Book Review: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg  

 

I checked this book out to listen to on my ride back home to see my brother in a play (which he was fabulous in) and have been listening to it ever since. I have been finding it incredibly interesting. I honestly don’t know if I would have made it through reading it though. It gets boring and repetitive at times, as non-fiction can do. It also jumps back and forth between examples a lot, which I find annoying. Just finish one story at a time. Seriously. 

However, the perspective of looking at business through the lens of habits is a stimulating exercise. I will never shop at Target the same after listening to this. They’re a bunch of data-collecting creepers. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and is incredibly helpful for their business, but the idea of how much they know is a little disturbing. I'd actually heard the story of the pregnant teenager before, but listening to it from this perspective was new and insightful.

The insight into history is fascinating and definitely makes the book worth a read. I'm currently at the section about the civil rights movement, and how to change the habits of societies. And while I'm not a church goer, the idea of the habits of weak-ties that is discussed in a section about religion makes a lot of sense to me. It's like a lesser version of peer pressure, without any actual pressure attached. Just the idea of it is enough to make people change their wants and habits.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who has any sort of business backround. Hearing about Target made me think about all of the case studies I did during business school and made me look at them from a different perspective. The insight into changing habits and the human brain is also appealing to anyone looking to change something about themselves. To really change, the book says you have to overwrite one habit with another that fulfills the same need. I found a lot of the book really thought provoking and think that it would appeal to a lot of people once it gets going.