Kindle Price: | $9.99 |
Sold by: | Amazon.com Services LLC |
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Audible sample Sample
Opening Our Minds: avoiding abusive relationships and authoritarian groups Kindle Edition
-
LanguageEnglish
-
Publication dateMarch 8, 2021
-
File size17638 KB
Customers who bought this item also bought
Product details
- ASIN : B08YGTJW4P
- Publisher : Trentvalley Ltd; 4th edition (March 8, 2021)
- Publication date : March 8, 2021
- Language : English
- File size : 17638 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 233 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,280,925 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,367 in Social Psychology & Interactions
- #3,086 in Medical Social Psychology & Interactions
- #4,005 in Popular Social Psychology & Interactions
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Jon Atack was born in the cathedral city of Lichfield, in the heart of England, in 1955. He left school at 17 to play drums in various rock bands. When he was 19, he joined the Scientology cult. Although he was never a live-in member, he took many courses and 25 of the available levels of the ‘Bridge’ – to Operating Thetan Section V. Jon left the cult in 1983, appalled by its aggressive behaviour towards members. He refused to ‘disconnect’ (or shun) a close friend and was shocked to find that eleven senior members of the cult – including the leader’s wife – had been sentenced to prison terms for kidnapping, breaking and entering, theft, burglary and false imprisonment, based on their own confessions.
Jon put aside his career as an artist (www.jonatack.com) to help those harmed by the cult’s hypnotic practices. In 12 years, he saw over 500 former members and helped many to recover the money that had been extracted from them by Scientology’s hard selling techniques. He was active on over 150 court cases and was consulted by many government organizations. Jon also gave several conference papers and his work was supported by more than 40 academics, including Professor Stephen Kent, head of sociology and history of religion at Alberta University, who said that Jon’s work was beyond the standard for a doctoral thesis.
Jon was subjected to constant harassment by Scientologists. His house was picketed by placard carrying cult members. Spurious reports were made to various authorities. Rumours were spread. He was falsely accused of child abuse, attempted murder, rape and heroin addiction. Jon was followed by private investigators, one of whom tricked him out of the manuscript to his book, A Piece of Blue Sky, so that the cult could sue prior to publication.
Jon’s book A Piece of Blue Sky, was published in 1990, after a court battle in New York. It became an Amazon top 100 best seller. However, because of a precedent over the letters of JD Salinger, 60 passages in the book had been paraphrased. This included some of the most important material from Jon’s vast collection. In 2013, the book was reissued with all 60 passages back in place. The new edition is called Let’s sell these people A Piece of Blue Sky, to distinguish it from the earlier edition, which remains in print, without the author’s consent.
Jon is the author of many papers about Scientology, most of which are available on the internet. He has blogged at Tony Ortega’s Underground Bunker since the Spring of 2013 – http://tonyortega.org/category/scientology-mythbusting/. His concern is for the recovery of former members, from the hypnotic enslavement of Scientology.
Jon continues to paint and play drums. He has written several novels, including Voodoo Child (slight return) and the upcoming Halcyon Daze. He has also made a character by character translation of Lao Tze’s Tao Te Ching, which will be published in 2015. He lives in a charming village near Nottingham, where, as Voltaire advised, he cultivates his garden. Jon had four children and one grandchild.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
This book helped me understand some very difficult lessons. I thought I was freeing myself, that I was discovering who I really was, but unfortunately it was the very opposite. What had actually happened was the surrendering self responsibility as the solution to the difficulties of independent living.
The greatest lesson of all is understanding that responsibility IS freedom. There is no freedom without responsibility and no responsibility without freedom. Life has a fascinating way of writing our stories and of all the millions of ways I could have learned these lessons, I am grateful it happened the way it did.
What really hit me was the line towards the end - something like “just as we shouldn’t operate machinery under the influence, neither should we make life changing decisions under the influence”. Here’s to learning more effective emotional regulation, critical thinking, and rational response.
Thank you Jon 🙏
With this volume, Jon has made an invaluable contribution for everyone to understand the bigger issues so necessary for people to protect themselves and loves ones. Also how to understand how the mind works and to understand the differences between healthy and unhealthy influence. Please read (or listen) to this book and share.
Top reviews from other countries
But Mr. Atack's delusional woke leftist worldview disturbs this otherwise rational analysis.
Mr Atack falls into the typical woke delusions:
- Majority muslims are oppressed victims instead of the reality that those people have yet to go through an enlightenment period.
- Right wingers are all stupid and have no valid concerns
- He doesn't understand the risks that come from big government
- He doesn't understand the purpose of the american first amendment.
I am sorry to say but his worldview is mostly that of a delusion liberal boomer.
Though i guess everyone has delusions in some area.