There are only a handful of books that have dramatically influenced my life. Considering how much I read (sometimes a book a day), that’s pretty sad.
There’s The Magic of Believing and The Robert Collier Letter Book.
But number one on the list is one you may never have heard of before: The Book of est.
It beat out Think and Grow Rich, and even the Bible. I know that’s bold and controversial. But it’s also the truth.
Here are two reasons why I love the book:
The book is the famous est experience in written form. est, or Erhard Seminar Training, was the controversial self-help movement of the 1970s and beyond.
Anyone who withstood the heat of the weekends was never the same again. Lives were transformed forever. You faced yourself and your story in a way that was confrontational and oh so real.
I never got to do est. I was a skeptic and a hold out. I made fun of it when I saw all the articles about it.
Truth is, I was afraid of it.
I was young and in college and unsure of everything, including myself. By the time I got around to wanting to do est, it was gone and reincarnated into something called The Forum.
I did the Forum and endorse it today.
But it’s no est.
The Book of est puts you into the room and gets you to feel the intensity. You somehow experience est.
And it’s hot.
When my late wife began to type up the book to be republished by me, she had to keep stopping. She said it was intense and dramatic.
She died during the transcription process. But that had nothing to do with the book. It had more to do with her choices and what the book urged her to face.
Obviously, a book isn’t a drill sergeant self-help instructor yelling in your face about what isn’t working in your life. But The Book of est comes close.
It’s safe.
It’s easy reading.
But it’s still real.
Oh so very real.
Just reading it can cause you to awaken to your own patterns. And once you see them, you can let them go.
Or not.
After all, what you get from the book is what you get.
But that’s only the first reason I love The Book of est.
The second reason I love this book is because the writing is, well, hypnotic. It’s riveting.
Luke Rhinehart has the gift of writing dialogue and description that puts you in the room with the characters experiencing est.
In many ways, this was one of the first examples I ever found of what I eventually labeled as Hypnotic Writing. While I later wrote a book called Hypnotic Writing, it was Luke Rhinehart who paved the way for me to know what it was when a true master was at work.
For me, this is one of the best written books of all time.
The author wrote some other cult classics, too. The Dice Man is a masterpiece. It’s well written, engaging, humorous and in some ways dangerous.
Just like The Book of est.
But where The Dice Man is alive and well in print, The Book of est has been gone for decades.
Search on eBay or Amazon and you might find original copies going for one hundred dollars on up to a thousand dollars. I’ve paid that much for copies, too. I collect them.
The Book of est is one of the rare life changing gems that I can’t get enough of or read enough times.
Sometimes I give the book away. Usually I don’t. Usually I just keep it for myself, as one of the most powerful books of all time kept hidden in my own secret vault of wisdom.
The good news for you is this: Luke is now a friend of mine. We’ve corresponded, shared books, and decided to join a partnership. With the help of my friend Mark Ryan, the most powerful self-help book of all time is now available to you.
And all you have to do is go here to get it as a downloadable ebook —
Go see.
I dare you.
Ao Akua,
Joe
www.mrfire.com
PS – est was all about being real. The Book of est will challenge you as never before. How? And why is it the greatest self-help book of all time? Go see for yourself at www.thebookofest.com I double-dare you.
18 Comments
Hey Joe:
What a surprise to have you being a big fan of “The Book of EST” and revitalizing it in E-Book form.
I took the EST training in 1981 which helped me take full responsibility for my life and eventually escape the corporate world – something I wanted to do more than anything else.
I have a hardcover copy of “The Book of EST” sitting here in my bookshelf but I will have to buy the E-Book edition.
Did you happen to get and watch the DVD with the documentary “Transformation: The Life and Legacy of Werner Erhard” produced by Robyn Symon?
It makes a good companion to “The Book of EST.”
I just purchased the Second Edition of “The Attractor Factor” even though I have the first edition and will have to read it soon, possibly on my trip to Istanbul in two weeks where I will speak about “The Joy of Not Working” to 2,500 scholars, business executives, and students at the National Turkish Congress on Quality convention (Their theme this year is “Quality of Life”.)
Perhaps I will mention “The Attractor Factor” in my presentation as I sure intend to mention “The Four Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferris.
Ernie Zelinski
Author of “The Joy of Not Working”
(Over 225,000 Copies Sold and Published in 17 Languages)
Hi Ernie. Yes, I’ve seen the DVD. I wrote about it twice on this blog. The last time was June 4. http://blog.mrfire.com/movies/the-est-transformation/ It’s highly recommended.
Blessings
joe
Joe!
Once again it feels like you’re reading my mind. I don’t know if it’s my reticular activating system or what, but The Forum and EST have been everywhere for me lately. Every time I turn around, there’s another mention or I’m meeting someone new who has been through it. Last month, I had 6 of these “coincidences” before I stopped counting. Then there were more. Just last night, I was hanging with a new friend of mine, and EST came up again.
Now this. 🙂
For reasons I won’t go into, I’m not going to participate in the live classes. But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t wanted to find out more. Now I have a way. I just downloaded the book.
Quick unrelated question for you: about how many hours a day do you spend reading? (This is one of my favorite questions to ask.)
Thank you so much for all that you do!
Joe, thank you so much! The Book of est has been on my list to purchase for a while (didn’t realize it was out of print) so the minute I got your e-mail, I bought the e-book.
I took the training in 1979 in San Jose, CA. Needless to say, it changed my life. In fact, my life was changed in the first five minutes. It’s all about the watch. I HAD taken off my watch and left it in my hotel room per the pre-training agreement, but I totally forgot (or not!) that I had a little travel alarm clock in my totebag. When the assistant trainer got to the agreement about time pieces, my monkey mind when “No one is going to know that clock is in your bag and you aren’t going to look at it, so it’s ok not to put up your hand.” Then my other voice said, “Are you going to participate in this training 100% or not? If you’re not, you might as well leave right now!” and I marched to the back of the room (not out the door, but to give my clock to the assistants in the back). Of course, after I did, a half-a-dozen other people got the nerve to get beyond their embarrasment and do the same!
At the end of the first day, we were told how to set our inner alarm clock, and I still do to this day, when I remember. It works to the second!
That was only the beginning, of course. When I got home after that first weekend, my then husband — who was a total control freak and I his “victim” (or not!) asked in a tremulous voice if I was going to leave him! Wow, did that make me feel my new “power!” I did leave him, but not for another five years.
At the graduation (when family and friends were allowed into the room), I brought my then 2-year-old son. At one point the whole room yelled out “I got it!” then, in the second of silence that followed, my Otto called out “I got it!” and brought down the house! The fact of the matter was that he DID get it and still does!
I still have my little book “Up Your Ass in Aphorisms” given to each graduate that night. My favorite is “In life, understanding is the booby prize,” closely followed by “If you keep saying it the way it is, eventually your word becomes law in the universe” and “You’re god in your universe. You caused it. You pretended not to cause it so that you could play in it, and you can remember you caused it anytime you want to.” (sound familiar?)
One of the best results of the est experience was that the particular training I was in was when The Hunger Project was introduced. I am so proud to have had even the smallest part in getting that off the ground. I lost tract of it after a few years (long before internet) and was so thrilled when my company, Nikken, held a walkathon to benefit the Project a few years ago and to be reconnected. Even tho’ the goal of ending hunger worldwide by the year 2000 was not reached, it is still a very vital and important organization.
So thanks, again, Joe. I wish you could have been in my training — but of course, you were just a baby yourself back then!
Love,
Lucy in St. Thomas
The Global Vagabond
Hi Joe,
I’m half way through the book and I feel like my brain has been blown out.
It’s like waves of cleaning energy are flowing through me. Never read anything like this before. Thank you so much
Lorenz
A few days ago I had written to you asking you for suggestions on which one of your many products I should purchase to get started with an idea of mine. I read your blog about the Book of est shortly after and it felt as if you were speaking directly to me and giving me my answer. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to start with a self help book but I felt compelled to check it out. WOW!!! Things have been happeing ever since!!! Thanks so much Joe!!
Dorie
Hi Joe!
The quote Lucy (above) mentions is my favorite too.. i say it too everyone… “In life, understanding is the booby prize,” and who could forget
“If you keep saying it the way it is, eventually your word becomes law in the universe” and “You’re god in your universe. You caused it. You pretended not to cause it so that you could play in it, and you can remember you caused it anytime you want to.”
Yes.. latter are also favorites too. Most powerful quote for me is BE HERE NOW – it’s such a wake up call. It was also the name of the 8 week seminar I did after the training. I took it TWICE! BE HERE NOW is the one that I constantly think of I am anywhere but here, now. There are no problems or conflicts here, now. Only what is. BE HERE NOW, I still can see my seminar leader David up on the stage even now.
I was very young (scared & excited) and got to take the est Training only 11 months before it vanished! I’d heard a bit about it, but not too much. I heard it was brutal and I went with 3 new friends into NYC prepared for brutality. My est Training Leader was named Tony and he was the MOST beautiful shining spirit, so radiant. Werner taught his est Trainers well, they were as brutal as he.
Werner worked hard to get people to drop their beloved identity and B.S. He was committed. Like the others above, my life was never the same after est. I am so grateful I took the training. The est Training was brutal.. but only brutal to the identity, the concocted story and the B.S. you built around that story. To the essence of who YOU are … it was PURE LOVE.
Afterwards I took the Introduction to the Training Leaders Program to lead est introductions and several seminars. The Intro Leaders training was very powerful and I grew a ton from participating with it. I and my seminar and program-mates cried and cried when the est Training ceased to be. I assisted at a couple of Forum events and continued to assist at seminars. However, the Forum felt watered down to me at the time due to the powerful experience and awakening I had during the est Training, I felt something was missing. No the Forum is no est. It is kinder, gentler and more politically correct. IMO, what made est work so well was that it was brutal. It takes unrelenting brutality to collapse the story even for a few moments revealing the authentic YOU that is possibility.
I am so grateful that more people are becoming aware of the gift of Werner and his work. (Of course Werner would not say he is a gift, just that he is being Werner.. 😀 ) Werner is a genius and WAY too under acknowledged. Without Werner’s work we would not have any of the language of transformation that we have now. Without Werner’s work there would never have been the “marketplace” for the seminars and books that followed, including yours Joe. (you know that and thank you for acknowledging Werner). Without Werner’s influence corporations would not have shifted to teamwork and dialogging from power and control. Without Werner’s work, I think many things would not be that are today.
All this said, I want to invite and encourage everyone to visit my friend Laurence Platt’s website!. Laurence is one of Werner’s oldest and dearest friends (and keeps up regularly with Werner and Dorothy – remember Dorothy, Werner’s mom?). Laurence brought and established the est Training in S. Africa. Laurence writes essays that are inspired by Werner’s work where the goal is to actually CREATE the experience of transformation for the reader. They are not normal essays, but essays in the language of transformation that speak to your listening only in the way someone that lives transformation can.
Please go – Laurence’s wonderful essays are here:
http://laurenceplatt.home.att.net/wernererhard
With Appreciation, Love and Joy,
Amy
http://MoneyReikiHealing.com
http://allabout-energy.com
Best Body for the Holidays – Envision, Create it & step into it!
http://IdealBody.moneyreiki.healing.com
Hi Joe,
Thanks for making this book available again. I am sure I have a copy of the original in my attic, I also have a copy of one of the trainers books from the EST training from 1980 (not sure how I ended up with that one??)
When I started reading (experiencing) the EST training throught the ebook – I was recalling what happened at the training and my life afterwards. Werner was actually my trainer for the first weekend and I remember him standing in front of me and telling me that I was “a miss goody two-shoes.” He was entirely correct and I was amazed that he was able to see exactly who I was being. He did this for many people in our training, he was quite spectacular.
It seemed that my life was transformed after the two weekends and I recall having a magic wand that I used frequently. Life was truely magical, for a while.
This leads me to my question for you, why did the “magic” only last for a while? What was missing in the training or me that had me being an “asshole” all over again (or in my case miss goody two-shoes)? Why didn’t it stick? I have the feeling that it has something to do with limiting beliefs, not letting go and probably the need to be constantly clearing. What do you think?
Thanks again for the ebook,
Kim
Joe…I’m buying the e book. I’m getting excited just thinking about reading it. I stopped being a school psychologist in Brooklyn and moved to Hollywood to be a stand up comic after doing the Forum. Now I’m transforming my comedy into motiviation and inspiration for moms! (I’m a mom of two and one bun in the oven.) Thank you!
Joe,
There was long court battle over this book.And a lot of harassment from the church that one of the writers of this book was member of.
Be careful if they find out your making this book available again it could be a problem.
😀
Joe, I too read this book. And reread. I did feel I was put in the room. Later I took the second Forum offered in Seattle. I still teach from that material.
My wife and I felt so changed we renewed our vows.
blessings,
William
Regarding the Madoff case…. What ever happened to personal responsiblity? Madoff was producing incredibly great and steady results with a trading mechanism that can not work. It’s a high-volatility trading system, whereas all of his fake returns reflected extremely low volatility. So, in some twisted way, all of these people actually deserved to lose their money because they did not do their homework.
In terms of attraction, I also believe that whatever you fail to use, you lose. We don’t expect that we stay fit when we stop exercising. We don’t expect to never become hungry if we stop eating. Then why is it that after you get wealthy and stop to use your brains about investing, of fail to do your due diligence about your money manager, or decide not to find out enough to understand someone else’s investment strategy, we STILL expect that our wealth should expand.
Another brief comment. The stock market goes in 16-18 year cycles. 1929-1948 stock went absolutely nowhere. 1948-1966 was a great boom. 1966-1982 stocks went nowhere again and you lost money if you take the inflation into account. 1982-2000 another boom. 2000-2016 or so — yet another boom. We now a generation of people who think that you can just buy and hold your way to riches or to retirement, so it is a great shock for a lot of people to realize that there’s no free lunch. You actually have to start applies Joe Vitale’s teachings to increase your wealth. The markets are NOT going to do it for you…
Dr. Joe Vitale, I am a boy barely 19 years. 3 months ago, I discovered the secret and I was amazed. Never thought that there was something like this to improve our lives, much less that we ourselves have the capacity to do so. Started to investigate immediately. I began to buy and download books over the Internet, I was struck by a lifetime of those who used it. You, Jack Canfield, Esther Hicks, joseph Murphy Napoleon Hill, Clement Stone, and so on. But I must admit that I am in a desert of sand. I was influenced my whole life with limiting thoughts about money, and even regularly live well, I want to change my reality now. The first thing I would do would be to go to the United States, but actually here in Argentina is difficult to raise money. Im atraccting some money to.(you must forgive me its supposed i not to say that, even thinking about it). I ask you please, help me as soon as possible. I want to win and control my subconscious. I love your books. are great! My email address is [email protected]
Just wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday and a Happy New Year Joe. Thanks for all your work in helping others. I purchased “The Attractor Factor” book and “The Key” CD’s last Christmas, and it has helped me see the world and my future in an entirely new light.
Hi Joe,
Thanks form making the Book of est available again. I did the est Training in 1979. I was 19 at the time and my life has never been the same. The most profound change was that within 6 months of my first training I was able to quit drinking alcohol. That was 31 years ago. I’m still sober. No small feet as I had my first drink at 13 and we can trace alcoholism back in our family for at least 5 generations.
I’ve been involved with the Forum over the course of the last couple of years and I started looking for this book. Amazon wanted $100 – $200 for a used copy. I just couldn’t afford it. I’m so glad I’ve ordered my copy today and I can’t wait to read it. Thanks again Joe.
Can I put ebook on sony ereader