Book excerpt: "Well-publicized research in psychology tells us that over half of our attempts to change habitual behavior fail within one year. Even without reading the research, most of us will intuitively sense the truth in this, as we have all tried and failed to rid ourselves of one bad habit or another. The human story of habits and the difficulty of change has been told in many books--most of which will make only a quick reference to dopamine or the 'lizard brain' before moving on to practical tips and tricks for behavior change. In contrast, [this book] will tell the brain's story about why behavior is so hard to change"--