Review and commentary:

The Book of E-Meter Drills

compiled by Mary Sue Hubbard

Available from Bridge Publications Mail Order, 4751 Fountain Ave., Los Angeles CA 90029, or call 1-800-843-7389. In Europe, order from New Era Publications Int. ApS, Store Kongensgade 55, 1264 Copenhagen K, Denmark. 1995 price US $40.

Note: images and quotations accompanying this book review are copyright © 1965, 1967, 1968, or 1982 by L. Ron Hubbard. They are reproduced here under the ``fair use'' provision of the US copyright code.

Cover of the 1982 edition.
This book first appeared in 1965. A new edition was issued in 1968, and a revised edition in 1982. The insignia on the cover of the 1982 edition shows two facing chairs (as in an auditing session) with an e-meter between them. The version offered for sale in 1995 has a more modern cover design, but since Hubbard died in 1986, and it is a crime in Scientology for anyone else to alter his writings, one may assume that the text will never again be updated.

The Book of E-Meter Drills was compiled by L. Ron Hubbard's third wife, Mary Sue, who later went to prison for crimes she committed while running the Guardian's Office, Scientology's intelligence and dirty tricks division.

This, and the more obscure book Marriage Hats, are the only two works in all of Scientology where someone other than L. Ron Hubbard is acknowledged as author or editor. (Mary Sue Hubbard's name is on both volumes.) No one else in Scientology is allowed to write anything about the religion. That would be ``verbal tech,'' and is considered a crime. In reality, much of Scientology's literature, including policy letters and auditing proceses, has been written by other people, but L. Ron Hubbard's name always goes on the final version.

Ron is Source, and in this book, Hubbard is listed as the author of every single drill: all 28 of them -- just in case there was any doubt.

Most drills were written in the 1960s and are 1-2 pages long. The longest drill is EM-5RA, ``Can Squeeze'', revised in 1979, at 7 pages. All follow the same seven-part format, as illustrated in the excerpt at the bottom of this page: Number, Name, Purpose, Position, Commands, Training Stress, and History.

The book is filled with obscure Scientology terms: rudiments, exteriorization, dirty needle, "permit no listing" (drill 26), "pink sheet", etc. Outsiders will not understand much of what they read here, but the explanation of the drills available at this web site should make the book more accessible.

Sample Drill

Reproduced under the fair use provision of the US copyright code.

E-METER DRILL--1
Number: EM-1.
Name: TOUCH AND LET GO OF THE E-METER.
Purpose: To familiarize the student auditor with the E-Meter.
Position: The coach and student auditor sit facing each other with an E-Meter in front of the student auditor, either on a table or chair.
Commands: "Touch the meter" and "Let go of the meter" alternately. The acknolwedgement, after each execution of the commands, is "Thank you".
Training Stress:
The coach sees that the student auditor executes the commands. The coach asks from time to time, "How are you doing?" The coach handles any physical manifestations of the student auditor by asking, "What is happening?"
History: Developed by L. Ron Hubbard in September, 1962, at Saint Hill.

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