Hooked - A Guide to Building Habit-Forming Products

"Hooked gives you the blueprint for the next generation of products. Read Hooked or the company that replaces you will."
- Matt Mullenweg, Founder, WordPress

"Nir's work is an essential crib sheet for any startup looking to understand user psychology."
- Dave McClure, Founder 500 Startups

"When it comes to driving engagement and building habits, Hooked is an excellent guide into the mind of the user." 
- Andrew Chen, Technology Writer and Investor

"You'll read this. Then you'll hope your competition isn't reading this. It's that good." 
- Stephen P. Anderson, Author of "Seductive Interaction Design"

This book touches on the high level characteristics and psychology of engaging products but lacks the quantitative research and analysis required to make this a high value read. The author continuously references Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest as examples of successful products without much evidence of first hand knowledge/data to backup his arguments. As a result, many of the insights drawn comes off as anecdotal/subjective commentary rather than scientific evidence. Though this is a well intentioned book, I wish more effort was put into the writing.

About 30% new info but most of "success" examples seem easy like Pinterest, google, facebook, etc. and pretty light on the science to back up his opinions.

The best business book I've read. And I've read a lot.

If you design products, software, apps, systems, programs, or companies, you have to read this book. Twice. And everyone you work with needs to read it, too.

I read about 15 to 20 books on business, persuasion, psychology, and product design every year. Sometimes more. And I read blogs on strategy, design, and influence every day of my life.

I've never read a book that covers all of these subjects so well. But that's not all. Nir Eyal's Hooked also give practical steps and tasks you can start using after the first chapter. In other words, this book will make you more valuable to yourself, your family, your products, and your company the minute you pick it up.

But don't just pick it up; read it. Read all. Highlight and take notes. And put it into action.

Thank you, Nir Eyal. You've made the world a better place.

My appreciation for Hooked goes back a few years. I first heard Nir speak at a conference sponsored by Detroit Venture Partners/Madison Building in 2012. This turned me onto his blog (Nir and Far) and an insanely long but helpful Slideshare of material that would eventually provide an outline for the opening pages of Hooked.

So in that sense, Hooked is a book I had already read (and re-read) by the time of its publication. When it was published I listened to the audio version, noted and appreciated the new material, careful clarifications, and up to date use cases. I've since purchased the book for in-office reference. It's constantly on loan as I'm fond of (forcefully) recommending it to others.

Every member of your product team should read Hooked.

What makes Hooked better than other books on, say, game mechanics? Hooked deals with why people form habits--it's as much a primer on psychological motivation as it is product design. Other books in this space don't do this well. Those books aren't as good as asking why people do things. Other books settle too easily by merely providing examples of "gamification" without situating their discussions within the context of human behavior.

In fact, I'm doing Eyal a disservice by reducing his book to such a narrow area of thought. Hooked is the best book of its kind because it provides a full picture on the question of why we develop habits.