Dianetics Anniversary – the Best Selling Self-Help Book of All Time by L. Ron Hubbard
May 9, 2011 marks 61 years since the release of Dianetics, the all-time self-help bestseller
This week marks the anniversary of the publication of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health by L. Ron Hubbard. Released May 9, 1950, the past six decades have seen the popularity of this best-selling self-help book continue to grow. Dianetics is now available in 165 nations in 50 languages, more than 21 million copies have been sold, and it has appeared on 116 bestseller lists, making it a publishing phenomenon.
Dianetics is also the book that sparked the movement that ultimately led to the founding of the Scientology religion, the only major religion to emerge in the 20th century.
Scientology Churches and Missions around the world will hold events commemorating the Dianetics anniversary this week. Attendees will hear news of the application of Dianetics technology, its international popularity, and its grassroots expansion from New York to Nairobi, Boston to Bulawayo and Kansas City to Kaohsiung.
In an essay titled “My Philosophy,” Mr. Hubbard wrote, “The first principle of my own philosophy is that wisdom is meant for anyone who wishes to reach for it. It is the servant of the commoner and king alike and should never be regarded with awe.”
True to this principle, in Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health Mr. Hubbard states: “This volume has made no effort to use resounding or thunderous phrases, frowning polysyllables or professorial detachment. When one is delivering answers which are simple, he need not make the communication any more difficult than is necessary to convey the ideas.”
L. Ron Hubbard went on to document his research into the spirit, mind and life in 18 Basic books, thousands of other written materials and nearly 2,500 recorded lectures—the Scripture of Scientology. To keep pace with the demand for these materials and make them available in every corner of the globe, all book and lecture CD production has been established in-house—the entire line from inception to distribution: printing, foiling, embossing, laminating, CD replication, packaging and shipping. Occupying massive new headquarters, the Church’s publishing arms, New Era Publications in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Bridge Publications, Inc. in Los Angeles, are now the world’s largest all-digital, print-on-demand facilities capable of producing 500,000 books and 925,000 CDs per week.
Millions of people have begun the adventure described by L. Ron Hubbard in the first chapter of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health: “You are beginning an adventure. Treat it as an adventure. And may you never be the same again.”
For more information on Dianetics, visit the Dianetics website at www.Dianetics.org. For an interactive audiovisual overview of the life and works of L. Ron Hubbard visit www.LRonHubbard.org.