WHY DO
SMART
PEOPLE
KEEP MAKING
IRRATIONAL
DECISIONS?
The Snack Monkey is more than a book about eating. It explains the hidden behavioural forces behind health, leadership, cybersecurity, AI, relationships and everyday decision making.
THE ICEMAN
WROTE THE
FOREWORD
Wim Hof — world record holder, creator of the Wim Hof Method, author and international phenomenon — agreed to write the foreword for the second edition of The Snack Monkey because he believed in the message behind the book.
He and Matt first spoke in January 2022. It was not a networking call. Matt had been living with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome for decades. Wim picked up the phone.
"Anybody who comes from a dark place and flourishes is a hero. I will always endorse a person like that."
— Wim HofWE HAVE BECOME VERY GOOD at being comfortable. Too good. We heat our houses, we soften our beds, we fill our cupboards with food that was designed in a laboratory by clever people whose job it is to make sure you cannot stop eating it — and then we stand in the kitchen at nine o'clock in the evening with an empty packet in our hands and we say to ourselves, what is wrong with me?
Nothing is wrong with you. Your body is not broken. Your body is bored. It's waiting for a signal that never comes, because we have removed every hard thing from our lives and called it progress.
I go into the ice to bring that signal back. Matt White went into a biscuit cupboard. Different door, same room.
He did not stop. He learned to climb differently, and then he climbed for Great Britain. That is the whole man, in one story. Every time life took something away from him, he asked what was still there.
It Was Never
About the Biscuits.
The Snack Monkey starts with food. It quickly becomes something much bigger. The same behavioural patterns that send you to the kitchen at 10pm are running every boardroom, every security team, every relationship, every project plan that slips.
Once you understand why the Snack Monkey wins, you start seeing it everywhere — in procurement decisions, in password hygiene, in why AI adoption stalls, in why the meeting that could have been an email keeps happening.
Behaviour changes behaviour.
The Behavioural Translator
Matt White is an author, international keynote speaker and the creator of The Behaviour Desk — a publication applying behavioural science to leadership, technology and decision making.
He has a background in cybersecurity and technology leadership, competed for Great Britain in paraclimbing, and has been in conversation with Wim Hof since 2022.
The Snack Monkey started as a book about eating. It became a framework for understanding why intelligent people consistently act against their own interests — and what to do about it.
What People Are
Saying
"I laughed, then immediately felt seen in a slightly uncomfortable way. Read this in one sitting — which is ironic because I ate an entire packet of biscuits while doing so."
"I've been starting my diet on Monday for four years. This book finally explained why. And also why the Snack Monkey has been quietly cheering me on the whole time."
"It's the most useful book about eating I've ever read, which is surprising because it's technically a book about an imaginary monkey. Don't let that put you off."
Ready to Meet
Your Snack Monkey?
Available now on Amazon. This is not a diet book. There are no macros, no meal plans, no wellness influencer energy. Just a precise explanation of why smart people keep making decisions they already know are wrong — and what the behavioural science actually says to do about it.
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