Erhard Seminars Training, founded by Werner Erhard, offered a Personal Development program, called est Training, to the public from 1971 to 1981.

The first est Training took place in San Francisco, California in October 1971. By 1981, approximately one million people^[2] in countries around the world had completed the program. The est Training introduced the notion of "transformation" to the American public.

Erhard Seminars Training reorganized into "Werner Erhard and Associates" (WE&A) in 1981.

• 1971 - Erhard Seminars Training Inc, first est Training held in San Francisco, California
• 1973 - The Foundation for the Realization of Man - incorporated as a non-profit foundation in California (subsequently the name of the foundation was changed to the est Foundation in 1976, and in 1981 to the Werner Erhard Foundation)
• 1975 - est, an educational corporation
• 1981 - Werner Erhard and Associates (EST no longer exists)

est incorporated in 1973 as a non-profit foundation in the State of California under the name of the Foundation for the Realization of Man. An amendment to the articles of incorporation, filed in July 1976, renamed it as the est Foundation.

The "est" organization reorganized into "Werner Erhard and Associates" ^[3]

CEO Stewart Esposito controlled Erhard Seminars Training's $38 million USD budget, as well as managing 300 employees^[4].

Harry Margolis organized the accounting and distribution of profits.^[5]

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• Valerie Harper^[6]
• Mike Oldfield^[7]
• Yoko Ono^[8]
• Diana Ross^[9]

• Robert W. Fuller - est participant, co-founder, The Hunger Project
• Lynne Twist - est participant, founding executive and past director of global funding for The Hunger Project
• Steven Pressman - author of Outrageous Betrayal: The dark journey of Werner Erhard from est to exile, (1993), St. Martin's Press
• James Slee - est participant, passed away suddenly during an est training session in 1983
• Charles "Raz" Ingrasci - headed est mission to the USSR; past officer of Lifespring and board member of The Hunger Project; now President and CEO of the Hoffman Institute
• David R. Hawkins - est participant, psychiatrist and spiritual teacher, has referenced est in lectures disparagingly.
• Gary R. Renard - est participant, author of The Disappearance of the Universe and teacher of A Course in Miracles.

• Exegesis, an est-like organization functioning in the United Kingdom in the 1980s
• Paradigm 3 - website
• Hermenet Inc. - mention in article The Power of Words
• Action Technologies - website
• The Conversation Toward Autonomy/Arnold Siegel & Company, Inc. - website
• IAMATHON or Discovery Institute of Palo Alto Ca. 1975-1977 - website

See also the list of associated organizations.

• William Warren Bartley (1978). Werner Erhard The Transformation of a Man: The Founding of est. New York, New York, USA: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. ISBN 0-517-53502-5. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Jane Self (1992). 60 Minutes and the Assassination of Werner Erhard: How America's Top Rated Television Show Was Used in an Attempt to Destroy a Man Who Was Making A Difference. Houston, Texas, USA: Breakthru Publishing. ISBN 0-942540-23-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Steven Pressman (1993). Outrageous Betrayal: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from est to Exile. New York, New York, USA: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-09296-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

• Adelaide Bry est (Erhard Seminars Training): 60 Hours That Transform Your Life. Harpercollins, 1976
• Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change. 2nd edition, Stillpoint Press, 1995. [1] ISBN 0-9647650-0-4
• V.J. Fedorschak The Shadow on the Path: Clearing the Psychological Blocks to Spiritual Development. Hohm Press, 1999. ISBN 0-934252-81-5
• Sheridan Fenwick Getting it: the psychology of est. Penguin, 1977. ISBN 0-14-004467-1
• Carl Frederick est: Playing the Game the New Way. Delacorte, 1974.
• Robert Hargrave est: Making Life Work. Delacorte, 1976.
• Ray E Hosford, C Scott Moss, Helene Cavior and Burton Kerish Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology 1982, Manuscript #2419, American Psychological Association)
• Ray E Hosford, C Scott Moss, Helene Cavior and Burton Kerish "Research on Erhard Seminar Training in a Correctional Institution"
• Rhinehart, Luke, The Book of Est
• Steven M. Tipton Getting saved from the sixties: moral meaning in conversion and cultural change. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982. ISBN 0520038681

• Mark Brewerk. "We're Gonna Tear You Down and Put You Back Together", Psychology Today, August 1975
• L. L. Glass, M. A. Kirsch and F. N. Parris. "Psychiatric disturbances associated with Erhard Seminars Training", American Journal of Psychiatry. 1977; 134(3): 245-7.
• Peter Marin. "The New Narcissism", Harper's, October 1975, 251:45-56.
• Perry Pascarella. “Create Breakthroughs in Performance by Changing the ‘Conversation’” (Industry Week, June 1997)
• Eliezer Sobel. “This Is It: est, Twenty Years Later” (QUEST Magazine, Summer 1998)

• Werner H. Erhard v. Commissioner Internal Revenue Service, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Public Record, No. 93-70357 (9th.Cir. 02/08/1995)
• An account of the life, influences and controversies surrounding Erhard
• Conversations For Transformation: Essays By Laurence Platt Inspired By The Ideas Of Werner Erhard, And More, A friend of Werner's shares light on Werner's work.
• Independent Research, Case Studies, and Surveys (Landmark Education Website July 2005)
• Independent presentation of the history, sources, methods and potential dangers of "est" (The Skeptic's Dictionary)
• Independent Pro and contra presentation of est and Landmark Education, followed by series of links to articles (Apologetics Index - Resources on Religious Cults, Sects, Religions, Doctrines, etc.)
• Series of awareness-raising articles about est/Landmark Education (at SIMPOS, a Dutch "foundation for information on social problems and occult tendencies")