noumenon@freedom.net wrote:

> I was curious about this quote from a press release issued by Bridge
> Publications;
>
> "One of the best-selling science fiction novels of all time, with more
> than 5,000,000 copies in 20 languages sold throughout the world, L. Ron
> Hubbard's Battlefield Earth was voted the best science fiction book of
> the 20th century by the American Book Readers Association, and the
> third best English language novel of the 20th century in the Random
> House Modern Library Reader's Poll."
>
> The 3rd best English language novel of the 20th century??? The best
> science fiction book of the 20th century?? I read a lot and therefore
> frequent many book stores and book fairs, etc. Over the years, I see
> little of Battlefield Earth in the stores - and when I do, it is lways
> overshadowed by so many other classic Sci-Fi books.
>
> Is anyone familiar with these two 20th century best ratings? Are these
> legitimate polls and opinions? The perception portrayed here does not
> seem to match up with reality. Are these internet polls where, like
> with Dianetics, I get e-mails to go vote for the book in some poll as
> many times as I can and tell others to do so? I was just wondering
> what I was missing here.
The ABRA is a $cientology front group. They've been around a couple years and the founder doesn't have any obvious ties to $cientology, but see if they make any awards next year, or the year after.

The Random House deal was an on-line poll, heavily attacked by $cientologists, who repeatedly voted to push LRH dreck up the nonfiction list (so did the Randites).

Critics retaliated by promoting "Messiah or Madman" and eventually Random House removed all the LRH junk, after which the Co$ pushed one title up the list and left it at that.

I imagine they did the same thing with the fiction poll--in fact, I think they tried getting LRH fiction onto the nonfiction list, or verse vicea.

It's like the Time Magazine poll which voted LRH top conman/fraud of the century, until the Rondroids tried to stack the poll by fraud. There was poetry in that, sez I.

From: shy_david@nospam.org (Shy David www.xenu.net)
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 21:08:39 GMT
Message-ID: <38fe1cda.3714396@nntp.lightlink.com>
Crime syndicate front group. Not only did they "vote" their own book "the best," but they gave themselves a trophy / award for it. Damn funny.

Online Internet poll with no control over multiple entries. The crime syndicate's shills stuffed the ballot. Pretty disgusting, that.

Consider the thousands of damn fine science fiction books written in the last 100 years, it's a goddamned crime that the crime syndicate lies about the horrible (just HORRIBLE!) Hubbard book. The crime syndicate would have us believe that "Battlefield Earth" is better than "The Martian Chronicals"?!?!? BULLSHIT. Or "I, Robot"? Double bullshit! "The Illustrated Man," "A Clockwork Orange," "Dune,"

"Foundation---" all infinately superior to Hubbard's trite hackneyed prattle.

I only talked to one book store owner, so I don't know if his observation holds true for most other book stores. He said the book would not sell no matter how low the price--- no one wanted it. It ended up in the "bargan book bin" and there it sat.

Your reality is right on track. :-) The "voting" was done only by Scientologists.

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