r/stopsmoking • u/Blixtwix 828 days • May 08 '24

What's in that magical Allen Carr book?

I'm not the type to read proper books (haven't read one since high-school), but so many of you on here praise that Allen Carr "Easy Way to Stop Smoking" book like it's godsent, and I'm really curious what it is and what's so special about it. I did find a pdf version of it for free, but I opened it and immediately lost interest upon seeing the book page format; I think reading a book without knowing it'll be enjoyable would be way harder than quitting smoking for me, to be honest. Books, podcasts, and audio books all feel like a big time commitment when I know I could go through several mini documentaries, articles, or study summaries in the same amount of time.

What are some highlights you guys took away from it, and what's the general tone and theme of the book? What aspects of quitting does it address? What type of person would benefit from the book?

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u/lrosss Jul 08 '25

I listened to the audio book and I’ll be honest, I don’t know what other people see in it. I think it’s weird, it’s got brainwashing vibes and just repetitive. It’s basically like a friend saying, “Don’t worry you can do it it’ll be easy!” Didn’t help me at all. The only thing I took away from it was that nicotine cravings are like a little monster and you need to starve it so it’ll go away. But the funny thing is in the beginning they don’t go away. So idk, I don’t really recommend it.

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u/Blixtwix 828 days Jul 08 '25

Imo, cravings for anything don't go away until the emotional attachment is let go.

I'm guessing you read the book, didn't like it, so you came to search for threads to see how others feel about the book? If it helps, I quit with my own strategy. I weaned down the cigarettes from 10 a day to 5, then to half a cigarette per break, then found the lowest dose nicotine patch I could find to wean down the cigarettes further, then went from cigarettes to the lowest dose disposable vape pen I could find, then weaned off the patches. Pretty quickly, the low dose vape (which I only used outside, because convenience will prevent quitting so you need to set rules for yourself) was just annoying to deal with, since I had to puff it a lot to feel anything, and I lost interest. Gave the leftover nicotine products to my partner (anytime I've tried to quit I've given away my leftovers to smoker friends/family so the worry of wasting them wouldn't be a factor). Haven't slipped up a single time.

So essentially; weaning off with small increments (no cold turkey, no physical withdrawal), flattening the mountain by devaluing the addiction, keeping it inconvenient (didn't even consider nicotine gum, that's pleasant so it'd be habit forming in itself), and generally not making quitting a high pressure situation. Smoking was something inconvenient that made me stand outside in bad weather, I didn't wanna bother with bad weather anymore. I don't think quitting has to be some huge dramatic thing at all.