A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology
by Mike Rinder
View on GoodreadsFormer Scientology Office of Special Affairs head Mike Rinder's memoir of his decades inside Scientology's senior leadership, his eventual escape, and the harassment campaign the church mounted against him after.
Core ideas
- Rinder's access is unusually high — he was effectively chief of staff to David Miscavige for years — and the book's documentation of the inner workings of the leadership is more granular than most exit memoirs achieve.
- The "billion years" framing is operational: members of the Sea Organization sign a billion-year service contract, which sounds rhetorical but functions as a load-bearing commitment device — every life is just one term of the contract.
- The "Fair Game" practice — the church's documented policy of using all means to harass and silence former members — is the structural reason exit memoirs from senior figures are rare; Rinder's willingness to publish despite it is part of the story.
Published2022
Pages336
ISBN9781982185763
ReadFeb 2025
