The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg
The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg
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The Power of Habit
Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Author: Charles Duhigg

Narrator: Mike Chamberlain

Unabridged: 11 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/28/2012

Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • MORE THAN 3 MILLION COPIES SOLD • This instant classic explores how we can change our lives by changing our habits.

“Few [books] become essential manuals for business and living. The Power of Habit is an exception.”—Financial Times

A WALL STREET JOURNAL AND FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

In The Power of Habit, award-winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble to the sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. As Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

With a new Afterword by the author

About The Author

Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist and the author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better. A graduate of Harvard Business School and Yale College, he is a winner of the National Academies of Sciences, National Journalism, and George Polk awards. He writes for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and other publications, and is the host of the podcast How To! with Charles Duhigg.

Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Lisa the Librarian on 2013-06-27 16:50:47

For you self improvement types, this book isnt so much about changing your habits and improving yourself. Yes, thats in there a little bit, but not so much. The book relates a series of scenarios, from business success the most popular topic to addiction to a tragedy on the London underground and attempts to equate them all with the idea of habits.However, Im not convinced that every chapter addressed habits, unless you want to redefine a habit as anything the brain doesever. The chapter on the Montgomery Bus Boycott, for example, seemed much more sociological as described than as a habit.That doesnt mean that the book wasnt interesting. The idea of the little win found in the chapter about Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was useful personally, as well as the part about replacing one habit with another until enforcing the habit is effortless and another positive behavior can be incorporated. Not only did it make sense within the writing, but I found it true for my own experience.Even the business information, not a genre I usually read, was enjoyable and interesting.The weakest part of the book came at the end. Perhaps the author was getting tired and punchy and just wanted the darn thing finished. He tells the long tale of a gamblers total life destruction and the loss of nearly $1 million dollars to the blackjack tables. She was a wife and mother looking for fulfillment and selfesteem. It was an incredible downer to end the book on, and I couldnt wait for the book to end after hearing about this womans lack of selfcontrol and the lack of intervention from anyone around her. Afterward, the author tries to make us feel compassion for her plight, arguing shes no more to blame and an unconscious murderer, right? Then, in the concluding chapter, the author pulls a 180degree turn and explains why, yes, she is to blame and its not at all like the murderer from an earlier chapter. Poorly done Duhigg. To sum up: Not really for the selfimprovement crowd, and while interesting in its own right, much more for the business leadership reader.

Quotes

“Sharp, provocative, and useful.”—Jim Collins

“Few [books] become essential manuals for business and living. The Power of Habit is an exception. Charles Duhigg not only explains how habits are formed but how to kick bad ones and hang on to the good.”—Financial Times

“Entertaining . . . enjoyable . . . fascinating . . . a serious look at the science of habit formation and change.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Cue: see cover. Routine: read book. Reward: fully comprehend the art of manipulation.”—Bloomberg Businessweek

“A fresh examination of how routine behaviors take hold and whether they are susceptible to change . . . The stories that Duhigg has knitted together are all fascinating in their own right, but take on an added dimension when wedded to his examination of habits.”— Associated Press

“There’s been a lot of research over the past several years about how our habits shape us, and this work is beautifully described in the new book The Power of Habit.”—David Brooks, The New York Times

“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

“I have been spinning like a top since reading The Power of Habit, New York Times journalist Charles Duhigg’s fascinating best-seller about how people, businesses and organizations develop the positive routines that make them productive—and happy.”—The Washington Post

“An absolutely fascinating . . . book [that explores] a startling and sometimes dismaying collision between the increasingly sophisticated scientific understanding of habits—how they’re formed, how they can be disrupted and changed—and, among other things, companies’ efforts to use that knowledge to steer your habits and money their way.”—Wired

“If Duhigg is right about the nature of habits, which I think he is, then trying to get rid of these bad habits won’t work. Instead, what is needed is to teach the managers to identify the cues that lead to these bad habits and rewards, and then learn alternative routines that lead to similar rewards, i.e. business and personal success.”—Forbes

“The Power of Habit is chock-full of fascinating anecdotes . . . how an early twentieth century adman turned Pepsodent into the first bestselling toothpaste by creating the habit of brushing daily, how a team of marketing mavens at Procter & Gamble rescued Febreze from the scrapheap of failed products by recognizing that a fresh smell was a fine reward for a cleaning task, how Michael Phelps’ coach instilled habits that made him an Olympic champion many times over, and how Tony Dungy turned the Indianapolis Colts into a Super Bowl–winning team.”—Los Angeles Times

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