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![The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change by [Charles Duhigg]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41IhmDI07KL._SY346_.jpg)
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change Kindle Edition
Charles Duhigg (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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There's never been a better time to set new habits. This book will change your life.
In The Power of Habit, award-winning journalist Charles Duhigg takes us into the thrilling and surprising world of the scientific study of habits.
He examines why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. He visits laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. And he uncovers how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr.
The result is a compelling argument and an empowering discovery: the key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive or even building revolutionary companies is understanding how habits work. By harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.
______________________________
'[An] essential manual for business and living.' Andrew Hill, Financial Times
'Once you read this book, you'll never look at yourself, your organisation, or your world quite the same way.' Daniel H. Pink
'This is a first-rate book - based on an impressive mass of research, written in a lively style and providing just the right balance of intellectual seriousness with practical advice on how to break our bad habits.' The Economist
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherCornerstone Digital
- Publication date5 April 2012
- File size4237 KB
Product description
Review
"Once you read this book, you’ll never look at yourself, your organisation, or your world quite the same way." (Daniel H. Pink)
"Absolutely fascinating." (Wired)
"This is a first-rate book – based on an impressive mass of research, written in a lively style and providing just the right balance of intellectual seriousness with practical advice on how to break our bad habits." (The Economist)
"Plenty of business books that try to tap into the scientific world manage to distil complicated research into readable prose. But few take the next step and become essential manuals for business and living. The Power of Habit is an exception." (Andrew Hill Financial Times) --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Book Description
About the Author
From the Inside Flap
People have puzzled over our habits for centuries, but it is only in the past two decades that neurologists, psychologists, sociologists, and marketers have really begun to understand how habits work - and more importantly, how they change.
In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times journalist Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries to explain why habits exist, and how they can be changed - to transform businesses, communities, and our lives. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
From the Back Cover
How was an army general able to calm violent crowds with fast-food?
How did the swimmer Michael Phelps break a world record with his goggles full of water?
How did an untested CEO take a struggling company to the top of the Dow Jones by tackling worker safety?
How are advertisers able to identify and target pregnant women - often before they have told their families?
The answer is habits.
'Charles Duhigg masterfully combines cutting-edge research and captivating stories to reveal how habits shape our lives and how we can shape our habits. Once you read this book, you'll never look at your world in quite the same way.'
Daniel H. Pink, author of #1 New York Times bestselling Drive and A Whole New Mind --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Product details
- ASIN : B006WAIV6M
- Publisher : Cornerstone Digital; 19th edition (5 April 2012)
- Language : English
- File size : 4237 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 391 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 7,747 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 4 in Neuroscience (Kindle Store)
- 24 in Self-Esteem Self-Help
- 35 in Cognitive Psychology (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

My name is Charles Duhigg, and I'm a reporter for The New York Times. I'm also the author of The Power of Habit, about the science of habit formation, as well as Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Productivity in Life and Business (which is available for sale on Amazon on March 8, 2016!)
I've worked at the Times since 2006. In 2013, I was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for a series about Apple named "The iEconomy". Before that, I contributed to NYT series about the 2008 financial crisis, how companies take advantage of the elderly and national violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. (For those series, I won the National Journalism Award, the Investigative Reporters and Editors' Medal, the National Academies' reporting award and other recognitions.)
But let’s be honest, you aren’t visiting this page so I can brag about series and awards. (Unless you’re my mom. Hi mom!)
I’m also a native of New Mexico. I studied history at Yale and received an MBA from Harvard Business School. I now live in Brooklyn with my wife and two children and, before becoming a journalist, was a bike messenger in San Francisco for one terrifying day.
I would love to hear from you. I'm at charles@charlesduhigg.com.
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Top reviews from Australia
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In my original review talked about how I felt the book didn't cover the "how to change" part of the title. I later discovered that it did in the Appendix to the book. I read this book in the form of an eBook on the kindle reader which requested the review before I got to see the appendix.
So. How to change is covered in the appendix, and it collects all the information together in a short example of changing a habit. This tied up the loose ends for me and I felt that I now had some tools to help me deal with all my unwanted habits.
In the end I would recommend the book, but be ready to stick at it through some of the chapters.
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I found this book in parts interesting and in parts a chore to read. For me the content dragged on at times, and a maybe in too much detail that was not needed.
At the end of it all I feel the "why we do what we do" was covered, but the "how to change" was not. Or at least "how to change" was not clear enough to me.
Maybe another read through the book will make a difference.
Top reviews from other countries

I’m a 20 y/o pretty normal male, living in England
And this book has completely changed my life.
I was a regular smoker of both tobacco and cannabis, and the routine change taught in this book, and the methods of distraction taught in this book has helped me so much. I just want to say Thanks to Charles for making such an enjoyable book, which has taught me a lot about habits.
10/10 would read again.
Callum

Habit is a book that is extremely useful. We start off with some obvious but solid reminders of how what we perceive as excellence is habit. It’s not about “grit” as some other books would say.
Simply setting a reminder to go to bed and putting your trainers next to your bed every night is a better way to get exercising than watching motivational videos on YouTube. Humans look for the way way out. Make things easy. Create a reward loop and you will develop a habit.
After a solid start the book falters and diverges quickly. Stories become way too drawn out and - I would argue - not relevant to the reason most people buy this book. We get a long chapter on how supermarkets are monitoring our shopping habits via reward cards and can tell if your are pregnant from your food grocery list.
We have a chapter that massively drags on how a cassino kept a gambler coming back but stimulating her habit and reminding her of the rewards (debt in this case).
Like many self help books, you want to throw it out the window at times. But it’s got a solid thesis. I now keep my trainers next to my bed and have created a habit I never thought feasible. Thus the book is worth it’s weight of gold. It’s just got a core of lead to go along with it.

Quickly I found myself engrossed by the ideas explored in this book. Lots of examples and research is examined to look at how habits form and how they can be changed.
The book is split into three sections - individuals, organisations and society in general. I found the first two sections extremely engaging but thought that the society narrative was slightly less well defined and held my interest less.
Very cleverly, real people are used to prove theories and familiar companies are used as examples of habit changes.
I was surprised how interesting I found this book and have talked about it to various people whilst I was reading.

This book is divided into three parts. Each part explains a different aspect of why habits exist and how they function.
The examples used in this book are so powerful and relevant that reader will feel a lot of wow moments. This is one of the books which we need to read again and again.
