Est: Playing the Game

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est: Playing the Game the New Way
ISBN
9780615547008

est: Playing the Game the New Way is a

Delacorte Press, New York. The book describes in words the basic message of Werner Erhard's Erhard Seminars Training (est) theatrical experience. Erhard/est sued in federal court in the United States to stop the book from publication, but the suit failed. The book takes a 'trainer's' approach to the est experience, in that it essentially duplicates the est training, citing examples and using jargon
from the actual experience.

The title became a New York Times #2 best-seller, with more than a million copies in print, but overall critical reception was negative. The New York Times Book Review called it "a semi-literate rehash of Erhard-speak",[1] and Library Journal noted, "The est disdain for critical thought and its fondness for its own jargon are painfully obvious in this book".[2]

Author

Frederick graduated from

Cincinnati, Ohio as a product manager in the company's Advertising Department.[3] Subsequently, he went to Heublein in Hartford, Connecticut, where he held the position of Director of New Products.[3] Finally, Frederick became VP/Director of Marketing for Hot Wheels at MattelToys in Los Angeles.[3]

A graduate and devotee of est,

Harley Davidson accessories.[3] The company carried out operations in the South Pacific, Hawaii, and California.[3] Frederick eventually settled in Costa Rica.[4]
where he constructed and managed a tourist resort in 1997.

Litigation

Werner Erhard/est sued Frederick,

U.S. Federal Court, claiming "I had infringed his copyrighted material - BUT, he didn't attach any material to his complaint. Moreover, I never saw anything printed in est, it was all live theater", and I was never asked to sign anything that said what I could (or couldn't) do as a result of taking the est training"[9]

Frederick described his account of the litigation: "Erhard sent seven lawyers to the courtroom; I had one. They argued I was taking illegal liberty with the most incredible educational system in existence, and that I must be stopped immediately. The judge must have thought that we were arguing over some might trivial scribblings, because he just looked up quizzingly over his Franklin specs and threw the whole case right out the door."[9] Erhard filed three lawsuits against Frederick, claiming copyright infringement.[5] All of est/Erhard's suits were ruled 'nuisance claims'and summarily "thrown out of court" in 1976.[5]

Publication

After the lawsuits concluded, Frederick signed a book deal with Dell/

Delacorte Press,[10] the book was first published in 1976,[11][12] and republished in 1981.[13] A Collector's Edition was published in 2003 by Synergy International of the Americas, and the author issued a revised Edition in 2012, which is now being sold on Amazon's Kindle and a paperback is available from Amazon Create Space.[14]

Contents

The book essentially duplicates the est training in words.

capital letters, instructing the reader, "THE TRUTH IS THAT THERE IS NO INHERENT SIGNIFICANCE TO ANYTHING YOU ARE, YOU DO, OR YOU HAVE."[17]

Frederick incorporates jargon from the est training in the work.[1][2] He alternates between referring to the reader as "an ass" or "baby".[17] The book contains short segments on various themes titled: "Total Acceptance and Responsibility", "Winners and Losers", and "The Game of Life".[1] Chapter headings include: "How to Get All the Cheese in Life" and "How to Get Where You Really Want to Go in Life".[1] Frederick emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, writing: "You are the Supreme being, in Spirit".[18] He attempts to convince the reader that life should be considered a game, and that it is more desirable to win at a goal than it is to be right about it.[17] Frederick's thesis is that individuals cause all events which occur in their lives, and that they should work to consciously control their circumstances.[19]

Critical reception

The book became a best-seller.

New York Magazine characterizes Frederick's work as a "do-it-yourself book" on the est training.[5] Writing in Sporting with the Gods, Michael Oriard comments that Frederick's book "celebrated" the est training.[15] Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry notes in God, Revelation, and Authority that Frederick devotes text in the book to "expounding the view promoted by the self-assertion cult est".[16]

"Frederick's book is a semi-literate rehash of Erhard-speak as it is practiced by Erhard, his 'trainers,' and his 'graduates.'"

 โ€”The New York Times Book Review[1]

Writing in a review of the book for Library Journal, M. E. Monbeck comments: "The est disdain for critical thought and its fondness for its own jargon are painfully obvious in this book, est is certainly a most innovative approach, one which seems to have helped many adults and harmed few. There is, however, very little appreciation in est of the unique psychology of children, and est's effects on them seem to be potentially very harmful."[2] Booklist criticizes the author, due to the ambiguous stylistic nature of the book.[19] The review notes, "Whereas the dust jacket identifies him as an est graduate who is interpreting that experience for others, this book itself says nothing of the relationship."[19] Booklist complained that it was, "difficult to separate interpretation from the original version" of Frederick's recounting of the est training.[19]

In her review in The New York Times Book Review, Vivian Gornick notes: "[Of this book] the less said the better. ... In short: Frederick's book is a semi-literate rehash of Erhard-speak as it is practiced by Erhard, his 'trainers,' and his 'graduates.'"[1] A review of the book in Kirkus Reviews was negative; the review writes critically of the author, "Now we have priests like Carl Frederick, EST graduate, ad man and 'simply another human being,' who addresses his reader as 'baby' when not calling him 'asshole.' The original EST marathon entails four days of this kind of insult."[17] Kirkus Reviews concludes, characterizing the book as, "Low blows at high decibels."[17]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISSN 0028-7806
    .
  2. ^
    ISSN 0000-0027
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 9977-12-415-9
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 1-85109-428-8
    .
  5. ^
    New York Magazine
    . 5 (5): 55.
  6. ISBN 0-7658-0454-9
    .
  7. ^
    ISBN 0-8028-0725-9
    .
  8. ^ The New York Times Book Review staff (February 22, 1976). "Book Ends". The New York Times Book Review. The New York Times Company. p. BR12.
  9. ^
    ISBN 1-934568-44-9
    .
  10. OCLC 213865709
  11. OCLC 2930959
  12. LCCN 76-359737
  13. OCLC 8771521
  14. OCLC 58045374
  15. ^
    ISBN 978-0-521-39113-9
    .
  16. ^
    ISBN 1-58134-044-3
    .
  17. ^ a b c d e Kirkus Reviews staff (February 1, 1976). "Est. (Book Review) Author: Frederick, Carl". Kirkus Reviews: 166.
  18. ISBN 0-9663223-9-8
    .
  19. ^ a b c d Booklist staff (May 1, 1976). "Est. (Book Review) Author: Frederick, Carl". Booklist: 1226.
  20. ^ From the New York Times (May 2, 1976). "This Week's Best Selling Paperbacks". The Ledger.

Further reading

Book reviews
  • The New York Times Book Review staff (March 28, 1976). "Paper Back Talk". The New York Times Book Review. The New York Times Company. p. 221.
  • Personnel and Guidance Journal staff (January 1977). "Est. (Book Review) Author: Frederick, Carl". Personnel and Guidance Journal: 267.
  • Publishers Weekly staff (February 9, 1976). "Est. (Book Review) Author: Frederick, Carl". Publishers Weekly. 209: 98.
  • Psychology Today staff (August 1976). "Est. (Book Review) Author: Frederick, Carl". Psychology Today: 63.
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