Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking: New US Edition: Over 20 Million Copies Sold

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!

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!

Its a shame Allen Car is not alive so i can call and thank him for saving my life. Your reading these reviews like i did 3 weeks ago. And believe me its not that i didnt think it would work, but i was afraid to try it, not ready to quit but yet wish i didnt smoke. It was 10$ almost the cost of my daily pack of American Spirits. I ordered it and was quite excited when it came in the mail. I told everyone i was going to quite this time! I am 23 years old and smoked almost a pack a day for 6 years. I am a well rounded person, pretty (just saying), smart, and WAS very athletic. Over the years i have not done a single sport, nor ran any type of long distance. My body could only handle walking, and even then walking up the stairs i was out of breath. At 23?... I hated when people would say you dont look like a smoker (which i thought was always rude). I would hide smoking from people who didnt know, because in todays society it is seriously looked down apon. Sometimes smoking makes you feel like your in prison. But no matter how embarresing it is or was, I never stopped. Not my mother crying or my boyfriend of 4 years telling me that smoking was a serious deal breaker for our future. In my body i was a smoker, in my mind i wasnt. I never wanted to be a smoker. In highschool i had some friends who were smokers, and i started cigarette smoking after weed. I thought ill never get addicted to these. These taste like s*** ! But it isnt till 2 years later i tried to quite, becasue at the time my boyfriend did not want anything to do with me as a smoker. It was hard. I rushed out of the house after a night together and the first thing i tried to do was light up a cig. I would spray my car, make my friends smoke outside in the cold after getting to school instead of smoking in the car. I wanted him to believe that i didnt smoke anymore, and i wanted to believe that i didnt. But i did. That did not stop me. It made me aggravted, which is prob why we broke up. I countiued smoking, at that point they seemed even more pleasurable for the next few years. I finally met my soul mate my senior year of highschool. he was a college boy. He has never forced me to stop but i know he hates it. occasonally hell have a cig when were out drinking. I envied him. How could he not smoke but have one almost every weekend. THats what i wished for. So i tried to quite again after 3 years together. I put on the patch and said thats it! IT WASNT BAD AT ALL.... However after reading this book i realized it wasnt bad because i was still getting nicotine. After i decided i was strong enough to take it off. I would have a cig every once in a while ( THIS IS ALL IN A 3 MONTH PERIOD ) ... I was able to control myself and i thought this is nice. But i still desired them. Finally one night something pissed me off so badly that i bought a pack. I was that mad that i felt that the only thing that could make me feel better and relieve my stress after all the good ive done would be a cig? well you can guess where that ended up. Once you buy the pack you mys well finish it right! so i smoked again for another year 1/2 untill 5 days ago 14 hours and 54 minutes. This book is amazing. Its amazing because its a side to quite smoking that no other person has ever tried before. No scare tacktect! You smoke throughout the book. Which i was confused at times because he never really told you to light up .... so when you do read it ( BECAUSE YOU WILL ) Smoke as much as you want, 2 -3 cigs a chapter if you want!. This book basically debunks all of the thoughts and feelings you thought smokeing was and it reveals the real truth about smoking. Once you know the truth ( and i dont mean what it does to your body ) i mean once you no the truth about what smoking really doesnt do for you, you wont want it. One of the biggest thing the book says it that. Smoke cigerettes... the cigerttes itself contains nicotine (we all know) but did we all no that NICOTINE is the most highly addictive drug known to man kind. NICOTINE IS MORE ADDICTIVE THEN HEROIN, ALCOHOL,CRACK,.... Looking back on why i could never quit it made sense. s*** i went crazy without it. But why? its not like they taste like lobsters. If i were to be forced to eat lobsters everyday several times a day for 6 years i would hate them! i would prob kill myself. They would taste like s*** by then. But yet, we smoke cigarettes and they didnt taste good in the first place, and we have them everyday for years. why? because NICOTINE is a drug addiction. Every smokers wishes he/she never started. so take that wish and see what can come out of it. read the book. I actually read the book and had 1 chapter left, which was the "LAST CIGARETTE CHAPTER" ... i closed it had a cig and said maybe ill read that chapter in a few days. I actually wanted to wait also becasue it was the weekend and i wanted to enjoy myself. lol its sad. it made me realize wow smoking controls your life. and controls how you read books for god sakes. So i was on youtube and came across the DVD. Oh by the way i at this point unlike other reviews who said OMG IM DONE SMOKING AND I AM ONLY HALF WAY THROUGH. i was no where near that. i was still afraid, i understood everything in the book but still something hadnt clicked! it made me upset... i thought to myself omg is this is it? am i going to be a smoker for the rest of my life :( ... well i started watching the dvd.... i watched 10 minutes of the hour long period. I paused it once it got my interest. THe book was amazing and i am so glad i read it, but the dvd i could tell was helping as well because although i read everything and understood. the dvd reviewed everything just like the book but it picture for. I was able to grasp it that much more! So i had to go to work of course. told my boyfriend and called my mother that i was going to smoke my last cigarette. It felt so good to say it. I was confident. somehting clearly had clicked thank god. I went to work came home at 11... watched the hour long dvd from the start. I had my final cigarette at 12:50am when he told me too. Tossed the fresh 10$ pack in the trash (after breaking each cig) (boyyy would i never have done that one) and went to bed a non smoker! I must admit and share my story with you because when i read others there so positive and i had a different story. mine was still positive but it helps to hear a full story especially with the fear you must be having thinking of buying this book and quitting. So the follow day and the next was HORRIBLE. Now i had slight pangs and thought about cigs alot. But it also was a stressful two days beings my boyfriends grandfather has been in the hospital sick with stage 4 cancer. I was depressed and miserable. out of control crying. I was missing something. Was the feeling i got .... really missing something. that night my boyfriend was so fed up with me i went to a friends house. still havent smoked i asked for a cig. she put the pack infront of me. I talked out my feelings while looking at the pack. I was craving one. but would it help me? would it help my situation? I finally left and told her i would have one on the ride home thanks. I got in my car to go home. It was pouring out. I put the cig in my mouth went to light up and said "you know what no" (exactly those words) I threw out the cig and from then on i swear to god. I have not been miserable. I have been happy and joyful. I know i beat the addiction. I am now fearful of every smoking again because i realized how addicting they really are. I know that when im stressed cigarettes will not make the stress better, they would have just released the stress from the previous cigarette. ( youll learn all this in the book ) today although its only been 5 days i went for my first run. I ran 1/2 mile non stop with no pain. It felt so good i could have kept going. I only stopped to turn around, and when i did i was all smiles. Its crazy 5 days ago i would not have been able to do that. It goes to show you how presush our bodies are and how much poisn we put in them to feed our addiction. Our bodies bounce back to how they are supposed to be in a matter of no time. So do not be fearful of this. buy the book and dont question yourself. Remember if you bought it, it means your really READ AND WILLING TO QUIT. I do also recomment trying to find the DVD if things havent clicked like for me they didnt. They did though. And besides those two days (where i feel my body was breaking down for giving myself such harmful poisions all these years ) it has been easy!!! no with draw pangs since. I am so glad i picked up that cigarette and said no. it proved to me that i was truly a non smoker. thanks allen car for saving my life, and thanks to all the wonderful people who wrote the reviews. it helped myself gain confidence in defeating this awful addiction

I was a pack-a-day smoker for 15 years. I really thought that I LOVED smoking and was never going to stop. I had tried to quit on many occasions but had never made it more than 4 days. I would try to "cut back" and "only smoke on weekends"... but the "weekends" inevitably got stretched out so I could smoke longer. I tried the patch, Chantix, and willpower/cold turkey.I was worried about gaining weight and I was afraid to quit smoking because I couldn't imagine life without it. I don't know how but this book worked for me. I'm 5 days quit (I'll check back in and report on longer term success too!) but I've NEVER made it five days without a cigarette or even a strong urge to have one. It was so easy to quit too... usually I wait until the pack is finished and it has to be a Sunday so I can start the week fresh. I would have anxiety attacks worrying about never having a cigarette again. Not this time. Halfway through the book, I didn't want to smoke anymore. I was getting excited to quit! The book tells you to keep smoking while you read it... but I panicked a little bit and slowed down on reading it. However, those cigarettes weren't doing it for me. I just kept questioning WHY I was continuing to smoke? I wasn't getting the satisfaction from cigarettes that I expected. When I finally finished the book, I was done smoking. I quit at 6:15 pm on a Friday... even though I had a WHOLE weekend ahead of me that was prime time for smoking as many cigarettes as I wanted. It's NICE not to be waiting for my next cigarette. It's nice to not feel like I'm constantly waiting to be "allowed" to smoke. It's not anything that I should have been looking forward to or anything I should miss. The book has a neat way of gradually convincing you that smoking is just ridiculous... and not by scaring you with health concerns. We all know lung cancer is a major risk but we keep smoking anyway. This book points out the lies you tell yourself to justify your addiction and teaches you how to think differently. Just simple logic that you never really considered while addicted to nicotine. It's worth your $10.00, I can say that much. I guess this counts as cold turkey since I'm not using any nicotine replacement therapies or anything but it certainly doesn't feel like cold turkey. NO anxiety. No worries. No panic. No regrets. I have seen other smokers around and I am not jealous that they are smoking and I have no desire to have one ever again. Sure, cravings come and go but they are mild and easy to tolerate. You can do it too... if I can, anyone can. *** UPDATE: Day 19 Quit! :) Still going strong! ***

This is a mostly excellent book of things you can say to yourself to motivate an "escape" from smoking, as the book puts it. I found myself reading the book all in one sitting, because from the very beginning it posits some powerful arguments to quit, and since you are encouraged to quit as soon as the book is done, you want to read it fast. Some say the encouragement to continue smoking makes it so people read the book slowly, so they can keep smoking, but the arguments are so good for leaving smoking behind that you want to just get on with it! It even addresses some of the downfalls of naming a book with a somewhat gimmicky self-help title (if it is so "easy" to quit then starting up again wouldn't be a problem, would it? That was my concern and yes that is addressed). There's also some clever humor in the book (I laughed at the chapter of "the benefits of smoking" and appreciated its brevity). It loses a star because throughout the book there are somewhat advertisements of the very successful seminars that the author runs, which I felt would have been best left as a mention at the end of the book. A little note for smokers who might be reading this review but are not sold enough to try the book out, I'll just tell you two of the most convincing arguments that motivate me currently. A) Smokers go through nicotine withdrawal their entire lives, not just when they quit smoking. The only way to end the withdrawals is to quit. This was somewhat of a revelation for me, and when you think about it like that, it's very easy to stay quit and B) You're giving up absolutely nothing, in fact you are giving up more by continuing to smoke. Quitting smoking is portrayed as a sacrifice requiring willpower when in reality that line of thinking does NOTHING to help you quit. Willpower and making a sacrifice are required to KEEP smoking, not quit, and our brains and the propaganda forced down our throats make up tons of bogus excuses to keep us smoking. Keeping that in mind while quitting makes it easy to deal with the tiny bit of anxiety from chemical withdrawal that you may be experiencing. I normally don't write reviews for books on here but I am on my first day quitting, feeling great, and wanted to write down some of the arguments of the book to reinforce my own thinking. I was a pack a day smoker, no longer! And the book helped me realize how good I should feel about that, rather than the stereotypical portrayal of a quitter as wrapped up in negativity and anger. Good read, check it out!

I was a smoker for 30 plus years. A pack a day. I always wanted to quit but was afraid to try, knowing I would fail. I watched Ellen DeGeneres give this book to Colin Ferrell on her show. She said it worked for her and recommended he try it. Well, I thought what do I have to lose? I don’t know how it worked, but it worked. I finished the book, then reread it. I was at work, on a smoke break, and something just clicked. I told my coworker (also a smoker) this is my last cigarette, I stubbed it out and threw my pack of cigarettes in the dumpster. That was 9 years ago. I know I will never be controlled by cigarettes again. If you wanna quit, but like me are scared, try this book, it’s cheaper than a pack of cigarettes.

Ok so I bought the book. It took a while to read it, because I was skeptical and hesitant. The theme in the book does work if you follow the directions and keep talking yourself through it. It was interesting as I was using the excuses the author describes to a T throughout the book to keep smoking. It did have a positive effect on me. I have been a non-smoker for a week. It started the day after finishing the book. I do appreciate the efforts here.

Until recently, I was one of those hard-core smokers that Allen Carr used to describe himself as. I bought Allen's book last month (Ellen DeGeneres and Sir Anthony Hopkins convinced me) and it is definitely a labor of love. He was honest and forthright from his perspective and you can tell he's genuinely out to help people first. I think he really, really believes what he says, and a lot of people can and have experienced quitting precisely the way he did. But I didn't. He actually had me weeping at a few points in his book, particularly when he talked about how ass-backward the government and medical profession are about the way they approach profoundly-addicted smokers (trying to scare us into quitting, pulleeeze)... about how American culture addicted its smokers then turned on them the way the pilgrim Puritans went after "so-called" witches, harlots, and (dramatic pause) sinners... about the hypocrisy out there that punitively judges and banishes addicts into the shadows - from smokers to drunks to overeaters. Yes, I agree with him. Our cultures in America and Europe have tried to shame us, scare us, overcharge us, and socially exile us into quitting. And despite the fact that none of those strategies work, they continue to act as if they do, while we die in gruesome ways by the thousands every day and the nonsmokers blame us for their screwing up their health care premiums. Despite the sad state we are in... smokers for being caught in the grip of a life-threatening addiction... and nonsmokers for looking down their holier-than-thou noses at people who are suffering in ways they couldn't possibly imagine... the truth is that cigarette smoking is a customized addiction. And that's what makes it such a monster. Every person who gets caught in the smoking web does so by customizing how they use the drug to cope with their idiomatic version of psychosocial pain. And that means that the only way out of the web is for the smoker to find his or her customized quitting treasure map. The medical and helping professions have not yet acknowledged this fact and are still promoting one size fits all quitting strategies. If you don't believe me, try calling a quitter's hotline sometime and chat with a coach for a while. Unfortunately, Allen Carr is doing that 'one-size fits all' thing too. Don't get me wrong. His strategy gets RESULTS for a much higher percentage of people than all the other known strategies. He is hitting the greater majority jackpot. But a little digging into the fine print of a few research studies will reveal that his "EasyWay" numbers are grossly inflated. One particular UK study explained the reason that only 5% of people asked for their money-back guarantee on his seminars. That was because a vastly higher number than 5% fail to quit smoking but feel like it was their fault that they didn't quit, not the fault of the program. So they don't ask for their money back. Thus they never report (or are asked) if they quit or if they are actively smoking again. You are being misled when the claim is made that 85% of people who engage Carr's EasyWay products quit and are sublimely happy during and forever after the quit date. I forgive Allen Carr that marketing ploy because I am convinced he really cares about helping as many addicted smokers as he can. This is how consultants squander and deform perfectly beautiful missions in search of your almighty dollar (or other currency). I read Allen Carr's book and I quit smoking but there is no DIRECT cause-effect relationship between the two. There's an infinite number of INDIRECT causes though. I have been smoking for 50 years and trying to quit every year for the last 20. I have quit multiple times, hours at a time, days at a time, months at a time, only to smoke again during or after a rough crisis. I have used every nicotine quit product available, every Rx available except Chantix since I have a history of two nervous breakdowns while trying to quit addictions. I have experienced hypnosis, EMDR, NLP, tapping, acupuncture, Reiki, herbal concoctions, you name it. I am signed up on five quit smoking websites. I've got a huge amount of experience going for me here and decades of failure. Be careful not to let anyone convince you that failures are a good thing and will eventually lead to your success as a quitter. Put their statements to the self-examination test. You might decide that failures might indeed be good for you, like building those failure muscles in the gym of life. Then again, that precept might be total ca-ca, like it was for me. Failures made me way more afraid that I wouldn't succeed next time I quit. Finally I had to go to therapy to fix my darned fear of failure before I could even attempt to quit smoking again. Allen Carr absolutely convinced me that cold turkey is the only way to go. It was the only method I hadn't tried yet (at least beyond the first 4 hours). I took his theory about addiction, flat out filthy addiction, to the bank. I convinced myself that being free was a strong enough motive to make the pain go away, to make quitting easy and happy as Allen promises. Spoiler: beware the crap about 72 hours and the nicotine is out of your system. It might not register on a blood draw but I'll guarantee you that the nicotine receptors in my brain were screaming so loud at 85 and 100 hours that I was on my stomach, crying like a baby. By Day 4, I had to have two really trusted friends with me at all times. It was strait-jacket, bouncing off padded walls day. I actually had to fend off suicidal thoughts that afternoon. I had a really great support team, thank God. I'm clean a week now. It's way better than it was a few days ago. It's no picnic though and I figure I'll be on the white knuckle tight wire for at least 300 to 400 days yet. But somehow Allen Carr's promise that this would be easy didn't work for me. His whole schtick felt a bit too Disney-fied for me but I sure prayed I could have the Cinderella miracle he swore was possible. I suppose the reason why Allen didn't work for me is the same reason every hypnotherapist I've ever seen grumbles under his breath when I keep coming back because the hypnotism simply doesn't work. I hear Stanford experts are close to figuring out why a minority of humans like me have brains that are not wired to accept "suggestibility." Buy Allen's book. He was honest. He cared deeply about helping smokers set themselves free. He was a gift to humanity and spent his life admirably. He wanted you to quit smoking. He wanted you to be happy. He wanted you to feel free. When he finally achieved those things, he wanted to share them. I say, receive them graciously. And use them in the best way you can to help yourself. If you're one of those who can quit painlessly, you are an incredibly lucky person. YAY! If you're more like me, you'll be better prepared to quit because of Allen's hard-earned wisdom. It's still going to hurt like a sonuvagun for a really long time but all you can do is keep quitting one craving at a time, using the strategies you have experimented with along the way. Thank you Allen, and everyone else I have read or talked with the last 20 years about my smoking. Every one of you gives me a little something that goes into my customized basket of quit goodies and one of these days I'll wake up and realize I finally got there. Couldn't have done it without you!

Recomendo a todos que algum dia já pensaram em parar de fumar. Um ano depois, digo tranquilamente que foi a melhor escolha da minha vida. Dê uma chance a esse livro, você não vai se arrepender

Purchased this book for my son and he actually read twice loved it so much. Really has helped him .

Had to write this after my experience being total non smoker for 6 years since purchase. If you are reading this, trust me, this works like a absolute magic. I was a smoker for 13 years and was getting fed up of hiding and smoking, shame, money being wasted, family's despair that I planned to quit several times but all in vein. Problem why I always relapsed was because my method was totally clueless as to how to stay quit because some way or other, extreme urges used to come back always and I used to smoke harder than before. Then around December 2018, I finally thought of staying quit no matter what but don't know from when to stop. I told them my smoking friends and few more about my decision to quit seriously and fortunately, SO SO FORTUNATELY, one of those friends recommended me this PRECIOUS BOOK and after reading it, I have been a non smoker for 6 years because it's January 2025 now. I won't say much as to how this book works but JUST GO FOR IT, I have been there!!!!!!!! :)

gefällt dem Empfänger gut

I gave this to my mom and it worked. Pack a day for 35 years to cigarette free. Highly recommend if your considering it.