Review: The Easy Way to Stop Smoking: Join the Millions Who Have Become Nonsmokers Using the Easyway Method

The Easy Way to Stop Smoking: Join the Millions Who Have Become Nonsmokers Using the Easyway Method by Allen Carr

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This was actually the second time I read this book, which is a fascinating unraveling of the psychology of nicotine addiction. It's basic positive thinking and attitude adjustment, really, but narrated by someone who truly understands the difficulties of the addiction, and who presents himself as a rather no-nonsense cheerleader toward escaping the cycle of nicotine dependency for everyone.

Last time I read the book, I was affected by its message, but I was able to dismiss the process outlined inside and keep smoking. This time, I had already quit for 20 days (by going to a hypnotist), and I read the book because the cravings were becoming overwhelming. Reading this book helped. Really, it did. And has. Now I haven't had a cigarette for 38 days and I'm quite pleased about it.

That's the trick, really: TO BE PLEASED ABOUT IT. Once you get past the throes of the nicotine addiction, which lasts about 2 weeks, the only thing left is to understand, to really know, that you are better off without smoking. And not to bitch about the withdrawal while deciding to stay happy that you're a non-smoker. It sounds simplistic, but it works. Sure, cravings are still set off by the billion triggers I'd set up after smoking for 20 years, but each time one goes off, it loses a little strength and becomes easier to circumvent.

So this book didn't get me to quit smoking. (Although it might help you.) But it DID reaffirm my decision and give me an extremely useful set of psychological tools to withstand the sudden cravings and see smoking as the pointless trap that it is.

The book isn't amazingly written -- it's more about getting a revelation across than the quality of the prose. It's extremely repetitive in spots, even repeating whole paragraphs verbatim, which I could see working in a speech but not in writing. But it's written personally and with great passion, enthusiasm, and deep belief in the fact that you, too, can escape from smoking, and that's the good reason for this book's existence.

Two of my favorite helpful quotes from the book:

"It is smokers who suffer withdrawal pangs, not non-smokers."

"Cigarettes do not fill a void. They create it."



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