{"title":"Mike Rinder","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"billion-years-book-mike-rinder-9781913727208","title":"A Billion Years","description":"One of the highest-ranking defectors from Scientology exposes the secret inner workings of the powerful organization in this remarkable memoir. __________  ‘A flamethrower of a read’ JOHN SWEENEY  ‘Candid and deeply felt’ LAWRENCE WRIGHT  ‘Gripping and harrowing’ LEAH REMINI  ‘Extraordinarily powerful’ ALEX GIBNEY __________  Mike Rinder’s parents began taking him to their local Scientology centre 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. __________  “Few people understand Scientology like Mike Rinder does. In A Billion Years, he tells the gripping, harrowing account of growing up in Scientology, serving founder L. Ron Hubbard, and rising to the top of its ranks. Mike has found purpose in his pain and his book offers not only a cautionary tale but also an inspiring story of resilience.” —LEAH REMINI, New York Times bestselling author of Troublemaker  “A candid and deeply felt memoir of a life lost to false belief—and courageously regained.” —LAWRENCE WRIGHT, New York Times bestselling author of Going Clear  “Mike Rinder has written the definitive book on the great threat of Scientology in the twenty-first century. It’s a flamethrower of a read, burning up the organization’s wicked nonsense so all that is left is like so much ash in the ashtray. Read it.” —JOHN SWEENEY, investigative journalist and presenter of BBC Panorama’s Scientology and Me and The Secrets of Scientology  “A Billion Years is an extraordinarily powerful book. It is an essential account from the inside, and while it’s a devastating exposé of the abuses of the church, the tone is measured and deeply humanistic. Rinder lets us feel what it’s like to fall into a state of blind faith, and how hard it is to break free and see the truth for what it is. Nothing could be more relevant to our current moment.” —ALEX GIBNEY, Oscar-winning director of Taxi to the Dark Side and Going Clear","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49509286215953,"sku":"GOR012843495","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49514378199313,"sku":"GOR013703199","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49574725976337,"sku":"GOR012655310","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50554418135313,"sku":"GOR012951877","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52459215585553,"sku":"NLS9781913727208","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1913727203.jpg?v=1750932618"},{"product_id":"billion-years-book-mike-rinder-9781982185763","title":"A Billion Years","description":"\u003cb\u003eThis explosive memoir from former Scientology executive Mike Rinder reveals the secret inner workings of the powerful organization and his remarkable escape from its highest ranks\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003ethat is \"not only a cautionary tale but also an inspiring story of resilience\" (Leah Remini, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 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, Rinder was instead put to work swabbing the decks.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"An intensely personal, cathartic memoir of blind allegiance, betrayal, and liberation\" (\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review), \u003ci\u003eA Billion Years\u003c\/i\u003e reveals the dark, dystopian truth about Scientology as never before.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49583639527697,"sku":"GOR012748693","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49710965719313,"sku":"CIN1982185767G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50096627581201,"sku":"CIN1982185767VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1982185767.jpg?v=1750805515"},{"product_id":"escaping-scientology-book-mike-rinder-9780999088128","title":"Escaping Scientology","description":"Artists Peter and Karen Schless were seduced by Scientology's celebrity spirituality, and detoured from Hollywood careers to join its extremist group, the Sea Org. Within leader David Miscavige's inner sanctum, they built their mental prison as they melded into its radicalized lifestyle where danger, captivity and abuse were normalized. After three escapes, Karen chose between two unbearable options. Escaping Scientology Part I sweeps you into the lives of two young adults filled with hope and love as designer Karen and her award-winning musician-composer husband Peter overcome obstacles to succeed in the music and fashion industries together. Scientology re-focuses their goals toward the importance of clearing the planet and recruiting celebrities to build Scientology's social capital. Karen portrays the basic beliefs of Scientology that led to her radicalization into the Sea Org at the Celebrity Centre, a fortress where artists aspire to achieve greatness while attaining spiritual freedom through L. Ron Hubbard's teachings. Karen shows how celebrities are lured into Scientology and develop a co-dependent relationship from which few break out. Part II reveals Karen as a flawed and complex woman when she and Peter move to the secretive International Management headquarters, where they join 800 fanatical Sea Org members that made billion-year commitments to make this a Scientology world without war, criminality, or insanity. Karen finds the dystopian outpost and its global operations to be proof that Time magazine's 1991 article The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power captures the essence of Scientology's mindset, that she describes as war is everything and everything is war. She is no passive victim as she attempts to stay in the driver's seat and keep their marriage intact while fighting the pressures of the Int base culture that attempt to break them apart. Scientology goes under Cruise Control as Miscavige becomes obsessed with his biggest trophy, Tom Cruise, and stiffens his control and abusive punishment methods on the Int base staff. Karen rebels against regulations and spends time in Scientology's prison camp. After two attempts to escape the Int base, she is trailed by security guards and coerced into returning. Failing to escape, she questions the evidence of her own senses, and makes a mind-twisting re-commitment to become the best version of a Sea Org member she can be. Karen carves out a world she can live within as she is promoted into the highest echelons of management, appointed by the Chairman of the Board RTC to Int Management Public Relations Officer and later to take charge of the image of Sea Org staff internationally from the Int Finance Office. While working on special projects under David and Shelley Miscavige, she travels to Scientology bases around the world where she sees human rights violations set in place by Hubbard's policies. She concludes that Scientology is a for-profit business that builds billions of dollars of assets on the backs of Sea Org slave labor, while hiding behind the banner of the First Amendment, claiming benefits and protection as a non-profit religion. The epilogue of Part III portrays the mind-wrenching process of physical escape, and psychological anguish as Karen plies herself out of Scientology's grip and endures its cruel disconnection policy. She re-acclimates herself to life on the outside while, brick by brick, she disassembles the walls of the mental prison she had built, and survives with the help of her accomplice and the love and support of her family. Karen Schless Pressley's narrative memoir shows that Scientology's plan, authored by L. Ron Hubbard and David Miscavige, is filled with flaws: While the leaders impose their will on thousands of members who follow blindly and spend exorbitant amounts of money or dedicate their lives to achieve spiritual freedom, they grossly underestimate the power of free will in those brave enough to escape and spe","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49626338984209,"sku":"GOR009741444","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51011951296785,"sku":"NIN9780999088128","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51323461271825,"sku":"CIN0999088122G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51416772116753,"sku":"CIN0999088122VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0999088122.jpg?v=1750789622"},{"product_id":"billion-years-book-mike-rinder-9781982185770","title":"A Billion Years","description":"\u003cb\u003eThis explosive memoir from former Scientology executive Mike Rinder reveals the secret inner workings of the powerful organization and his remarkable escape from its highest ranks\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003ethat is \"not only a cautionary tale but also an inspiring story of resilience\" (Leah Remini, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Mike Rinder's parents began taking him to their local Scientology center when he was five years old. 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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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 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. 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