The Power of Habit | Book Review

Hi, first of all, I'd like to apologise. This is a long overdue review considering I've finished reading it a couple books ago. Well, maybe because it's a nonfiction. When it's a fiction, I just have to react and write (depending on the book, tho). When it's a nonfiction, I have to analyse. I have to dissect the book and try to get the point. It's especially not easy when the book isn't my area of expertise.

*Sigh* scratch that. I was just too lazy to write this review sooner. Sorry.

If you've noticed, I've been into psychology books lately. Human mind is so intriguing, I just can't stop reading about it. I've read books about how our brain thinks, how we behave, emotional intelligence, social intelligence, and now I finally got to read about one of the most interesting brain mechanisms; habit.

Habit is basically the choices that all of us deliberately make at some point, and then stop thinking about but continue doing, often everyday. It puts us on autopilot mode, so to speak. And it's VERY powerful, that there was a case of a guy who lost his memory and the ability to make new one managed to function and did daily chores solely because those were his habits. He can't explain why he did what he did (he lost his memory, duh), he just does. Don't you wanna have the understanding of how habit works, so you can have the awesomest autopilot mode?

I do.

We all have those bad habits we wish to stop. Perhaps smoking, drinking, or as simple as skin picking (that'd be me). People keep saying that it isn't because we can't but we don't want to. Ugh, easy for you to say. You know what? Apparently, according to this book, it's not all our faults. Some habits are so powerful that they overwhelm our capacity to make choices. It essentially takes away our free will!

But don't worry. Every habit, no matter its complexity, is malleable. That's what this book says and it will roughly guide you how.

I said roughly because The Power of Habit isn't a how to book. Charles Duhigg, the author, isn't a psychologist. He's a journalist. And this book is more like a summary of hundreds of academic studies, interviews, and researches regarding the topic. It explains a lot about how habit works--personally, as an organisation, and society. A lot of cases discussed very interestingly that I sometimes forgot I was reading a nonfiction. Well, he's a journalist, I shouldn't be surprised.

Do I think The Power of Habit is an important read?

Yes, I do.

Like everything else in the world, if you want to change something, you must first understand how it operates. This book gives us exactly that. It also gives us a framework as a guide to experimenting with how habits might change. I said 'experimenting' because there isn't one prescription for changing habits. Some habits take more effort to change. Some need different approaches. But this book is a good start. A very good one indeed.

If you want to change something, you must first understand how it operates.

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The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Good Reads: 4,06/5
Book-Bosomed: 4 stars out of 5