Zadius Sky
The Living Force
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
From Amazon:
I have recently finished reading The Power of Habit to which the author, Charles Duhigg (an investigative reporter for The New York Times), discussed the patterns of habit and how it works from individual to companies to societies (three parts of this book). And, I'm glad that I only read a library copy.
To be fair, it is a good book on the subject. It has excellent anecdotes, examples, and stories to support his thesis (but there were holes in few places), however he is really covering an "old ground," so to speak. It lacks insights or any eye-opening "food for thoughts." When I read first few chapters, it was very interesting and with lively stories but then, the author have a habit of rambling on with very little usefulness.
The book breaks into three parts:
1) The Habits of Individuals - where habits are being discussed and why we have them and how they work.
2) The Habits of Successful Organizations - how companies or business utilize knowledge of habits and habit changes to their success or failure. The author used an example of Starbucks coffee shop where they utilized LATTE method to be drilled into their employees that contributed to the success of the company.
3) The Habits of Societies - how habits are understood in a social context ("social movements" where habit changes to meet their needs with examples from the 1960's Civil Rights movement). Then, the author talked about our responsibility for our habits (with inclusion of an example of a man who killed his wife and claimed to be innocent by blaming his habits).
I am more inclined to feel the first part of this book to be worthy of read, but the rest have weak points.
Habits or behaviors are nothing new to us here as we know them as "programs," etc. But, in this book, "habits" are seen in a negative light (i.e., smoking, drinking, weight loss, destructive behavior, etc.) and they can be changed. However, the author was not very clear on how to "cure" them yet he was right on knowing how they work first before going about to change them.
Then, he discussed the positive aspects of having habits. While reading that part, it feels like I'm reading about unconscious processes and positive dissociative states (but he didn't use these terms). Driving to and from work without thinking is a good "habit." That habits serve a purpose: to lessen a cognitive strain on the brain. Our brains crave habits or a strong need to normalize. By normalizing our ways of doing things, we require less energy for our brain (cognitive ease) and less thinking. This made me think about our recent era where we are machines of habits to the point we require less thinking/energy (Imagine what we could have accomplished if we gone the opposite way: no habits and more thinking/energy).
The author also explained the process of habit: a cue-routine-reward model. Of course, this is nothing new. There is a trigger that initiate the "start" of the routine where we are engaging the "action," and the "pleasure" we will get from that action. Then, the loop starts again. Thus, a habit. The author has pointed out that a habit can be changed by changing the action or routine that one does while keeping the same cue and reward as the original action (that is, unwanted or destructive action). Personally, I don't agree with this argument since it's basically a transfer of "forms" of the same habits.
I think since we are creatures of habits in this STS reality to which we have little choice to be, we can simply observe the "cue" that triggered our habits and what we get out of that (what kind of pleasure? What is that reward?, etc.) and make a choice to either give in to that "cue" or not. When we don't repeat that cue, we'd likely to end up with a different habit that may or may not fit to our current goals or "aims." Say, precipitation by reading books or procrastination by watching television? Either you use energy for learning or lose energy by escaping.
I chose to read this book because I was curious and it was relevant to my current unlearning process. What got me through this book were the stories and interesting examples, and the author tend to be persuasive (with backing by recent cognitive science researches). It turned out to be a disappointment and yet it is driving me to read more on the subject.
About the Author:
Charles Duhigg is a reporter for The New York Times since 2006 where he worked on a series about Apple named "The iEconomy," and previously, he contributed to other series, including "Golden Opportunities," "The Reckoning," and "Toxic Waters." He received a MBA from Harvard Business School, so he is not a psychologist.
Other thoughts:
I found it interesting that one of the reviewers mentioned that Duhigg's "version" carried a little water than Jack D. Hodge's version of The Power of Habit (2003), which have more practical in changing one's habits. Hodge's book was considered to be a "self-help" book than Duhigg's book, which is a "cognition science" book. Hodge's "version" was not cited by Duhigg since he "borrowed" much of the information from it, so said the reviewer (B.F. Skinner's works were not cited, either). I have yet to read this older "version."
There is another thing that is of note: this book came out in February 2012 and since that time, this book received 140 reviews on Amazon (200+ reviews on goodreads.com - that same website, SHOTW has no reviews). Just under two months, that's a lot of reviews for this book (which suggest a monetary backing).
More Information on Habits (William James):
William James on Habits
William James - The Principles of Psychology
From Amazon:
I have recently finished reading The Power of Habit to which the author, Charles Duhigg (an investigative reporter for The New York Times), discussed the patterns of habit and how it works from individual to companies to societies (three parts of this book). And, I'm glad that I only read a library copy.
To be fair, it is a good book on the subject. It has excellent anecdotes, examples, and stories to support his thesis (but there were holes in few places), however he is really covering an "old ground," so to speak. It lacks insights or any eye-opening "food for thoughts." When I read first few chapters, it was very interesting and with lively stories but then, the author have a habit of rambling on with very little usefulness.
The book breaks into three parts:
1) The Habits of Individuals - where habits are being discussed and why we have them and how they work.
2) The Habits of Successful Organizations - how companies or business utilize knowledge of habits and habit changes to their success or failure. The author used an example of Starbucks coffee shop where they utilized LATTE method to be drilled into their employees that contributed to the success of the company.
3) The Habits of Societies - how habits are understood in a social context ("social movements" where habit changes to meet their needs with examples from the 1960's Civil Rights movement). Then, the author talked about our responsibility for our habits (with inclusion of an example of a man who killed his wife and claimed to be innocent by blaming his habits).
I am more inclined to feel the first part of this book to be worthy of read, but the rest have weak points.
Habits or behaviors are nothing new to us here as we know them as "programs," etc. But, in this book, "habits" are seen in a negative light (i.e., smoking, drinking, weight loss, destructive behavior, etc.) and they can be changed. However, the author was not very clear on how to "cure" them yet he was right on knowing how they work first before going about to change them.
Then, he discussed the positive aspects of having habits. While reading that part, it feels like I'm reading about unconscious processes and positive dissociative states (but he didn't use these terms). Driving to and from work without thinking is a good "habit." That habits serve a purpose: to lessen a cognitive strain on the brain. Our brains crave habits or a strong need to normalize. By normalizing our ways of doing things, we require less energy for our brain (cognitive ease) and less thinking. This made me think about our recent era where we are machines of habits to the point we require less thinking/energy (Imagine what we could have accomplished if we gone the opposite way: no habits and more thinking/energy).
The author also explained the process of habit: a cue-routine-reward model. Of course, this is nothing new. There is a trigger that initiate the "start" of the routine where we are engaging the "action," and the "pleasure" we will get from that action. Then, the loop starts again. Thus, a habit. The author has pointed out that a habit can be changed by changing the action or routine that one does while keeping the same cue and reward as the original action (that is, unwanted or destructive action). Personally, I don't agree with this argument since it's basically a transfer of "forms" of the same habits.
I think since we are creatures of habits in this STS reality to which we have little choice to be, we can simply observe the "cue" that triggered our habits and what we get out of that (what kind of pleasure? What is that reward?, etc.) and make a choice to either give in to that "cue" or not. When we don't repeat that cue, we'd likely to end up with a different habit that may or may not fit to our current goals or "aims." Say, precipitation by reading books or procrastination by watching television? Either you use energy for learning or lose energy by escaping.
I chose to read this book because I was curious and it was relevant to my current unlearning process. What got me through this book were the stories and interesting examples, and the author tend to be persuasive (with backing by recent cognitive science researches). It turned out to be a disappointment and yet it is driving me to read more on the subject.
About the Author:
Charles Duhigg is a reporter for The New York Times since 2006 where he worked on a series about Apple named "The iEconomy," and previously, he contributed to other series, including "Golden Opportunities," "The Reckoning," and "Toxic Waters." He received a MBA from Harvard Business School, so he is not a psychologist.
Other thoughts:
I found it interesting that one of the reviewers mentioned that Duhigg's "version" carried a little water than Jack D. Hodge's version of The Power of Habit (2003), which have more practical in changing one's habits. Hodge's book was considered to be a "self-help" book than Duhigg's book, which is a "cognition science" book. Hodge's "version" was not cited by Duhigg since he "borrowed" much of the information from it, so said the reviewer (B.F. Skinner's works were not cited, either). I have yet to read this older "version."
There is another thing that is of note: this book came out in February 2012 and since that time, this book received 140 reviews on Amazon (200+ reviews on goodreads.com - that same website, SHOTW has no reviews). Just under two months, that's a lot of reviews for this book (which suggest a monetary backing).
More Information on Habits (William James):
William James on Habits
William James - The Principles of Psychology
