A Billion Years

Mike Rinder's autobiography details his life in the church of scientology. Mike was a child when his parents became scientologists which made him one too. He rose to the highest levels in the church before escaping from its grasp.

The publisher's summary:

Mike Rinder’s parents began taking him to their local Scientology center when he was five years old. After high school, he signed a billion-year contract and was admitted into Scientology’s elite inner circle, the Sea Organization. Brought to founder L. Ron Hubbard’s yacht and promised training in Hubbard’s most advanced techniques, Mike was instead put to work swabbing the decks.

Still, Rinder bought into the doctrine that his personal comfort was secondary to the higher purpose of Hubbard’s world-saving mission, swiftly rising through the ranks. In the 1980s, Rinder became Scientology’s international spokesperson and the head of its powerful Office of Special Affairs. He helped negotiate Scientology’s pivotal tax exemption from the IRS and engaged with the organization’s prominent celebrity members, including Tom Cruise, Lisa Marie Presley, and John Travolta.

Yet Rinder couldn’t shake a nagging feeling that something was amiss—Hubbard’s promises remained unfulfilled at his death, and his successor, David Miscavige, was a ruthless and vindictive man who did not hesitate to confine many top Scientologists, Mike among them, to a makeshift prison known as the Hole.

In 2007, at the age of fifty-two, Rinder finally escaped Scientology. Overnight, he became one of the organization’s biggest public enemies. He was followed, hacked, spied on, and tracked. But he refused to be intimidated and today helps people break free of Scientology.

In A Billion Years, the dark, dystopian truth about Scientology is revealed as never before. Rinder offers insights into the religion that only someone of his former high rank could provide and tells a harrowing but fulfilling story of personal resilience.

I thought the book was well written. It begins with a description of the author's childhood in Australia before entering scientology and it seemed idyllic compared to what came next. Once his parents became interested in founder L. Ron Hubbard's writings, the family traveled alot internationally so that the parents could get to courses that would take them up the scientology bridge. However, when Rinder was 17 he signed a billion year contract to work for the Sea Org and was busy 20 some hours a day, every day. I didn't understand why no one refused to work these hours. With no prior knowledge of working in the Sea Org entailed, it was a surprise to all of the Sea Org members. Why did they put up with it? I would have quit. Rinder learned many years later that if he had tried to leave, the church would have prevented it. Herein lies the truth that scientology is a cult. Cult leaders do not let their followers leave.  What follows next in the book is incident after incident of abuse that Rinder endured, mainly at the hands of the successor to L. Ron Hubbard: David Miscavige. Gradually Rinder began to see that he was not advancing scientology but rather Miscavige's personal desires. I am glad that Rinder was able to escape the church and start a normal life. 

This is an eye-opening read about the dangers of scientology.  It has been in the news alot lately because of the Danny Masterson rape trial in California. Masterson is a scientologist who is accused of raping 3 women who are former scientologists. The church's requirement that no member give up another to the civil authorities has played into the trial. 

5 out of 5 stars.