Review of How to Quit Smoking in 30 Years or Less
Posted: 20 Jun 2025, 01:56
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "How to Quit Smoking in 30 Years or Less" by Derotha Ann Reynolds.]
Title: How to Quit Smoking
Author: Derotha Ann Reynolds
Smoking is expensive, smelly, bad for your health, bad for your looks, and, these days, sometimes socially unacceptable. There are people, especially young people, who are possibly trying to fit in with their peers who are taking it up these days (in the form of vaping), which, in my mind, is absolute madness. In this little book, Derotha Ann Reynolds offers unhappy smokers some sensible, down-to-earth pointers to help them quit.
Derotha herself knows the path is not easy. She knows that going back to it, especially after a couple of years, is dangerously possible. She gave it up after smoking since she was a small child and hasn't gone back for 30 years. She is not a fan of the nicotine patch.
She was a group leader for five years, from 1987, for an accredited organisation that helped people give up. She worked very hard and was incredibly successful. I loved her story about the happily married woman whose husband also smoked. Giving up and the accompanying lack of patience caused her husband to leave her (although he did come back). She explains the ins and outs of couples giving up at the same time.
Her methods for kicking the habit are sensible, personable, and doable. She knows it's not easy; she's not condescending, knows that it is very difficult, and she has reservations about going 'cold turkey'.
I loved the section about giving up swearing. Like me, she doesn't see the point in it!
There is a useful website at the end for those who need advice.
As I mentioned, the book is short and easy to read. The prose isn't flowery, and the tone is conversational. Giving up nicotine is not easy, and people do struggle to do it, but at least within this book, there is an approach to doing it that seems to work.
I would have loved a more in-depth explanation of her methods; I thought this aspect was a tad lacking, so for this, I will award four stars out of five. The editing was perfect; I did not notice any grammatical errors.
******
How to Quit Smoking in 30 Years or Less
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Title: How to Quit Smoking
Author: Derotha Ann Reynolds
Smoking is expensive, smelly, bad for your health, bad for your looks, and, these days, sometimes socially unacceptable. There are people, especially young people, who are possibly trying to fit in with their peers who are taking it up these days (in the form of vaping), which, in my mind, is absolute madness. In this little book, Derotha Ann Reynolds offers unhappy smokers some sensible, down-to-earth pointers to help them quit.
Derotha herself knows the path is not easy. She knows that going back to it, especially after a couple of years, is dangerously possible. She gave it up after smoking since she was a small child and hasn't gone back for 30 years. She is not a fan of the nicotine patch.
She was a group leader for five years, from 1987, for an accredited organisation that helped people give up. She worked very hard and was incredibly successful. I loved her story about the happily married woman whose husband also smoked. Giving up and the accompanying lack of patience caused her husband to leave her (although he did come back). She explains the ins and outs of couples giving up at the same time.
Her methods for kicking the habit are sensible, personable, and doable. She knows it's not easy; she's not condescending, knows that it is very difficult, and she has reservations about going 'cold turkey'.
I loved the section about giving up swearing. Like me, she doesn't see the point in it!
There is a useful website at the end for those who need advice.
As I mentioned, the book is short and easy to read. The prose isn't flowery, and the tone is conversational. Giving up nicotine is not easy, and people do struggle to do it, but at least within this book, there is an approach to doing it that seems to work.
I would have loved a more in-depth explanation of her methods; I thought this aspect was a tad lacking, so for this, I will award four stars out of five. The editing was perfect; I did not notice any grammatical errors.
******
How to Quit Smoking in 30 Years or Less
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon