For nearly a decade what is today the net's most popular non-government quit smoking forum had to hope that smokers somehow stumbled upon the site's teachings. Not anymore. At last it's possible to hand them its lessons.

The book's title is "Freedom from Nicotine - The Journey Home" and it's about more than just quitting smoking. Written by John R. Polito, the 1999 founder of WhyQuit.com, it takes aim at all forms of nicotine dependency, regardless of how nicotine enters the bloodstream.

The 240 page book, available at WhyQuit, attempts to restore quitter confidence in their own natural instincts to stop putting nicotine into their body. Commonly known as "cold turkey," it's the quitting method responsible for generating 80 to 90% of all long-term successful ex-smokers. Freedom from Nicotine explores how nicotine enslaves the brain, the "Law of Addiction," the timing and sequencing of the four planes of recovery (physical, emotional, subconscious and conscious), how to minimize the impact of each (including urge and crave anxieties) and how to avoid complacency and relapse.

It takes special aim at a host of false nicotine use rationalizations (collectively known as junkie thinking), early alcohol use, cessation weight gain, crutch avoidance, quitting aids, negative support, crave episode management, bad days, and menstrual cycle and pregnancy considerations.

While the book's free PDF version has been available at WhyQuit since New Year's, don't expect to find the book for sale at WhyQuit. It won't happen.

It's not that WhyQuit is trying to hide anything or that the site doesn't want to connect with even greater numbers of smokers, smokeless tobacco users, and those hooked on the nicotine gum or lozenge. It's that WhyQuit was built upon the principle that the motivation, education and support needed to quit and break free should be freely available to all. As much as possible, the site seeks to insulate both new quitters and victim stories from product and service advertising.

But failure to offer an off-site printed version made it harder for WhyQuit's cessation lessons to exit the Internet and find their way into the hands of even greater numbers of real-world quitters. It also either ties readers to a lengthy PDF file on a computer screen, or costs them dearly in printer ink, time, paper, and a binder to try and hold it all together.

What's most exciting is to think that the lessons shared at WhyQuit can now be wrapped as a loving gift and handed to smoking friends, co-workers and relatives who may not have Internet access. More than 100,000 words in the book but still just one guiding principle determining the outcome for all ... no nicotine today!

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