Tobacco Books

When I heard that my bestfriend had bought this book, I had to get my hands on it. For I had to work in the tobacco fields when I was younger. The hot blistery days and never-ending work never seemed to upset me. For there is a drive that keeps us Kentucky farm kids going during tough times. It is a dedication- a very sweet dedication. If you want to visit this beauty and get a glimpse of Kentucky life as I knew it, buy this book. Sit down with a cup of hot cocoa. Enjoy it all!

I assume, in the lack of better evidence, that this is a reprint of the 1896 volume of the same title by John Bain, Jr., who was responsible for a later similar volume titled "Tobacco Leaves".

The book is a "commonplace book" of the sort popular during this period, collecting snippets of prose and poetry praising tobacco, usually jocular in nature. The nature and quality of the entries is characteristic of the period and entertaining if you like this sort of thing or need something to read in your smoking jacket.

If I am wrong in the above description, I would appreciate correction; I have a copy of the 1896 volume and have been researching antecedents for my own interest, although I have not been able to obtain much information on the volume.

Brian/OSU
Haustein does a very good job of convincing his audience that tobacco use is dangerous in this book, by using statistics from research. His research is convincing because he not only uses his research, but he also uses the research of other accredited professionals. An example of this is when he writes that in Germany over 17 million people smoke, 300 people die each day from the direct consequences of smoking. (18) An example of Haustein quoting another professional can be found in his book when he states "that according to the Rochester Coronary Heart Disease Project, the study conducted in 40 to 59 year old women, cigarette smoking increases the risk for coronary heart disease or sudden cardiac death." It is examples like these that help strengthen his argument. I would say that this is the greatest strength of Haustein's book. Haustein does a very good job of sticking to the research subject and not giving his own opinion. In a book written to convey to the reader the negative affects of smoking. It is important that he does use these facts instead of his own opinion because it strengthens his argument and helps to make his argument more believable. I enjoyed reading this book, and I would recommend it to any person interested in the effects of tobacco use.

descriptions easy to find, index great help, Written so that a collector at any level can find the information he is looking for

As the country debates immigration, here's a book that gives you an inside look at the complexities of this issue on so many different levels: from the farmer's point of view to the recent immigrants', the photographs in this book will give you insight that reaches beyond the headlines.

I thought it was great and I wish I could write as well as Mr. Buckley. Makes me want to find more of his books to read

`Thank You for Smoking' by Christopher Buckley

Christopher Buckley once again delivers with his supremely sharp jabs at American political correctness and smug political sanctimony. Buckley's hero, Nick Naylor, top spokesman for the tobacco industry keeps you in hysterics as he flaks for his industry during appearances with the likes of Larry King. The unfailingly intelligent banter served up at Naylor's weekly lunch club with his fellow MoD's (Merchants of Death - reps of the firearm & alcohol industries) will bust your gut. Mr. Buckley's knack for sublimely over the top humor will undoubtedly keep you in stitches and wanting for more. The story contains enough twists and turns, wild characters and silky wit to keep you reading his novels forever. For any lover of smart satire, definitely check out this terrific novel. As with any great book turned movie, celluloid inevitably finds a way to disappoint and `Thank You For Smoking' is certainly NOT an exception. If you've seen the movie and think you've got the story - trust me - you haven't. The book is a near entirely different plot and far smarter offering of fun - check it out!

Thank You for Smoking is a collection of caricatures, each more clever than the other. The Mod (Merchants of Death) Squad is a great concept, and the cigarette, alcohol, and firearms pitchmen that comprise it are outlandish uber-parodies. The same with the Captain (Doak Boykin), the urbane, old moneyed, vaguely racist, mint julep drinking tobacco industry leader with the weak ticker. There's even a Malboro Man equivalent, the rugged Tumbleweed Man. All are so over the top as to be ridiculous, yet something tells me they're exactly as Nanny state politicians and class action attorneys picture them.

Of course, the politicians are just as unctuous- philandering liars who can be bought on short money. The histrionic anti-tobacco activists don't come off pure, either, exaggerating statistics and exploiting kids with cancer to further their aims. [After all, "smoking is the nation's leading cause of statistics."]

The character development was far and away TYFS's strength; the meandering, unrealistic plot was its weakness. The story line is pretty thin, and the book's climax is unfortunately its least believable aspect. In general, there is a huge conspiracy afoot that requires you to swallow an awful lot. Some characters and subplots are brought up without any development, such as Nick's son, and the idea of making a movie to revitalize onscreen smoking.

Still, the characters and their excellent dialogue alone make this worth reading. Major character and smoking spokesman Nick Naylor's charm, spin, and rationalization of why, for instance, cheese is worse for you than cigarette smoke, make for an unforgettable character. Buckley's use of imagined newspaper headlines, and fictitious dialogue from minor players like Larry King and Oprah are inspired.

In the daily melodramas of Washington life--at least the stock versions offered by the hometown paper and the network news--the plots are predictable and the characters easy to read. We have good guys (public-interest lawyers, environmentalists, idealistic congressmen calling for an "expanded federal role"), and we have bad guys (pro-lifers, Second Amendment enthusiasts, people with Pentagon contracts). And then we have the really, really bad guys: the publicists, talking heads, and spinmeisters of the Tobacco Institute, the infamous lobbying arm of the tobacco industry.

Watching one of these poor souls bob and weave on MacNeil-Lehrer, or grimace through a grilling on the morning shows, you can't help wondering: What's it like to be so openly hated, so contemptuously disbelieved, as the fellow who drags himself from bed each morning to defend a product only slightly more popular than Thalidomide? Does his mom hate him, too? Does his wife believe him when he explains why he's late for dinner? Do the kids mind when the Discovery channel compares dad to Himmler? Has he never thought of chucking it all for an easier job--say, writing jokes for Elie Wiesel?

Not all of those human questions are specifically asked and answered by Christopher Buckley in Thank You for Smoking, his new satirical novel; actually, none of them is. But Mr. Buckley has set for himself the large task of entering that rarefied circle of PR hell where the tobacco spokesman resides, to give him flesh and depth, to show with some sympathy his inner life, to share his pain. And then to kill him off. Or almost kill him off.

Our hero is Nick Naylor, chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies (for which read: the Tobacco Institute). Like many spokesfolk, Nick is a journalist who failed upward. As a local Washington TV reporter he made the mistake one evening of announcing to a live television audience that the President had, in fact, died, when he had, in fact, not. For that minor error he was removed from the trade of journalism and entered the trade of public relations, where inaccuracy is more highly prized. The pay is better, too.

Nick's job of ceaseless prevarication does not especially trouble him. And Mr. Buckley records his dissembling with such precision, and such relish, that we won't be especially bothered by it, either. Here, to take one of his riffs at random, is Nick pleading for a ceasefire in the smoking wars, with Katie Couric (one of many media stars who make cameos in the novel): "Well, Katie, you can't spell tolerance without the t in tobacco. Our position all along has been, we understand there are people who care strongly about smoking. We're saying, Let's work together on this. Let's get some dialogue going. This is a big country, a great country, and there's plenty of room in it for smoking and nonsmoking areas."

The patter is worthy of Elmer Gantry or Professor Harold Hill. Like them, too, Nick is a bottomless fount of information. Did you know that smoking prevents Parkinson's disease? Scientific data suggest that it does. And smoking reduces the incidence of carpal-tunnel syndrome, since smokers take more frequent breaks from their computer keyboards. At the same time, bans on smoking in the workplace have led to an alarming rise in pneumonia, from thrusting smokers into the elements merely because they've chosen to enjoy a pleasurable recreational activity enjoyed by forty million other Americans.

In thus defending the right to smoke, Nick is cheered on by the MOD Squad--a small luncheon group that takes its name from its members' reputations as Merchants of Death. Charter members are Bobby Jay, of "SAFETY, the Society for the Advancement of Firearms and Effective Training of Youth, formerly NRTBAC, the National Right to Bear Arms Committee," and Polly of the "Moderation Council, formerly the National Association for Alcoholic Beverages."

I do not doubt that in the vast chow dens of Washington, some equivalent of the MOD Squad actually exists. "Their guests had come from such groups as the Society for the Humane Treatment of Calves, representing the veal industry, the Friends of Dolphins, formerly the Pacific Tuna Fishermen's Association, the American Highway Safety Association, representing triple-trailer truckers, the Land Enrichment Foundation, formerly the Coalition for the Responsible Disposal of Radioactive Waste, and others."

What brings this sad band of brothers and sisters together is their shared fate: to defend, for pay, the quotidian pleasures and practices of American life against the assaults of a new, aggressive, and spectacularly priggish political culture. But the MOD Squad's solidarity is sorely tested when the going gets even tougher, as it does when a band of anti-smoking zealots (or so it seems) kidnaps Nick and attempts to terminate him with extreme prejudice, by plastering him with (what else?) nicotine patches. From here the plot accelerates; I won't spoil your pleasure by telling you where it leads, except to say that you'll be amazed at where you end up.

Thank You for Smoking is at once a mystery, a political drama, and a knowing social satire of the first rank.

It's a dicey combination, and I can't think of another contemporary American novelist who could pull it off with such dexterity and high spirits. Mr. Buckley's ear for the cant of bureaucracy and publicity is pitch-perfect, and his rendering of the essential absurdity of so much of Washington life is unsparing but always humane. Christopher Buckley's Washington is much more entertaining than the stock version, and, I'm sorry to say, much more believable.

This is an entertaining film, worth watching. My main comment is that while called a satire, it serves as a very powerful public relations piece for the tobacco industry. Deep down, I think that tobacco money or influence was a big part of the reason why the film was made. If not, it is an unfortunate coincidence that the film is a strong criticism for anti-smoking activists and a strong justification for what the tobacco industry has done. And even worse, the film implies that the tobacco industry has been tamed by law suits and regulations, while in truth, the economic strength of the industry is greater than ever. While the film indicated that the "bad guys" have been punished, in fact, the industry boomed after the tobacco settlement. And the audience comes to love the man who advocates "trying yourself", "not being told what to do", and "choice" for a product that continues to increase nicotine in cigarettes even as it pretends to warn people of the dangers. As a film, this is very good. As a propaganda piece, it is a real work of art. Watch it and notice how you feel at the end. Who do you like? Who do you ridicule? If the film is done well, those feelings have been crafted by the story. The film is a real success, but I am sorry that this is the success that is sought. This is a film that promotes the tobacco industry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am very impressed with a person like David A. Kessler, MD, JD, who is very knowledgeable and compassionate to our community. During his time of directing FDA, he directed a number of new programs, including: the regulation of the marketing and sale of tobacco products to children; nutrition labeling for food; user fees for drugs and biologics; preventive controls to improve food safety; measures to strengthen the nation's blood supply; and the MEDWatch program for reporting adverse events and product problems. He emphasized strong law enforcement and created an Office of Criminal Investigation within the agency.

THE CONTENT OF THE BOOK
There are two keywords in this book as can be seen from the title. First key word is "intent" which is talking about the intention of the tobacco companies to secretly increase the level of nicotine in cigarettes that functions as a main selling point through the effect of addiction to the smokers. The second one is "battle with a deadly industry" which is talking about the great battle between FDA and the untouched and deadly tobacco industries for decades due to their collusions and strong lobby with congressional parties.

With his broad spectrum experiences and background in medical, scientific, legal, and political skills plus his sincere dedication to humanity, especially children and youth, Dr. Kessler was able to reveal and breakthrough the tobacco scandal's fortress. His bold initiative to investigate this scandal significantly proved that tobacco industries intended addiction to their customers. With this battle, he had to face that the majority of Congress, the industrial people and any others at that time did not give any support to his good will. He even had to go through a dark painful experiences of being strongly disagreed, ignored, and mocked by others. Here is one sample of them, taken from his statement in page 168. "Their initial confidence that the FDA's efforts would go nowhere had been bolstered by the early predictions of stock analysts: `Kessler Testimony Is Mostly Noise, Threat of Regulation by FDA Is Limited,' declared one respected Wall Street expert"

When I checked out the information about the author, I did not see any reason to think he was either an attention seeker or having non professional problem with personnel that has been colluding with the powerful tobacco industries. The accuracy of his writing can be verified by objective observation and divergent views from many logic and scientific based resources.

Thought the battle is not finish yet (since the tobacco industries turns their attention to the developing world), I am glad to know that in the middle of the inhumane practices of tobacco industries, there is still a remnant person who really cares, sacrifices, and fight for the glory of the real truth. This book is really a great inspiration and motivation for he/she who cares about the health and the safety of our people in the level of public health advocacy, policy making and law enforcement.

David Kessler in A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle with a Deadly Industry provides readers with an entertaining and educating read that serves as a guide for organizations while showing an detailed view of bureaucracy, the media, and government organizations. He effectively displays the numerous benefits of affiliation between organizations and their leaders when trying to change the regulation over tobacco. Kessler also does a great job showing the role of a President and the effect he or she can have on organizations when they get to choose the leading personnel. Where Kessler falls short though is in providing a well organized story, free of excess personal narratives, and repetition. Do these errors tend to negate the quality of the book as a whole? No, but it makes me question his editor and the intentions he or she had in the scattered layout and whether included memoir aspects were entirely necessary.

By bringing the reader directly into the Food and Drug Administration's everyday happenings, Kessler is able to display the decision process of a government organization, while adding an element of suspense. His emphasizes the importance of connections and affiliation and teaches readers the scope and impact that lobbyists can have on the outcome of policies. He often describes that "too late" he realized that he had been "sandbagged by...lobbyists" and "overlooked [the] key tactical step" of lining up more support and connections (Kessler, 48). He shows that it was only through the support of his older staff and political connections that he was able to move forward in his fight for tobacco regulation.

The involvement of the reader in the processes Kessler and his team had to go through to get government attention on the regulation of tobacco could easily serve as a guide for other struggling organizations. He shows in detail how they used the media and were careful about their timing when making decisions. For instance, Kessler asked credible journalists to downplay stories to the New York Times to the extent that newspapers wouldn't even write about events such as the American Red Cross' bad blood supply. This manipulation of the media was useful to the organization by downplaying bad press and avoiding un-needed fear and panic. For other organizations who find themselves in the heat of the media, they might want to take notes from Kessler and his experiences

Another positive aspect of Kessler's book was his ability to show the vital role of the President. Most readers, like myself, would be surprised to learn that the President can have such a vital effect on issues such as food labeling. Kessler describes the difficulty and "maneuvering" it took to get amendments on the underage purchases of cigarettes on the Presidents desk (Kessler, 98). Once they got there, he describes how a Congressional hearing was crucial in how the media framed the issue - eventually leading to the impression the American public got on the topic. Overall, his book gives a great overview of what it takes to get an issue to the desk of the President, and how the steps taken after that can shape public opinion and determine the fate or success of a proposed amendment.

In the end, Kessler and his editor could have improved on the organization of the book. The subject of each 3-7 page chapter skips from topic to topic. It gets tedious when the reader has to continually shift his or her focus from tobacco to fresh food labels to the AIDS drug progression then back to tobacco - all with a little autobiographical information thrown into the mix. At the same time, Kessler consistently switches between using character's first and last names. One minute he's calling a successful reporter "Jim," like they're best friends, the next referring to him as "O'Hara" who had a "reputation among reporters for credibility" (Kessler, 92). The inconsistency is unnecessary and confusing.

Another detail that distracted from a smooth read from a trustworthy author, is his insistence on showing he "did not know" what he was doing, or that he "should have realized" that many of his decisions would have negative effects. Readers already understand no person is perfect, there is no reason to keep reminding them up to two or three times a page.

For readers who want an entertaining, yet educational read, Kessler's book provides both. While it does have its minor errors and editorial mishaps, his ability to produce a book that readers like a thriller yet explains the inner-workings of bureaucracy in a simple-to-understand way is uncanny. Lessons can be learned by regular readers seeking more information on a much debated topic - the regulation of tobacco - or big organizations looking to revitalize their strategies to achieve greater success in their goals.

Thank you, Dr. Kessler, for pursuing the tobacco dragon and for writing this book. It should be required reading for every medical and divinity school student.

Wow. Who would have thought a book on the history of the FDA's handling of tobacco regulation would read like a spy novel? I grabbed this book off the new books shelf at the library, and picked it up expecting to skim through it. Kessler begins with how he was chosen to head the FDA, and introduces several of his staff including the one who started him toward taking on the tobacco industry. Then we get plenty of background including the history, marketing, and laws concerning tobacco.

With all the press on Big Tobacco, I expected them to be shown as fiendish. I've been a member of Americans for Non-Smokers Rights for 20 years, and I've read all about the Industry's dirty tricks, and I fully expected to read about them again here. What I didn't expect to find was the thoroughness in Big Tobacco attempted to discredit the FDA, and Kessler takes us through the political campaigns and counter-campaigns. He shows how Big Tobacco created fake advocacy groups on several issues, leading to their attempt to muzzle the FDA and cut off all their government funding. If you remember the '94 Contract with America and the movement against Big Government, you'll be surprised to find how Big Tobacco co-opted it to fight the FDA, one of the more admired agencies.

If you weren't already cynical about how the US government operates, this book will get you there, even with its descriptions of some of the good guys continually outmaneuvered by the bad ones. Several congress members are shown to be captives of Big Tobacco, doing their dirty work with scripts written by their lobbyists and lawyers.

And speaking of lawyers, one of the most amazing revelations to me ok is how the tobacco industry became captives of their law firms! Yes, instead of working for their clients, the law firms ended up calling all the shots, and the CEOs would read statements prepared by them. The book covers how this came to be.

If you love looking of source material, you'll be busy. Kessler leaves plenty of footnotes in this meaty book for your review. My only complaint is that the book jumps around in places, as the story moves forward or back depending on the topic being covered. But this is a small beef, as the material is so compelling. Find out not only how cigarette's nicotine content was manipulated but how the industry tried to hide this obvious fact from FDA visitors to their manufacturing facilities. Enjoy the victories and despair over the setbacks; this is a policy-wonk's book as written by a Tom Clancy wanna-be.

America, for all its faults, is the battlefield on which many of the world's most important health questions are being fought. None of those is more important than the questions this excellent book addresses. Is nicotine a narcotic? Are America's major cigarette companies, collectively known as Big Tobacco, deliberately turning their customers into nicotine addicts?

They were the key questions David Kessler tackled when he was Commissioner of America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1990 to 1997. Kessler, who is now Dean of the Yale University Law School, fought a tenacious battle with Big Tobacco and its powerful allies on Capitol Hill during those years. The battle was so tough and Big Tobacco so ruthless that Kessler and his small team were often compared to Elliot Ness and his small band of Untouchables who slugged it out with Al Capone's army of gangsters and corrupt politicians during the Prohibition years.

Certainly, the tenacity of Big Tobacco in the face of overwhelming evidence that damns its product can only remind the reader of Al Capone and America's Organized Crime, whose sole god is ill gotten money. Big Tobacco practiced, for example, the code of Omerta and, if Kessler is to be believed, former employees who gave evidence against them lived in fear of their lives. Big Tobacco had armies of lawyers and US Congressmen in their corporate pockets. All they seemed short of was organizing the gangland-style hits that were Capone's specialty.

Indeed, the specters of Ness and Capone are never too far away. Kessler hired special investigators trained by America's elite combat forces to interrogate witnesses. One member of Kessler's squad trawled all of America's seaports to uncover key evidence that Big Tobacco had illegally imported genetically modified tobacco into the United States. The book is, in many ways, a classic detective story needing only Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Cagney, Tom Hanks or some other celluloid figure to bring it to life. It races along from the very first page to the final denouement.

Big Tobacco's four-pronged counter-strategy against the FDA is also equally fast-paced. Working with military precision, it used, as page 169 tells us, frontal assaults, surgical strikes, allied attacks and air cover to overwhelm the offices and efforts of Kessler and his team. Like Organized Crime, Big Tobacco knew what side its bread was buttered on. Like Organized Crime, Big Tobacco's bosses proved themselves to be ruthless and cynical competitors with pitiless cash registers for hearts. Their proud boast was that they had more money than God.

Their vast war chests poisoned public debate in America for many years just as their product continues to poison the bodies of their fellow Americans. As well as the armies of hired lawyers who were central to their strategy, they employed mercenary academics to rubber-stamp their products with a scientific sheen of respectability. The aura of scientific impartiality these academics bartered away helped Big Tobacco's bosses accumulate their almost limitless wealth, buy their way into Capitol Hill and jam the world's hospital cancer wards full with cigarette smokers. Although Kessler names some of these contemptible researchers, he goes much further. By exposing their mercenary motives, he discredits them and Big Tobacco, which paid them their ultimately puny pieces of silver.

The book, despite its topicality, starts off with a quote from the Odes of Horace, which tells us that "The guilty have a head start, and retribution is always slow of start, but it catches up." Fortunately, the net is finally beginning to close in on Big Tobacco and its tainted allies. Thanks to people like Kessler and his team of Untouchables, the nicotine debate is starting to be aired out into the open.

Sometimes, of course, the cure is worse than the disease. Kessler's comments about nicotine nasal sprays should be enough to make anyone feel pity for the nicotine abuser and disgust at the companies which can conceive, let alone peddle such an obnoxious product.

No sympathy whatsoever can be spared for Kessler's villains. Though bloodied, Big Tobacco is far from bowed. It continues to ensnare American schoolchildren with its product and to export its deadly product to the four ends of the earth. Despite Big Tobacco's enviable revenues, its feet of clay and the tissues of lies it surrounds itself with have both been well exposed by this great book, which President Jimmy Carter and a host of other luminaries endorse. The hope must now be, as Kessler puts it, that Big Tobacco will eventually be drummed out of business altogether. Their demise would not only make the air we breathe cleaner. It would also help clean up the corridors of power, which Big Tobacco so thoroughly infected with its own insatiable addiction to the profit motive.

For someone like me who's just a beginer in the world of cigar it's a very useful book, with lot's of interesting stuff.

The only thing I didn't like is when he talks about Cuban cigars. For me they are still the best in the world.

Bought this as a gift for my step-dad. He said it is helpful in picking cigars.

The book provides great information and resources (e.g., various types of tobacco used, the manufacturing process and different shapes & strengths, etc.), as well as the history of cigar for new smokers who are interested. Fun and easy to read. Strongly recommended for cigar fans.

very informative and easy to read. gives a lot of useful information for the beginning smoker. has a lot of money saving ideas and covers all the bases.

As I'm fond of telling whoever will listen, I never touched alcohol until I went to seminary. Cigars are an even more recently acquired vice. My older brother got me into Macanudos, and since then I've enjoyed Avos, Buteras, and Arturo Fuentes. I'm even a regular at a Portland cigar bar, where I unwind after a long workweek with tawny port, long stogie, and a good book. I've learned enough about cigars to be dangerous, so I wanted a more formal knowledge base about them. Therefore, I decided to pick up this guide.

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cigars" is a fine introduction to the cigar world. Tad Gage has a deep affection for cigars, and he writes in a clear, enthusiastic manner about them. He explains the different types of cigars, the procedure for smoking one, and proper storage. In addition to this practical advice, Mr. Gage reveals the history of cigars, how they are made, and the reality behind the whole Cuban tobacco mystique. He even devotes a chapter to pipe smoking for those so inclined. At the book's end is a rating list of many common brands, along with a mild to full-bodied flavor chart. So far Mr. Gage's tastes have mirrored my own, so I look forward to trying more of his favorites (such as Davidoff and Fuente Fuente OpusX).

I understand that there's a backlash towards tobacco, and one should count the cost before indulging. But life is short, and certain pleasures in moderation aren't a bad thing. It's a shame that my home state (Washington) has banned smoking in public places. I patronized a number of Seattle's cigar bars back in the day, and I miss them. But at least Oregon hasn't jumped on the prohibition bandwagon. At any rate, if you are interested in becoming a cigar aficionado, then start with "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cigars." Long ashes to you!

This is a wonderful book. I was not able to stop smoking using only this book, however. One of the problems I encountered was that when I quit, I felt out of step and insecure. So my "quit" only lasted a half day. Allen Carr does not go into detail on handling the insecure feeling. However, I read the book again, bought a CD by Bob Griswold on quitting which you can listen to while you drive and got a prescription for Chantix from my MD. The CD was very important because Griswold actually tells you what to do when you get the insecure feeling which comes when you are quitting an addiction to nicotine. The Chantix makes it easier to get through cravings. And Griswold is right - the cravings don't last more than 15 minutes and after a while, you don't have them at all.

This is the most incredible book which has completely changed my life. I quit smoking almost effortlessly with the assistance of this plan. If you read this book and absorb what it says, you will easily throw away the cigarettes. I will never smoke again and if I ever get the urge, I will pull the book back out. I only wish I had discovered this years earlier.

Yes, Carr's book CAN work for you. Maybe not by itself; but then who ever told you that there was a magic cure out there? Oh, you thought that you did not have to put in any effort? Oh, that you did not have to make a commitment?

Carr's process actually worked for me. I mean from day one. But I also had decided to work at it. I joined an online state-authorized quit site. I went to the chats. I read the sites. I kept the online journal. I read the book and kept smoking while I did. I also started checking out health sites; started walking; breathing; doing yoga. Just a little exercise.

By the time I finished the book, I was more than ready and actually quit a day ahead of schedule. My quit buddy on the web site was reading the book at the same time and found the exact same thing! The two of us had no trouble quitting; we had no pain; we were able to handle the cravings without problems; and now a month later we are not even thinking about smoking.

What we did find was the we could not talk to people who EXPECTED the cravings; who fed on the idea of TEMPTATION. We had no such experience and others found it really hard to believe this could be true.

I am a black female college professor; amazed at how simple this was for me. I still go out and have fun. I go dancing. I attend concerts. I have not changed myself. In fact, the problem has been finding this too simple. I must remind myself of my main purpose and goal.

[...].

UPDATE! I am still euphoric to be a non-smoker. Almost every time I take a deep breath, I giggle a little at the joy of being able to breathe so freely. I will keep updating every so often to reinforce the fact that THIS BOOK DOES WORK!!

I smoked for 12 years, for awhile smoking 2+ packs a day, then for the last year and a half smoked cigars. And I don't mean just puffing on them, but INHALING 6 to 7 every day. The minute I put this book down (January 3, 2007), the world was different for me. The sky was brighter, the air was sweeter and every day seemed to be just brimming over with potential. I knew it was because I was free. It is now 3 1/2 months later, and I am still riding that wave of euphoria. Now if I am around cigarette smoke too long instead of craving one (as with other methods) I get a bad headache.

So don't rush through the book! And don't skip to the back and read (obviously one of the reviewers here did and that is why the book didn't work for them). Debate every aspect of it with yourself, your spouse, your family and/or your friends. Let it be the valuable key to your tobacco prison--you have nothing to lose except your addiction to the "demon weed".

For the minority of people for which this book doesn't work: Please buy a copy of Allen Carr's The Only Way to Stop Smoking Permanently. I know of some people who have read "The Easy Way" a few times and it didn't work, then read "The Only Way" and it worked. Plus my brother had to read "The Only way" three or four times before it 'clicked'. (although around 80% of people only have to read one of the books just once) Please don't give up! Allen Carr's books are generally very very effective with the vast majority of people!

I've been struggling with nicotine addiction and the quitting process for the last 5 years. I am on, what I believe, my last journey to freedom of this addiction partly because of this little book. I read and meditate from it everyday instead of smoking and it truely keeps me grounded and makes me think through cravings instead of caving. I LOVE this little book.

More of a series of inspirational points that a self-help book. Probably more suited to people who have already quit as a re-enforcer. Handy size to carry about and read when a craving hits on the go!

Whether you quit smoking 1 day ago, 1 week ago or 1 year ago, this little book is full of supportive little quotes and sayings to keep your quit strong. I quit 6 years ago and I recommend this book to everyone I know who is starting off on a journey to quit smoking. Well worth the investment!!

When I receievd my book I started to read it right away. I really like the way this book is written. Very encouraging. It has little sayings in it that help you get your mind in the right place. It doesnt focus on just one way to quit it gives you several ideas and ways to think abot it. I let my aunt read it and she let her friend read it and it just kept getting passed around. From everyone who has read this book that I know love it. I actually have no idea who has my book right now. So many people have passed it around I forget who has it now. I recommend this book to anyone who is trying break the habit. This book has helped alot of people I know. It is worth reading!!!!

I do recommend it. It can be repetitious. I think they repeat a lot to get it through our thick skulls!
In the beginning of the book I was like this is not helping me, but once I got about half way through I starting feeling better.