There was no way this book was getting more than a couple stars. While I appreciated some of his points on personal, corporate and social brainwashing, there was far too much repetition and outright untruths to totally buy in on the methodology.

On the former, I see it every day in my life, my consumption of marketing and entertainment and the area I live in. We are inundated with alcohol related media/advertising, businesses that near or solely exist because of it and the odd social reality that every occasion must involve drinking. When the area you live in proudly opens a new craft brewery every other month, when the plethora of outdoor events and sponsored competitions are always preceded by or concluded with a drink fest - it's not hard to see the heavy and insistent influence and conviction of 'normalcy' in a life filled with alcohol consumption.

But the latter... he can call it DEVASTATION and poison all he wants as that's true for many people. But he also insists that any and all alcohol doesn't taste good to anyone ever, and if we think it does we're just lying to ourselves. There are many straight spirits, beers and wine varietals that I find unpleasant or foul. But a lovely Scotch, herbal gin, sweet cabernet, or bourbon barrel aged beer can taste fantastic. My taste buds aren't lying to me - it's actually very enjoyable to consume.

So my positive takeaway is a new clarity regarding my relationship with alcohol. It's a choice and not a necessity.

I read the Easy Way to Stop Smoking and it worked for me. It made sense: smoking gives you absolutely nothing. But drinking does. It brings that relaxed pleasurable feeling to the senses; you can’t get round that fact, despite its faults.

I read this book after reading Annie Grace's This Naked Mind. This book was referenced a lot in the other book so I found it helpful in reinforcing my reasons for quitting. Some others have complained that it was redundant. The book is written to help readers stop drinking using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. And one of the ways that is done is through repetition. If you can get past that, and accept it, this book will help you out.

This book CHANGED my life. I was the girl who once was out, stayed out. One sip, turned into a 24 hour bender, and other substances started getting mixed in besides alcohol. I never drank unless I was drinking to get plastered. I never saw a point in the “couple drinks after work” or the “glass of wine before bed”. I was the “All in or All out” type. It’s been almost a year (9/12) of ZERO alcohol and it’s all because of this book. Cannot recommend it to enough of my friends and family. I have zero desire to drink and don’t see the point of it anymore. I’ve discovered a new sense of self worth and self respect since I’ve stop drinking and it’s all because of this book. Could not be more great full and cannot recommend it enough. It’s an easy and quick read as well.

A sound book to work through the fallacies of the benefits of drinking we have all been sold, including unpicking some errors found in AA concepts whilst supporting the more effective aspects of that programme. Annie Grace (using fundamental science, including from Dr William Porter’s excellent Alcohol Explained) has evolved and significantly added to Allen’s work in her utterly brilliant book This Naked Mind (as well as her online programme, The Alcohol Experiment), and I would strongly recommend reading that book over Allen’s, though no harm in reading both!

4 stars for leading the way with this text in 2003; a clear 5 stars for Annie Grace’s work, which I consider more advanced and thorough.

I listened to this book out of curiosity because a friend of mine quit drinking after reading it. I don't think I'm ever drinking again :D There is just no reason to and many reasons not to. The commonly supplied reasons to drink are bs and the book clearly explains why.

I was curious to try this after a hangover from hell. I am very good at not drinking when I don't drink and rarely drink at home (this is very purposeful, as I've had periods where my habit was to have a drink each evening, but decided this was simply not a good thing), but when I decide I'm having fun (always in a social setting) I'm sometimes bad at stopping.

Since I don't have a desire, or frankly a need, to stop drinking completely, this book isn't really for me. However, I found it really interesting and it does seem to have changed my view of alcohol. It's pretty convincing, especially the analogy of the pitcher plant, but occasionally lets itself down with logical fallacies. If you're trying convince through logic, you need to do it right.

I'd definitely recommend this if you want to re-examine your relationship with alcohol.

The reason I gave this book a 4 is because he does bring up some really good points that make you think about why you even drink in the first place. Like are there any actual positive reasons? He goes through many examples that make you think just a little bit differently.

I didn't give it a 5 because I think he is a terrible writer, uses poor examples and arguments, and makes a lot of assumptions. Despite this, if you read it with an open mind and try to understand where he is coming from, you will get value out of reading this book.

boring and repetitive

I have a belief the author is out of his depth in this field. I get you would need to change your beliefs about the drink itself but it doesn’t mean it is an Easy Way.
I thought there would be step by step logical approach to make a paradigm shift about the whole subject of alcohol. Instead it is the same platitudes repeated in other self help books on the subject.

This book is an effective CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy). It can and it will immediately get you rid of your desire (the cravings) to drink alcohol.

For this CBT (and any other CBT) to work, you have to actively question your cognitions, hence it does not work for a everyone. Not everyone succeeds at questioning their cognitions for one reason or another (even when they think they do).

If you are the type of person on whom CBT is effective, then this book is for you (it will work like a magic pill).
If you do not know what CBT is, or have never tried CBT, then you should definitely try it out.
If you have tried CBT 10 times with different therapists and none of them could help you, then this book won't be of any help (for this group of people, the book will feel very repetitive).

I had to read the book twice for it to work on me. That's just how it is with therapy sometimes.

Already having made the decision to quit drinking, I read this book as a supplement to my journey and I wanted to have a tool I could refer others to should someone I know want to quit. Allen Carr’s EasyWay is an easy read and gives practical knowledge about why one should not drink alcohol. I love this book because it is one of the very few alternatives to AA. If alcohol is taking more than it is giving you, I highly recommend you read this book. If you are a women, I recommend “Quit like a Woman” by Holly Whitaker.

Don't bother reading this if you are truly addicted to alcohol. This may be a helpful book for people who would like to cut down their alcohol use. But if you're addicted to alcohol or are using alcohol to self-medicate deeper issues, this is not the book for you. Firstly because "control" is something you are unlikely to be able to achieve. Secondly, because this contains NO tools whatsoever to deal with life sober.