Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking: New US Edition: Over 20 Million Copies Sold Paperback – November 17, 2011

Like many other reviewers I wanted to let some time pass between reading this book and doing a write-up. I just had my 1 year anniversary since I stamped out my last butt and I have no intentions of going back. Bottom line: This book works. Plain and simple. I was a pack a day smoker for 10 years and tried a lot of different approaches to quitting. The nicotine patch gave me some of the most bizarre dreams I've ever had. And didn't work. The gum gave me heartburn. And didn't work. I quit cold turkey / will power for 44 days once. I wanted to smoke every single day. So I'd say will power didn't work. I never tried any of the pharma products either such as Chantix, Zyban etc. I just wasn't interested having my neurochemistry befuddled with Rx drugs.I bought this book after my last attempt to quit cold turkey which I was successful for exactly 3 days before giving in. I was feeling defeated and almost resigned to be a lifetime smoker. The problem for me was that I was, like so many other former smokers, in conflict. I didn't believe that I actually wanted to quit, but merely had to because of the health hazards smoking posed. I guess what I mean was this book helped me get over the hump of wanting to want to quit. I hope that makes sense.My experience with Allen Carr's book went something like this. I started reading the book with a very skeptical mindset, while smoking at will of course. But he words really weren't gettting through and I even began cursing the author in my head for ripping me off. Then something, for lack of a better word, mysterious happened. The experience of smoking changed for me. The physical act of putting a lit cigarette in my mouth and inhaling no longer gave me pleasure (real or perceived). So I read the book again to make sure I had absorbed it's message as best I could. When I finished I smoked my last square and put a terrible disease behind me.I realized that the pleasure that I was getting came solely from slaking a nicotine addiction. And I think that is the crux of Mr. Carr's book. That's not to say everybody would have the same experience but I hope they do. Because it was that realization coupled with the physical experience that allowed me to put the cigarettes down for good. Life as a smoker was an often times a miserable exsistence. I think a common sentiment among cigarette junkies is that thought that 'I'm different. I'm a bigger nicotine addict than anybody and no power on this earth can keep me from smoking.' That's how I thougt about myself. So if you are reading this and you think that you can't be helped, just know that many other people think just like that. The good news is that we were all wrong.The title of the book is 'Stop Smoking the Easy Way.' I would say that the word 'easy' is a relative term. Quitting is easier with the help of this book than nicorette or will power that's for sure. But was it easy for me in the absolute sense? I would be a liar if I said it was because it wasn't. The first month was difficult in particular. I drank more than usual. But after that I sort of leveled right off. I think everybody's body and mind has to adjust in their own way bc smoking cessation can be an abrupt change. Having said that, the withdrawl symptoms are mild compared to what most people would think. And Carr teaches you how to identify the symptoms and deal with them.This really is a marvelous little book and I'm grateful to the author. I've purchased multiple copies for friends and family as a means to soft sell the idea kicking smoking. I tried hard not to preach as there are few things in this world more aggrevating and unbecoming than a reformed addict of any kind haha. If quitting smoking is on your 'To Do' list, don't wait another day. Buy this book. Read it. Go for it and good luck!

If you are reading these reviews wondering how a simple book can help you quit from years of smoking... Well I did that too. Buying this book was the best choice I could have made for myself. Not only me, but because of my sudden and immediate desire to never smoke again, my mother, who has ADHD, got the audiobook version and also quit after two days. This book is not magic. Just the opposite. It's entirely about facts and reality slapping us awake to all the brainwashing and manipulation we have been conditioned to believe about cigarettes and nicotine. I had tried the gum and patches, tried vaping, even was hospitalized where I was not able to smoke for 3 weeks. During all the attempts, I was miserable truly believing I was giving up something that I enjoyed too much. Give yourself a break and bet on yourself for once. It's cheaper than two packs of smokes in most places. When I put out my final cigarette, I knew I had finally broken free. Call it magic if you must. I have absolutely no desire to smoke ever again. It's such a relief to feel so free. Now, when my mother and I talk, we are both so amazed at how easy and simple quitting can be. I smoked for 20 years, my mother for almost 40. Don't worry about never being able to smoke again. Just know that if your even considering trying to quit, this book is wonderful to read WHILE smoking. Get the book and read it. Then pay it forward. I tell everyone how I quit smoking and I know you will too.

TLDR: I had never before tried to quit. I didn't know if I even wanted to quit. I thought the title sounded so cheesy & couldn't be legit, but I gave it a try. I read it. It worked 100% – I stopped smoking within hours of finishing the book, have been smoke-free ever since (9 months) and will never smoke again in my entire life. GET IT! IT WORKS!...After over a decade as a pack-a-day-or-more smoker, I read this book, and I quit without any physical or mental anguish, and with complete confidence that I will never smoke another cigarette again for as long as I live. It feels amazing. It has been 9 months now, and I can say in all sincerity that after following Carr's method, I have not had a single authentic craving since the moment I put out my final cigarette. The smell of cigarette smoke is absolutely repulsive to me now. When I see people smoking I cannot believe that I was stuck in that trap for so long, and I wish I could stop and tell them all how easy it could be for them to finally be free!The brilliance of Carr's method is that he strips away every possible myth and misconception we hold about why we smoke, and replaces it with facts. Once fully internalized, the truth is impossible to unsee. And once you see it, smoking holds absolutely zero allure for you – it is reduced to what it really is: an addiction to lighting a toxic weed on fire, and inhaling the fumes of the burning poison into your lungs. Smoking doesn't help you focus – it is the urge to smoke that distracts you in the first place. It does not calm your nerves – you are perpetually more stressed all the time because you are anxious about how, when, and where you will next get to smoke. It doesn't give you energy – your energy is low all the time because you're constantly in one phase of nicotine withdrawal or the other.Carr walks you through these myths and many more in great detail, and if you read with intention and an open mind, I can't imagine he won't get through to you. Once the myths are shattered, your will to smoke is gone. By about halfway through the book it was already working – I found every cigarette an absolute chore, even though I followed his instructions and did not cut down nor attempt to quit until the very end. I actually began to feel it took willpower to *continue* smoking at that point (as opposed to willpower to *stop* smoking, as society would have you believe). You do not need willpower to quit doing something that you don't enjoy doing, that is providing you no benefit, and is robbing you of your physical, mental, and financial wellbeing. You need the truth. And that's what Carr gives you.I am grateful everyday for Allen Carr. I am certain I will live a longer – but even more so a HAPPIER – life as a result of this book empowering me to quit smoking.I will note that there are some elements of Carr's cultural perspectives/references that are a bit dated. While some of this may feel like it doesn't apply to you (I'm a 30-something, so I definitely felt that) directly, know that the same general ideas apply to almost every generation. For the most part, I read Carr like he was my grandfather's wise and charming friend – a *bit* out-of-touch from a cultural perspective, but warm, funny, and charismatic none the less. And more to the point, none of this distracts from the overall efficacy of the book or the underlying method it teaches.If you're on this page (and read this far down into my lengthy review), you know on some level that you don't want to be a smoker anymore. This costs less than a pack of smokes – you have nothing to lose and everything to gain – give it a shot!