The Book of Est - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

"There isn't much to be said for the book except that it exudes a kind of repellent fascination."

James Charney notes in his review of the book for Library Journal, "Questions of effectiveness or possible harm are hardly considered." Charney characterizes the problem of the book and its subject matter as a "kind of with-it diffuseness which disallows any intelligent understanding on principle". In a review of the book for The New York Times Book Review, Zane Berzins was critical of the work, commenting: "There isn't much to be said for the book except that it exudes a kind of repellent fascination." A review of the book in Kirkus Reviews was negative; the review characterizes it as, "Not a book, really. A verbatim transcription of one of Werner Erhard's weekend sessions in $250 doublethink." Kirkus Reviews criticizes the author for not engaging in any judgmental analysis of the est training methodology. The review concludes, "at least the reader finally has an opportunity to see what an estian seminar is, with vomit bags, circuitous logic, pathetic interplay between overbearing trainer and angst-ridden trainee, and all."

In an article about Erhard and est for the religious journal Quarterly Review, Florida International University assistant religious studies professor Robert R. Hann places the book among "the most accessible sources about est". Hann comments that since the book has been "reviewed by Erhard and carries his statement of support for the author", it "can therefore be presumed to be, if not 'canonical,' then at least not significantly at odds with the perspective of est itself."

Professor Walter A. Effross of the American University Washington College of Law cites The Book of est along with Adelaide Bry's est: 60 Hours That Transform Your Life, in an article in the Buffalo Law Review analyzing the control of new age movements over their intellectual property. Effross notes that the copyright page of The Book of est gives a notice that: "material based in part on unpublished lectures created and copyrighted by Werner Erhard and used by the author with his permission. No material created and copyrighted by Werner Erhard may be used or disseminated in any medium or language without his prior written authorization." Effross comments on the potential loss of control over his material that Erhard may have invited due to endorsing these books about his methodology: "...because it enabled commentators to make 'fair use' of the disclosed information, it was not helpful for ... Werner Erhard, the founder of est, to endorse a first-person account of an est training, even one which provided only simulations of est's 'processes,' or guided meditations. (However, the publicity achieved from such exposure during crucial periods of ... expansion may have been seen as justifying the intellectual property risk.)"