Most of the reviews I've been seeing have been addressing Eyal's execution of the 'Hooked' concept, which I'd give something like a 2.5 - the ideas are clearly expressed, but the writing is fairly dumbed down, and the book's ideas could (and given his writing style, should) have been expressed in about a quarter of the length.

(And to put that into context, I'm a technology designer/researcher - i.e., I'm the kind of person who should be absolutely frothing at the mouth (happily) about this thing.) At least within the tech scene, it seems this book is very well-known, and that, to some extent, scares me. I’ve heard a great deal about this book in the past month - first, I saw Eyal give a talk here in San Francisco (I hadn't heard of him, but someone recommended I go - the talk was sold out and a spot opened up), then someone at a meeting mentioned the book/talk and said it was 'amazing', then the other day I heard him featured on an episode of Planet Money. It covers a lot of the same stuff in this review, but is likely a bit more polished. Update: I ended up publishing a longer version of this - with a discussion of the trend towards more addictive technology in the tech industry more broadly - on the Huffington Post. Fascinating examples from the iPhone to Twitter, Pinterest to the Bible App, and many other habit-forming products.Actionable steps for building products people love.Practical insights to create user habits that stick.Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior. He wrote the book he wished had been available to him as a start-up founder-not abstract theory, but a how-to guide for building better products. Hooked is based on Eyal’s years of research, consulting, and practical experience. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging. Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model-a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us? How do successful companies create products people can’t put down?

Nir eyal indistractable