Smoking: The Artificial Passion [Paperback]

David Krogh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1992

Smoking is a habit fraught with intriguing paradoxes. How can the same cigarettes be relaxing now and a pick-me-up later? Why, in the fact of overwhelming medical advice, do so many people ignore the harmful consequences and continue smoking? David Krogh's book is a lively and informative explanation of what is known about this passion for tobacco.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This study will be of enormous interest to the legions of smokers who have failed to give up cigarettes permanently, the estimated 75% of quitters who become re-addicted within a year. Krogh, staff member of the University of California Academic Center, here reviews the scientific literature to explain what motivates people to smoke--and, by extension, why stopping is extremely difficult. The book analyzes a complex of addiction and attachment factors:ok? personality, culture, genetics, neurobiology, pharmacology. Nicotine, we're told, does things for smokers; it stimulates the brain, helps concentration, is an aid in weight control, moderates moods (smokers, unlike other addicts, smoke to get "medium"). But smoking also does things to smokers; it is controlling and it can be lethal. In offering advice on how to quit, Krogh, not surprisingly, can do little more than give encouragement. And his endorsement of nicotine gum as a crutch is questionable--its use is censured by the American Cancer Society's quit-smoking program, for one.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In this thoroughly researched yet entertaining book, journalist Krogh attempts to explain why people smoke, given the abundant documentation of attendant health hazards. He investigates physiological, pharmacological, sociological, and psychological responses to smoking, explaining each in simple, laypersons' terms. Krogh is adept at incorporating vast amounts of scientific evidence without weighing down his prose with dry data. He explores some alleged benefits of smoking (e.g., the paradox of smoking being both relaxing and mentally stimulating; the sex appeal of the smoker). His multifaceted approach offers fascinating reading. Having persuasively argued that the balance sheet for smoking is negative, he concludes with a fine chapter entitled "Advice on Quitting." Highly recommended.
- Carol R. Glatt, VA Medical Ctr. Lib., Philadelphia
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: W H Freeman & Co (Sd) (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0716723476
• ISBN-13: 978-0716723479
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,314,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book may have saved my life. I quit after one read., July 19, 2006

By 

Jason Beks (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Smoking: The Artificial Passion (Paperback)

Thanks David - I must have read every book in the universe on the subject of giving up smoking. I read your book and was able to quit a 16 year pack-a-day habit, because your book was not about giving up smoking, but ABOUT smoking. Eternally grateful, Jason

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book helped me to quit, 2 & 1/2 years ago, May 22, 2002

By 

Adelaide (Northern CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smoking: The Artificial Passion (Hardcover)

I had been a reluctant smoker for 30 years, knowing I was killing myself, but incapable of following thru initial enthusiams of quitting for any length of time. While this book was not the only way I finally quit smoking, it was a substantial help. It gave me a scientific, biological basis for understanding my (to me) freakish addiction that defied my own common sense.

The book was also entertaining. It's not a quit smoking guide. The author never was (foolish enough to be) a smoker. It helped me to see my smoking from the "outside", truly. I hope it comes back in print.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A riveting book that is well researched., August 22, 1999

By 

Henry F. Haskell Jr. (Salt Lake City, UT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smoking: The Artificial Passion (Paperback)

A fantastic book that takes the issue seriously. This is a bookfor anyone touched by smoking in anyway. Non-smokers will learn theawesome power of this drug. If your recovering don't pass up this powerful aid to understanding what your up against. There is so much Info in here and it's all valuable to understanding the mechanisms of Nicotine and Smoking addiction. The author is very fair and not trying to scold the smoker he clearly understands how hard it would be to quit and holds off with advice until the end so that you don't feel pushed.