, Hip hop cults, beenie-baby cults, Ebay cults, and even tupperware cults, but none come close to the inspired zaniness of Doe's Heaven's Gate cult.

I've been an observer of cults for most of my adult life and I must admit that I've got a soft-spot in me for all of them. Many books are written in the aftermaths of these cults and most are a boring lethargic read. Victims families are trotted out for the dog & pony show and stoic lawmen denounce the "crimes". NOT IN THIS BOOK!

Here, Forrest Jackson and Rodney Perkins become entrenched in the genesis of the Heaven's Gate cult as well as interpreting the parallels with other cults and pull back the veil on our own cult dominated society, exposing our fetishes for some cults and our poison hatred of others. Not only is this book a fun read because of the scalpel-altered DOE and his suicide-prone squad of comet pilots, but this book takes it's subject matter seriously, and never in a Bugliosi tone of superiority. The closest equivalent that I can think of to this book in terms of cult research is MESSENGERS OF DECEPTION by Dr. Jacques Vallee.

COSMIC SUICIDE is one of the best books written about the Heaven's Gate cult, hands down and it's written from the desk of someone who did the leg work and circumvented all the idiot editorializing that this book would have been subjected to had it been published by a major publishing house. To put it simply... if cults are your thing... especially the Heaven's Gate cult.... then BUY THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: All Hail Hale-Bopp
Review: Suicide cults! Apple sauce! Sexless androgenoids! Sure there are satanic cults, drug cults, Ufo cults, Christ cults, Hip hop cults, beenie-baby cults, Ebay cults, and even tupperware cults, but none come close to the inspired zaniness of Doe's Heaven's Gate cult.

I've been an observer of cults for most of my adult life and I must admit that I've got a soft-spot in me for all of them. Many books are written in the aftermaths of these cults and most are a boring lethargic read. Victims families are trotted out for the dog & pony show and stoic lawmen denounce the "crimes". NOT IN THIS BOOK!

Here, Forrest Jackson and Rodney Perkins become entrenched in the genesis of the Heaven's Gate cult as well as interpreting the parallels with other cults and pull back the veil on our own cult dominated society, exposing our fetishes for some cults and our poison hatred of others. Not only is this book a fun read because of the scalpel-altered DOE and his suicide-prone squad of comet pilots, but this book takes it's subject matter seriously, and never in a Bugliosi tone of superiority. The closest equivalent that I can think of to this book in terms of cult research is MESSENGERS OF DECEPTION by Dr. Jacques Vallee.

COSMIC SUICIDE is one of the best books written about the Heaven's Gate cult, hands down and it's written from the desk of someone who did the leg work and circumvented all the idiot editorializing that this book would have been subjected to had it been published by a major publishing house. To put it simply... if cults are your thing... especially the Heaven's Gate cult.... then BUY THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: Cosmic Suicide: The Tragedy and Transcendence of Heaven's Ga
Review: This book expored all that was evident in the the tragedy of Heaven's Gate and i found it to be very descriptive in that it explored the subject to a rather deep extent. I enjoyed it and found it quite interesting.