Géraud Guillet, PGE 02, released his first book "The Tobacco Escape booK" on Wednesday February 6th!
At the heart of TESK, The Tobacco Escape booK, is a belief: that every human being has immense resources within them that they can use to overcome tobacco.
By mobilizing these fundamental resources within the reader: love, knowledge, fear, perception, anger, understanding and joy; TESK offers to be the trigger that will help smokers take the plunge and free themselves from tobacco. The author uses exceptional destinies, proven facts and numerous references to literature, philosophy and the 7th art to help raise awareness.
An executive in a large company, Géraud Guillet holds a degree in economics and national internal management. Affected by the death of a loved one from lung cancer, and a former smoker himself, he consulted many experts to approach the subject of tobacco from an innovative, optimistic and effective angle.
Hello Géraud, you are the author of The TESK Experience. This is your first book, before you talk about it, a few words about your career?
In view of the subject, you could imagine that I come from the health sector. Not at all. I graduated in economics and international management and I am a manager in the strategy & innovation department of a large French company. But I was a smoker for many years.
How did you quit smoking?
After 10 years of being addicted to smoking, it was a movie, The Insider with Al Pacino, that helped me quit! The film tells the true story of a tobacco industry executive who publicly denounces the nicotine manipulation techniques used by tobacco manufacturers to increase their addictive effect on smokers. This story made me angry with the tobacco industry, and I used that anger to stop. Smoking for me had become synonymous with submission to this industry, and that was unbearable. Thanks to this anger, I quit smoking almost painlessly.
It was your experience that led you to write this book?
A few years ago, I lost an uncle to lung cancer. Since I was a child, I had always seen him smoking. Through his ordeal, I was able to understand what lung cancer was on a daily basis and what it meant in terms of physical and psychological suffering. It was a trigger for me. My experience had shown me that anger could be a resource for quitting smoking. Talking to former smokers, I realized that other "inner resources" could be valuable in quitting smoking, such as love, knowledge or joy. I wanted to share this experience and my awareness through a book.
How was the writing?
I read many books on tobacco and many research reports, in both French and English. This phase was exciting and very informative. To complete this research work, I met people within the medical profession: tobaccologists, oncologists, pulmonologists, psychiatrists and psychologists. I then consulted many smokers and former smokers; going "back and forth" with them to test the effectiveness of my manuscript and modifying it accordingly. To complement it, I sought advice from marketing and communication experts. This is because I always had a double objective in mind: to write a very effective book that was also very pleasant to read. In the end, it took me almost two years to write the book.
How do you see this book: as a method, a psychological support...?
I see it above all as an experience, a reading experience. It is with this in mind that I have included reading rules in the book, and in particular the first one: "if you are reading this book for the first time, you must read it in one go". Then, the book can be considered as a method, because by following its precepts, the smoker should stop smoking, and especially not relapse.
Many books have already been written on this subject, particularly by doctors. What makes your work different from others?
I wanted to differentiate myself from existing books, all very interesting but for the most part either a little simplistic in their approach or really daunting! I wanted to write a book that was effective and pleasant to read, but also quite short. People read less nowadays and with Smartphones and the Internet we have entered the instantaneous era. This book is also an effective means of fighting the growing misinformation on the Internet, particularly on the subject of tobacco.
Have these readers stopped smoking?
Many people have stopped smoking with the book, hence the title of the book! Of course, the scale remains small, but it is very promising. In addition, I was surprised to see that the book also appealed to non-smokers. Many tell me that they became aware of the power of the resources that characterize human beings after they had read it. They recommend it to their loved ones who smoke, but also to their children tempted by cigarettes. This preventive approach towards the younger generation is essential for me and it is something I would like to present to the Ministry of Health.
Do you have other book projects? Can you tell us about it?
First of all, I want to focus on promoting this book, which is my cornerstone in the fight against tobacco use. I would like to be able to speak about the book, in person, to as many people as possible and encourage them to read it. Because my conviction is that after having read this book, whether you are a smoker or not, your approach to life will no longer be the same...
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