Book
Duhigg C. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. New York: Random House; 2012. 371 p.
Why we cite it
Bestselling popular science book that brought habit research to a mass audience by distilling decades of neuroscience and psychology into a practical framework. The core model — the habit loop (cue → routine → reward) — provides the project's primary vocabulary for talking about eating habits. Duhigg's "golden rule of habit change" (keep the cue and reward, change the routine) is directly applicable to food behavior: the 3pm snack run isn't just about food, it's about the cue (afternoon energy dip) and reward (break from work), and understanding this structure allows substitution of the routine without fighting the underlying need. The keystone habit concept explains why some changes (like meal prepping) cascade into broader improvements. Complements chf02 (Wood 2002, academic habit research) and cib03 (Clear 2018, Atomic Habits) as the popular bridge between habit science and practical application.
About the author
Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (2013, Explanatory Reporting). Reporter at *The New York Times* (2006–2017), now staff writer at *The New Yorker*. BA from Yale University, MBA from Harvard Business School. Also recipient of the George Polk Award, Gerald Loeb Award, and Investigative Reporters and Editors Medal. Author of three books: *The Power of Habit* (2012), *Smarter Faster Better* (2016), and *Supercommunicators* (2024). *The Power of Habit* spent over three years on the *New York Times* bestseller list.
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