Although articles about improved decision making routinely appear in magazines, Dr, Gopal Dorai—emeritus professor of economics at William Paterson University of New Jersey—wanted to create a truly in-depth guide. Even when a learned friend believed the subject contained too many complex factors to include, Dorai continued his pursuit, which resulted in Decisions for Living: Strategies for Making Smart Decisions Throughout Life.

Defining quality decision-making as a developable, practice-able skill, Dorai aims to reverse-engineer what happens in good decision-making processes, cautioning readers not to confuse process quality with what happens after the decision, positive or negative. Rather, the quality of decision-making involves goal clarification, planning, resource gathering, examination of hurdles, costs, and benefits, and focus on what one can control.

Dorai discusses why some decisions fail, reasons why people procrastinate making decisions and more. Because of his economic background, his insights, anecdotes, and diagrams often involve financial decisions. He does, however, also use examples of other decisions, such as when a friend wanted to run a marathon, and provides a full chapter of successful case studies.

While the author offers useful information on many topics, his narrative feels scattered and often devolves into random advice on various topics, rather than concrete strategies for making decisions. For example, in a chapter purporting to discuss “how ‘smart’ decision-making can help to mitigate” various stressors, the author advises readers to “slow down!”; “Practice ‘contentment’”; “Try generosity” and more. In one chapter, he offers suggestions on what to consider when choosing a college.

As such, the text often reads as a hodge-podge of typical advice found in self-help books. This will frustrate anyone hoping to come away with a more targeted takeaway: a solid strategy for making decisions.

Readers who can tolerate the wide-ranging discussions will find helpful information here. But a narrative more tightly focused on how to make decisions, rather than one offering advice on myriad topics, would be far more useful.