Review
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Title: Life is Easy I Just Decide It's Hard
Ways from the Scriptures to Conquer: Anger, Fear, Worry, Guilt, Perfectionism, Procrastination
Author: Gary G. Taylor, PhD
Publisher: Cedar Fort
Genre: Nonfiction
Year Published: 2007
Number of Pages: 144
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-59955-066-4
Price: $12.99

Reviewed by Jaymie Reynolds

From the moment that I read this title, I really wanted to love this book. After all, who doesn't overcomplicate life every now and again? Gary G. Taylor's book has many great things going for it: short stretches where the author paints a vivid picture as he speaks, a wonderful concept, and some great quotes, both from the author and other outside sources. Unfortunately, this book was hard to love. Reading it felt more like panning for gold than reading. The strong points of this book are often obscured by poor writing and an overabundance of varying examples.

One thing that I did enjoy about this book is the emphasis on the fact that we can all improve our mental health, regardless of where we are currently at. There is a move from the negative end of the spectrum to the positive, a travel that moved from self-destructive behavior to positive replacements for those behaviors. Each chapter ends with questions to help us gauge what we need to let go of in order to achieve happiness. As a quick reference, this book has the potential to be a great tool.

At times, this book feels like a short talk that has been stretched to the limit and stuffed with filler so that it doesn't seem too flat. Because so many examples were given, it was difficult to read and many sections seemed to drag. Often it felt more like reading a counselor's clinical notes than reading a book. This book lacks the flow of a book that can become a life-long friend. Also, while the book includes many scriptural references, they appear to be more focused on the problem than the solution.

The concluding chapter is composed almost entirely of a lengthy list of principles aimed at providing a basic inventory of the reader's mental health. They appear to be the solutions to the problems that were discussed earlier but were not clearly presented as such. While the principles listed are each valuable in their own way, they feel detached from the remainder of the book.. Because of this, the ending was abrupt and, oddly enough, left this book feeling somewhat unfinished. Weaving these principles in with the corresponding chapters and examples in a problem/solution format would help to make this a more useable book. The author could then use the final chapter to summarize the previous chapters and tie them together to create a more harmonious ending that is more in keeping with the purpose of this book.