The kids from Jersey Shore give great advice on certain things: gyms, tanning and laundry. Fist pumping, partying and good Italian food. What we don’t expect is Vinny, the mama’s boy, to give life advice. He says it himself in the intro to the book, “I mean, who do I think I am? How can I be taken seriously?…I’ve read blogs that are ‘shocked’ I even know how to put a sentence together.”

His recently released self-help novel, Control the Crazy, documents the beginning of his generalized anxiety disorder and the struggle he had dealing with it.

In Part One, readers travel with Vinny from middle school to freshman year at SUNY to depression that takes him home. He gets back on track, turning down anti-depressant meds for a more natural approach, and goes back to school. He graduated from CUNY with a 3.9 and interned with a state assemblyman. Even though this guy clearly has brains, he wanted to let out his creative performance side – he had always been the class clown – and a friend’s suggestion to audition for Jersey Shore caught on. Two interviews and a trip to L.A. landed him a spot on the show.

Part Two goes into Vinny’s triple-threat program – mind, body and spirit. The first exercise in controlling the crazy is to listen to your thoughts and keep track of just how many are negative. He goes on to give the age-old advice that bullies hurtful words aren’t really about you, but about their own issues. Subheads throughout the chapter prompt “Vinny’s Mental Workout.” Later on in this section there is a discussion of “social costume” and how it reflects self-image. Chapter 3 helps give you tips on how to focus on the here and now, how to minimize distractions, “tripping” on the past and future and keeping your cool in any situation. Ha, situation.  The whole body section is about, you guessed it!, working out. It also discusses healthy sleep and eating habits, as well as Vinny’s thoughts on drugs and alcohol. The spirit section has uplifting subheads such as “Accept When All Else Fails” and “Appreciate Today” – with the idea that when he appreciates the good in his life the negative chatter tends to dissipate. This is also shown in Vinny’s large chest tattoo that reads “Let Go, Let God.” To each their own, I suppose.

In chapter 10, Maintain, in the Kindle version, there are cool links that take you back to the pages where the technique you need is originally referenced and taught. It’s a cool feature of the book and helps you connect everything together to make progress.

This guido does a really good job of breaking it down. For a topic that can be confusing and upsetting, he really gives the audience a chance to keep up. It’s not a quick read, by any means. I would sit down prepared to take notes. I can’t say that I’m a fan of any author using the word “peeps”  (and no, he isn’t referencing the marshallows) but anybody that tries to help others is fine by me. Vinny really opens up in this book, sharing stories and genuinely trying to give advice.