Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking [Paperback]

Thank you Allen Carr for writing this wonderful book. I was given this book last Christmas by my sister, who quit with it (along with her husband and their son) in 2000. Now I feel stupid for having wasted all that time. If I'd known how easy it was going to be I'd have done it a long time ago.
The last year has been the best of my life. I never thought I'd be happy without smokes in my life, but the truth is that that I have never been happier. The day I got butts out of my life was the day I really started living.
If you are a smoker or know a smoker, please get this amazing book.
It is a clear and simple instruction manual. If you want to stop smoking, follow Allen's instructions and you will find it easy and enjoyable.

My husband and I both read this book with different reactions.

The book claims that you won't need willpower to quit, but what he really means is that willpower alone won't do it: you also need to change your attitude about smoking and adopt the mentality of a non-smoker, i.e. someone who never got hooked and finds smoking appalling.

I was already 150% committed to quitting, had already come up with most of Allen's arguments on my own, and reading the book was a great confirmation of my decision. All the previous times I tried quitting, it was because I "should" and not because I "wanted to." That's what truly made this time different: I truly wanted to be free.

My quitting gave my husband motivation to quit too, so he read the book after me.

He has been a smoker much longer than me and was much more "brainwashed" (as Allen puts it) into believing he enjoys smoking. But I'm pretty sure that when it's -40 outside and he's shivering through a cigarette, he would much rather be a non-smoker. But the satisfaction he gets from relieving his morning nicotine fix is enough to give him the illusion that he really enjoys smoking, at least sometimes.

Bottom line: If you've made up your mind and you're determined to quit, this book can definitely help get you on track, and help change your thought pattern into seeing quitting as a positive thing. But if you feel like you "should" quit or someone's forcing you to read the book, then Allen will feel like just another nag.

The book is deliberately repetitive: the author starts out by telling us that he quit because of a hypnotist, and I believe the repetition is his attempt to "hypnotize" the reader. He uses the same phrases over and over so that they stick in your head and pop up when you're thinking about cheating on your commitment.

I'm giving it 3 stars because it does have excellent advice for someone who has already decided to quit, but it definitely won't motivate you if you haven't motivated yourself. And it will only be "easy" if you already know that you hate smoking and you just need that extra boost.

If I had known that it was this easy to quit I would have read this book years ago. I really can't believe that I struggled with patches, gum etc for so many years when this simple, effective cure was available the whole time. Health Canada should distribute this title free of charge to every smoker in Canada.
Every smoker I know who has read this book is now a happy non-smoker. It really is that powerful and that easy.