Happy birthday Dianetics

L. Ron Hubbard's book is 56 years old today.

Some readers hailed Hubbard as a visionary and an innovator. Others reacted more skeptically. Many reviewers, particularly those trained in medicine, were appalled by his ideas, which one critic called “abortions and monstrosities of theory and practice.” But Hubbard was launching an ideology that would gradually move from the edge of American culture into the center of the public eye.