I found the book to be very useful in helping me to better understand where a spiritual group crosses the line from something that benefits its members to something that exploits them.  I found her detailed explanations of the sophisticated ways in which certain groups use deception and peer pressure to manipulate their members to be particularly educational.  In addition, I felt the light bulb go off repeatedly as I read about things I’d personally experienced but had not yet fully recognized for what they were.  

On of the main insights I got from reading this book was a recognition of how cults play on people’s desires to have meaning in their lives and feel that they are doing something important and special.  Cults do an amazing PR job of convincing people that working to benefit the cult ultimately benefits the world.  Yet in the vast majority of cases, members find themselves working long hours to do nothing more than help perpetuate the existence of the cult itself, while at the same time becoming more and more estranged from the world they wanted so much to help.  It is sobering to consider how much society as a whole suffers from having so many of its talented and idealistic members siphoned off by cults.