The Wall Street Journal-20080119-WEEKEND JOURNAL- Books- Airplane Reading
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WEEKEND JOURNAL; Books: Airplane Reading
Tom Cruise
By Andrew Morton
St. Martin's, 344 pages, $25.95
Tom Cruise is much more than one of the world's pre-eminent celebrities, according to Andrew Morton's unauthorized biography. He's a top-gun Scientologist who is up to no good. Unlike celebrities such as Bono and Bob Geldof, who merely want to change the world by fighting poverty and similar scourges, Mr. Cruise "is part of an organization that wants to conquer the planet." Mr. Morton, apparently unfazed by the reputation of the group's notoriously hair-triggered legal department, leaves few stones unhurled. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is portrayed as a charlatan and a quack: "If you really want to make a million," Mr. Hubbard is quoted as telling a 1947 meeting of science-fiction writers, "the quickest way is to start your own religion." Mr. Morton includes a photograph of Hubbard using a device that Scientologists call an E-meter -- "a crude lie detector" -- to measure the emotional state of a tomato (apparently Scientologists are attuned to the inner lives of plants). The author cites Nobel laureate Isidor Isaac Rabi, a molecular physicist, as saying of Scientology's bible, Hubbard's "Dianetics," that the book contains "more promises and less evidence per page than has any publication since the invention of printing." We are advised to keep a wary eye on Mr. Cruise, described by old acquaintances as an "Al Capone character" with a "nasty streak" who allegedly hopes to use his fame and connections to evangelize the world on behalf of Scientology. In one photo, we see Mr. Cruise pictured with Bill Clinton, who would be a tough man to convert -- though if Hillary needs to scrounge additional votes in California, anything's possible.
