Smoke. Smoking. Smoked. How to give it up with joy and embrace a life of passion and meaning

Smoking is such an easy thing to do. It does not require any particular skill or effort. If it were not easy, there would not be a billion smokers around. Before you reach the end of this book, a question you should have in your mind is do you want to keep yourself at the level of smoking because it is easy or take on more challenges befitting the gifts you are endowed with as a human being.

This book is divided into two parts to drive home this point: There is far too much in cigarette than tobacco and in smoking than just a habit. Both the cigarette and the habit of smoking are like icebergs. They hide far more than they reveal to our senses.

The first part is about the visible and invisible composition of cigarettes. Even though cigarettes do not appear to be much, it is one of the most finely crafted consumer products ever designed to make you keep coming to it over and over again. There is a long history to it. Scientists, philosophers, lawyers and marketers of the first order poured their lives into keeping smokers chained to cigarettes.

The second part is about you and I – the smokers. Smoking is a behavior that is visible on the outside. But behaviors can be understood only by uncovering the underlying emotional and psychological roots. Similarly, behaviors can be changed only after the underlying causes have been changed. If you want to go from being a smoker to a non-smoker, the best way is to address the causes first.