I have read some article on the French news about Allen Carr’s “Easy Way to Stop Smoking Kit” book.
A few comments were really praising it. “I was smoking a pack a day for the past ten years and quit in a matter of hours” type of comments. I don’t know to trust those.
Would any fellow Dopers know of this book, and could give an objective opinion/review of it? Does it work? Is it bull?
I read it. I can’t say it was bull because I quit for 6 days and that was the longest I’ve gone without smoking in ten years. It is a book to help you stop smoking but it was hard for me to keep with it. I didn’t listen to the tapes that came with it or re-read the book for support after I stopped. That might have helped.
There is no miracle cure for smoking in that book. It is a motivational-type book and if that type of thing works for you, it’s worth a shot. You have to meet it half way and get in the spirit of it. I think I will be better off with a more systematic method including nicotine replacement therapy and a detailed plan. I think it depends on your personal style.
I should have previewed that. I guess you already know it is a book to help you stop smoking. What I meant to say that it is a book to help you stop smoking, but it doesn’t guide you through the hellish new life you will lead as an ex-smoker.
I haven’t heard of this book, so I checked it out on Amazon. There are 54 customer reviews, and only 1 or 2 of them are negative.
The reason I checked Amazon, is because people are not shy about posting negative reviews there. Also, Amazon doesn’t remove reviews just because they’re negative.
Obviously this isn’t a foolproof method, but it does seem promising that it has so many positive reviews and so few negative reviews.
Thanks all for your replies. Very interesting.
I just got around to read all those.
It sounds pretty good. A co-worker’s birthday is coming up and she said she is going to quit smoking, I will get her that book.
There are people on this board who swear by that book, but it didn’t work for me.
I’m one of those who will swear by it. 
And my husband, his father and two friends, all of who have borrowed my higlighted and dog-eared copy and quit successfully.
I agree that there is no cure-all for smoking. Some things work for some people, nothing works for everyone. However, I encourage people trying to quit to try this book, especially if they have failed ‘cold turkey’ attempts previously, since the book is a damn sight cheaper than nicotine patches, drugs, etc. The practical side of me thinks why not try the cheaper options first ?
This book worked like magic for me. I still believe the most important ingredient to quitting is a true desire to quit, not the method you choose. I had many half-arsed attempts before I got serious.
I’m pleased for anyone who manages to quit successfully, whatever method they use. And if Carr’s book worked for them, great. But I think the people should take more credit then the book.
I’ve read it and I confess to being very surprised at its enduring popularity. In my view, it’s badly written. It is also a fact that some of the author’s arguments are just silly. For example, Carr makes the point (more than once) that to say you can’t do without cigarettes is a nonsense, because you manage it for 8 hours or so every night while you’re asleep. This is a dumb as rocks. By the same reasoning, people don’t need to eat or drink either.
But hey, if it helps even one person to quit, that’s a good thing.