In Robert Eaton’s new book, Extremes: How to Keep Your Virtues from Becoming Vices (Deseret Book, $17.95, Softcover), he teaches an intriguing insight on Satan’s attitude towards the straight and narrow path. The adversary doesn’t just try to get us off the path, sometimes he endeavors to push us from one edge to the other as we miss the righteous middle ground.

“When we understand that detours from the narrow path often come in corresponding pairs, we can better identify the particular temptations to which we are more susceptible” writes Eaton. “If being too easy on ourselves is not a problem for us, for example, maybe being too hard on ourselves is. If we are not tempted to be too permissive in our parenting, is it possible that we naturally list toward being too controlled?”

With insight, encouragement and compelling stories, Eaton helps us to resist Satan’s swinging pendulum with wisdom and judgment. Some of the extremes tackled include, “Self-Righteous Saints and Anything-Goes Relativists,” “Permissive Parents and Overcontrollers,” “The Fearfully Timid and the Brashly Overbearing” as well as several others. His instruction is a valuable tutor in recognizing and overcoming extremes in our lives.

Extremes: How to Keep Your Virtues from Becoming Vices is available at Deseret Book, Deseretbook.com and wherever LDS products are sold.