My Billion Year Contract: Memoir of a Former Scientologist

I just finished reading it. I could not put it down!

The title is based upon what is known as a 'Billion Year Contract' to work for Scientology's 'elite' para military force for the next billion years. Believe it or not, this is a real contract. This autobiography is based upon the author Nancy Many's committment to that contract and the ensuing years of her life and the lives of others as members of the dark side ofScientology. It details the effects the contract and committment had on her life while an active member and later on when deciding to no longer be a member of Scientology.

Nancy is former high level scientology member who went from dealing directly with the founder and scientology celebrities to a babbling mess because of Scientology's seemingly endless security clearance interrogation procedures, deprivation techniques, and unanswered questions. One day she cracked. Not everyone cracks but many do.

You'll read about what it's like to be forced into Scientology's `rehabilitation project force' (RPF) and what it's like to suffer from the gang bang mental torture sessions and Scientology attacks against it's perceived enemies and what it took to recover. Nancy Many demonstrates what happens to the mind when totalitarian tactics and policies are used to control the individual and the thought processes that occur which result in a person staying in scientology despite these dehumanizing tactics used against them. This is a story of love and how a cult brings it's members to tow the line or jump off the cliff without a cushion or support.

It is especially true that the book "is a shocking story of abuse, imprisonment, espionage, lies, mental torture and suicide vital reading for anyone who wants to know what goes on behind the curtain."

Beside the telling of her personal tragedy and that of others who were harmed by scientology, Nancy Many really gives the reader a sense of what happens to the compliant member and those who are considered errant. For any one dealing with cult issues, this is especially helpful.

As she got better, she then worked to help others. She found resources for what what might help even the most messed up of former members. She did this not only for herself but because others had died for lack of it. In the process of her own recovery,she came to understand how she was able to go along with doing things that were against her instincts or moral code or even the law and how scientology creates this mechanism of control on members. There is specific information which I think will shock and dismay even the most jaded former members.

Nancy also reveals information about L Ron Hubbard, his family and how they were treated when he was illand his will was being redone. For those who wonder WHY she didn't just up and leave in the instant, you get to understand the mindset. Especially helpful was reading what it was like for her when the seeds of doubt would come in as she found herself in the middle between the pro and anti scientology factions while working undercover for the higher echelons of the church.

Because she was President of Scientology's Celebrity Center in Los Angeles, there's insider information on what Scientology does with celebrities and how they manipulate them. Because of her investigative work for the church, you learn how that office worked against it's enemies ( and still works against them. Even the spies of scientology are spied upon to keep them in line! (Some church, heh?) There's lots of previously unrevealed info, which is especially eye opening.

It's a facinating and disturbing read. It is a story of the triumpth over evil and the importance of grace but more importantly, it is something that the Church of Scientology DOES NOT want people to read. So go read it.

Nancy Many has made a good start to her writing career with this cathartic work. Organizing over 30 years of personal history and presenting it in a logical and engaging format is no small task, and Nancy has done it very well. As a public Scientologist, my time on staff was limited so I cannot address the specific situations in the book on the basis of my personal observation. I did see the berthing spaces for the RPF in the basement of the LA complex, as well as a "crazy" person (PTS Type 3, in Scienology parlance) locked up down there.

Nobody says that psychotics are easy or inexpensive to handle, at least nobody who has real experience in doing such a thing. Sometimes a person suffering from mental illness ends up homeless or locked away where society can forget about their problems. But what if an organization claimed to have all the answers and spent large sums of money attempting to shut down the very doctors and facilities that work with psychotics? What if this group targeted every mental health professional on Planet Earth?

What if a writer took on the task of exposing a deadly secret that this group was hiding and risked her very sanity to do so? Nancy Meany's MY BILLION YEAR CONTRACT does this and more. Meany's insider perspective on Scientology, its so-called Sea Organization, the Rehabilitation Project Force and the brutal measures taken against their own members is educational and shocking in equal measures. Spokespeople like Tom Cruise and John Travolta need to read this book before their activism costs even more lives.

This book was excellent, a real page turner. The author was put through hell yet she was able to write it from a perspective that didn't indulge the hatred for her abuse and abusers that she could have. In that sense she did make a full recovery. Her description of her mind breaking was fascinating. I've traveled on parts of the road that she did so I know she tells a true tale. To sum it up. this was the best book on the Cult of Scientology that I've ever read. A must read actually for truly understanding the anatomy of a Cult.

14 years in Scientology and what do I have to show for it? Untreated mental illness, a dead father, a psychotic sick mother, and an audio recording of OT 8 Scientology "minister" Wally Hanks beating a kid (on YouTube) while yelling "Look at the picture of L. Ron Hubbard." AND I GOT OFF EASY. Thanks L. Ron. Hope your staying warm.... in hell.

An outstanding piece of non-fiction which takes you into the inner sanctum of the "church" of Scientology. Nancy Many's account is one that shows you how the cult exposes its followers to extreme mental control and how in many cases has driven people to insanity and/or suicide.

Great book, Puts a human face to the crimes of the church of Scientology.
I was in the cult for 10 years, this book tells about the harassment , control and the churches never endding battle to take every last dime you have.
Thanks God for Nancy Many.

I have never been compelled to share my opinion about a book before now. This book exposes Scientology for what it really is - a business (NOT a church) that is all about money and mind control. It's about smoke and mirrors, deep-cover spying on anyone who is critical of Scientology. Innocent victims are sucked into their group with manipulative and deceptive practices. People are pushed to their limits financially, emotionally and physically. Along the way, many people have lost their minds AND their lives.

Members are forbidden to have contact with others who have been identified by Scientology as "suppressives" - people who are thought to be working against the common good. This can even include immediate family members. Ex-members fear the consequences of speaking out about any trauma they've endured. Not many people have the resources to go up against this organization. Furthermore, as the author describes, the retribution alone has been devastating to many. Scientology has the resources to sabatoge someone's reputation and/or career. When someone has been traumatized to the point of a psychotic break, they are forbidden to seek traditional psychiatric help (Tom Cruise has certainly adopted this belief) and instead are instructed to take mega doses of vitamins and supplements. If this doesn't help, the people are basically ostracized and receive no further help from Scientology.

I was absolutely fascinated with this memoir. This is one brave woman to endure what she did, come out on the other side and continue to provide help for those who have suffered her same fate. I'm not sure I could be as forgiving as she appears to be but I certainly admire her. In fact, I'm surprised this book was even published, knowing the possible repercussions. Scientology has always been a mysterious organization to me. This memoir is one of the most enlightening and riveting I've ever read.

Nancy Many's personal memoir of her years in the Church of Scientology, both as member of their holy order, the Sea Org, and as a public member, is a much-needed work on the cult. Nancy tells her story in a calm, unaffected, plain way. She has no bitterness toward the Church of Scientology. She tells how she got in as a college student, how she met her husband, Chris, while they were in the Sea Org, how Ron Hubbard himself sent her to the Rehabilitation Project Force, which is their corrective prison camp for Sea Org members, how she got out of the Sea Org, built a business consulting practice using the CoS's business plans, and then how she suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of one of their intensive interrogations. She includes her testimony in the Lisa McPherson case, and the letter that Greg Bashaw sent to the Flag Landbase asking for help just before he committed suicide. She tells of the events that led to his breakdown as a result of one of their intensive counseling sessions. The book is very powerful not just for its inside view but for the detail and the plain way that Nancy tells her story. If you do not read any other book this year, let this one be it.

This book is one of the most fascinating i've read in a long while. The stuff that happens inside Scientology will blow your mind. Just read it for yourself...trust me!