Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, February 3, 2009
Books Slight Reading
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 8:33 AM
L. Ron Hubbard was a science fiction writer before he became a... what is he exactly? A religious figure? A late for-profit prophet? The savior of Tom Cruise and Bart Simpson's thetan-wracked souls? Whatever L. Ron is now, wherever he is now, I'd never seen any of his other books for sale until I walked into a bookstore this morning at the Dallas airport. I suppose this is evidence of my religious bigotry—more evidence—but I recoiled when I saw these books. I was afraid to touch them, afraid that they were covered with some sort of idiocy-inducing chemical agent. I bought a biography of Mary Queen of Scots instead.
2
I think they were recently re-issued, Dan - I saw them at the Borders downtown the other day. They've got some great bodice-ripper cover art.
4
I actually read Battlefield Earth before the movie came out....
The book is so much worse than the movie it is hard to believe.
The book is so much worse than the movie it is hard to believe.
6
I got a stack of those at the Slog Happy white elephant gift exchange. I was going to read them and do a book report, but so far I haven't hated myself enough to start.
9
Paul Constant did a write up on these reissued pulp novels by L. Ron Hubbard a few weeks ago, but I understand that you never bother to read material in the Stranger or Slog.
10
I actually read Battlefield Earth before the movie came out....
Never saw the movie and I was probably 13 or 14 when I read the book. Wasn't all that memorable of an experience.
Never saw the movie and I was probably 13 or 14 when I read the book. Wasn't all that memorable of an experience.
12
@4 - You thought the book was worse? Really? Having read/seen both I say the movie was exponentially worse.
Of course that's like comparing pig poop and dog poop and asking which one smells better. Both choices are a steaming pile of poo.
Of course that's like comparing pig poop and dog poop and asking which one smells better. Both choices are a steaming pile of poo.
14
Well, let's see....Scientologists have bought up and own most of Hollywood now. Every other young actor on TV is a Scientologist. Now they're buying airport book chains?
What could be the plan?
What could be the plan?
17
Elizabeth I is fascinating. Things just happened around Mary, through no actions of her own. Bah. Of all queens of anywhere she's the least interesting and seemingly the most biographied.
18
Hey, I actually liked Battlefield Earth and The Mission Earth series. Of course, I was a teenager at the time. What did I know.
19
Today is WTF news:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/18/707075…
Christmas time in Hollywood next to the scientology headquarters. In the background of the photography is a painted backdrop of Hollywood a large christmas tree and a little house decorated with fake snow.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/18/707075…
Christmas time in Hollywood next to the scientology headquarters. In the background of the photography is a painted backdrop of Hollywood a large christmas tree and a little house decorated with fake snow.
20
if you buy those books, teh money goes straight to the Church of Scientology... and they're not any better written than Dianetics
21
It is amazing how revulsion of a person, place, thing, religion et al. can permeate a segment of society purely by heresay or fantasy but.....I was born and grew under the hyper-critical hate-filled demeanor of an Irish Protestant father (no doubt infected by Irish politics de jour and the Glory of King Billy of Orange); Without a doubt or whit of examination I became an avid hater of the Catholic Religion by the time I was about 4 years old. Fortunately life gave me the opportunity to recover from the curse of mindless criticalness and prejudice so smugly exemplified here by the "critique" of writer Savage.
Sam MacBee
Sam MacBee
22
Don't worry, laddie. You won't be harmed by an "idiocy inducing drug" -- Your veins are filled with it already! And don't bother reading a "serious" L.Ron Hubbard book -- you would'nt understand it. It would include terms like "responsibility" -- Greek to you.
23
If a journalist is "supposed to" do anything, s/he is supposed to be objective, ask the next as-yet-unspoken question, swallow the results however unpalatable to his/her prejudices, and report all sides even-handedly to readers.
In this regard, Mr. Savage jumps ship, leaving us to bail out the boat in which he has drilled holes then set on a course toward the rocks.
Mr. Savage fails to mention that the books on display are fiction, not religious in any way.
Not to worry, he is in similarly bigoted company among other authors whose hormones overrule their intellect. The volunteer work that Scientologists do in their Criminon programs to help reform criminals is also non-religious, but some crazies oppose it because "it's Scientology." It's not. No more than if farmer Martin Luther had invented a smarter method of crop rotation. Would teaching it and learning it make people Lutheran?
Sloppy thinking and undisciplined allegations should be confined to personal blogs or one's diary, not published on income-earning Web sites.
In this regard, Mr. Savage jumps ship, leaving us to bail out the boat in which he has drilled holes then set on a course toward the rocks.
Mr. Savage fails to mention that the books on display are fiction, not religious in any way.
Not to worry, he is in similarly bigoted company among other authors whose hormones overrule their intellect. The volunteer work that Scientologists do in their Criminon programs to help reform criminals is also non-religious, but some crazies oppose it because "it's Scientology." It's not. No more than if farmer Martin Luther had invented a smarter method of crop rotation. Would teaching it and learning it make people Lutheran?
Sloppy thinking and undisciplined allegations should be confined to personal blogs or one's diary, not published on income-earning Web sites.
26
If you're going to read biographies of queens, go find thyself something on Eleanor of Aquitaine. Now THAT was an interesting personage.
27
I read those books at 14 not knowing that L. Ron Hubbard was a religious nutter. They weren't fantastic but the story was ok. And no I'm not a scientologist....
28
Little Lafayette Hubbard dreamt of becoming, and claimed to be, the greatest man in history. Many pudgy, red-headed kids dumped by their parents onto their relations also became compulsive liars, but not too many founded a "religion" on that trait. Quite possibly the easiest diagnosis of "paranoid schizophrenia" the world of psychology has ever made.
His early writings must be examined with the same critical eye as his later efforts, if his claim to greatest is to be maintained at all.
His early writings must be examined with the same critical eye as his later efforts, if his claim to greatest is to be maintained at all.
29
As to the question of what L Ron currently is, I'm pretty sure the correct answer is "corpse."
@Scientology Apologists -- since when is Dan Savage a journalist? Advice columnist != journalist, even if he does run a blog that reposts some actual news pieces and/or articles written by journalists.
@Scientology Apologists -- since when is Dan Savage a journalist? Advice columnist != journalist, even if he does run a blog that reposts some actual news pieces and/or articles written by journalists.
31
Battlefield Earth was sort of ok for the mid-80's when I read it. Science fiction was not as well developed then as it is now, so the sub-par writing was acceptable. The big problem that I recall was that in most books you are left wanting to stay in the story. Battlefield Earth had at least three places where you just could not believe that was not the end of the book. Everything was all wrapped up, and we were ready for fade to black, when it would just keep going and going and going. Like "The unbearable lightness of being" for nerds.
I read it before I knew about Scientology. Now of course I wouldn't touch it with a stick, and luckily the field has progressed to the point that it is clear how awful the writing really was.
I read it before I knew about Scientology. Now of course I wouldn't touch it with a stick, and luckily the field has progressed to the point that it is clear how awful the writing really was.
32
Dear 21, 22, 23, 28:
Your comments are heavy on diction and sound like someone learning to write English or asking me to wire money to Nigeria.
Your comments are heavy on diction and sound like someone learning to write English or asking me to wire money to Nigeria.
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