Frank Herbert was actually a damn good sci-fi author

You kinda have your authors mixed up there my man. Though Herbert was an excellent author and Dune is an excellent (if uneven in parts) series, the only connection to scientology he has is the rumor that L Ron Hubbard came up with it after a bet he made with Herbert and Hienlein to see who could come up with the best religious story (though not true apparently).

Ok, setting aside the factual errors of the OP, yes. Battlefield Earth is a really good read if you can somehow read it without any preconceptions, which of course most can't. I was fortunate enough to read it as a kid before I had any idea who Hubbard was or what Scientology might be (and long, long before the abysmal movie came out), and I loved it.

frick me. talk about mixing up authors.