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Description
What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson's answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research.Humorous, surprising, and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily, and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street. What does the nervous system of the lowly lobster have to tell us about standing up straight (with our shoulders back) and about success in life? Why did ancient Egyptians worship the capacity to pay careful attention as the highest of gods? What dreadful paths do people tread when they become resentful, arrogant, and vengeful? Dr. Peterson journeys broadly, discussing discipline, freedom, adventure, and responsibility, distilling the world's wisdom into 12 practical and profound rules for life. 12 Rules for Life shatters the modern commonplaces of science, faith, and human nature while transforming and ennobling the mind and spirit of its listeners. Read more
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Kindle
"Clean your room," has become a mantra for a generation of lost kids who finally found a male figure in the culture to look up to. Jordan B. Peterson has become something of a Millennial Messiah in the most unusual way. He's telling people to take on responsibility and to blame only themselves if their life isn't the way they want it. This book is a condensed version of his tome "Maps of Meaning", a much longer philosophical tract on how the myths and stories humanity passed down over the centuries influence our values. It's obvious that the last generation's drive to give out participation trophies and to tell everyone that the evil system is to blame for all your ills (think of the hippies going against "the man") no longer resonates. Millennials and younger people today are under a lot of pressure. They're deep in student loan debt, they're having trouble finding jobs that pay well, they're getting married and owning homes at lower rates because they're not secure enough financially to settle down. This could make you feel deeply powerless if you were trying to blame the system. Just look on TV at every late night host talking about how hopeless and stupid our country is right now. Jordan Peterson comes with a different message- start by cleaning your own personal room. Stop blaming other people, and get your own life in order. You can't expect to see change in the world, unless you first change yourself. Rule 1 is a great example. The basic gist is to stand up straight and face the world with your head held high- literally, not just metaphorically. Famously, Peterson looks at lobsters. Lobsters have a dominance hierarchy where they constantly fight. When a lobster loses a fight, it skulks around and lowers itself to become smaller and less threatening. If you give the lobster a drug to fix its serotonin levels- the same rewards system present in most every animal brain- the lobsters picks itself back up and goes right back to fighting. Human evolution diverged from the lobster millions of years ago, and yet we can see that even they have dominance hierarchies and societal struggle and depression. It is therefore ludicrous to think that human suffering is only a "social construct" as today's academics would have you believe. These feelings are naturally built-in to our nervous system. If we want to feel better we need to pick ourselves up and "get some pep in our step" as a previous generation might have said. The whole book is like that. A blend of science, folksy wisdom, and tales from Peterson's own life and career. From working as a dish washer to a lumber mill worker to a clinical psychologist, Peterson has seen all of humanity. His conclusions are profound, yet immediately relatable. He covers the topics at all levels of analysis- from philosophy, to statistics, to evolution, to straight up humor. Peterson's critics are having a hilariously hard time trying to downplay this book. In a famous interview, a BBC host asked Peterson if he was suggesting that we should structure our society like that of the lobster. If you're that philosophically inept or that malicious trying to slam this guy, then enjoy your life, there's little I can do to try and hold a conversation with you. In case anyone's confused- nobody's saying we should structure our society like the lobster. There's an ancient philosophical debate about "is" versus "ought". Peterson wrote this book about how the world is. The human nervous system is made in such a way that depressive factors snowball until it's hard to dig yourself out, so feelings like resentment only make things worse. This says nothing about ought- nobody's saying that we're happy the human nervous system ought to be this way nor is anyone saying that societal progress ought to revert to some crude pre-historic state. The "is" and "ought" are two different topics. If you want to lead a better life in the world that is, read this book. If you'd rather fret about what ought to be, have fun with that. If you can manage to keep those concepts straight, this book's for you. Especially if you are- or are close to- a young male in the millennial group who's struggling to face the society we find ourselves in today, this book is for you. The book reads well for any person, but the millennial male group are most powerfully affected by Peterson's work for obvious reasons. Young men have biological drives toward duty and responsibility that currently aren't fulfilled in their school, home, or professional lives. Anyone can benefit from this book- so the fact that one group needs it most should tell you something. This book is powerful, timely, and profound. Give it a read.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2018 by Providential
Format: Hardcover
This book provides an antidote to the cultural divide that’s destroying the West. It’s kryptonite to shoddy social justice warrior “thinking,” and the bane of Postmodern Neo-Marxist rot in academia. But more than anything, it is clear, straightforward advice for living a meaningful life. Don’t let the trendy title fool you. If this is self-help, then it’s self-help with a hammer. Here’s the core message of 12 Rules for Life: life is suffering, but you can get through it if you get your shit together, tell the truth, fix the things you’re able to fix, and make yourself strong. Think that sounds trivial? Try doing it for a week. I love Peterson’s focus on the individual. I’ve always been suspicious of group-level solutions, or the idea that you can only be happy or fulfilled if society changes. Focusing on the individual is a lot more satisfying, and the results are better too. After all, if you can’t sort yourself out, what makes you think you can fix the world, or remake Western culture? It’s an incredibly arrogant assumption. Maybe, just maybe, the root of all your problems isn’t global capitalism, or the evil patriarchy, or beliefs about invented genders. Perhaps it’s actually a lot closer to home. You can spend your time badgering, nagging or forcing someone else to do something — the Indirect approach — or you can look for actions you can take right now to improve your life. The direct approach puts YOU firmly in control of your own destiny, but it also requires you to assume responsibility for yourself. And that’s another key concept in 12 Rules. Peterson urges his readers to take on as much responsibility as they can handle, rather than whine about “rights” and entitlements. So how should you begin? Start by sorting yourself out. Look at the problems in your own life or in your own immediate environment. Choose one that you can fix, and fix it. Then chose another. It can be something as simple as cleaning your room. In doing this, you’re bringing order to the chaos around you. It’s amazing how those small actions ripple outward to improve the lives of everyone around you. Peterson’s message is also refreshing because it’s the opposite of the currently accepted paradigm that equates male virtue with being weak and harmless. If being strong, productively aggressive, and able to fight for what’s right is somehow regarded as “toxic masculinity,” then it’s probably a good time to question the core agenda of those who are pushing such a simplistic and emasculating concept. Dr. Peterson rose to prominence in Canada during a bizarre political debate on made up gender pronouns and compelled speech, not because he was an alt-right voice of hate, but because he stood up and spoke his truth in clear, logical terms. What happened since then — the massive youtube following, the sold-out lectures, repeat appearances on international podcasts and television — is testament to the power of the Logos, the Word. I first encountered his work a year or two before that controversy, through the brilliant Maps of Meaning lectures he posted on Youtube. I went on to watch his University of Toronto Personality course too, and everything he’s produced since, because it is so relevant to my life. There is no wishful thinking here, or New Age snivelling, or back-patting. 12 Rules for Life is funny and engaging, but dense with ideas based on hard science, research-derived psychological data, and the continuous centuries-long narrative that humans have transmitted through story and culture as a way to survive and thrive in a frightening world. Dr. Peterson’s most recent effort was a public lecture series exploring the psychological significance of the Biblical stories. As an atheist who spent far too much time stewing in Sunday boredom as a child, trapped in church while my dad watched John Wayne movies at home, I was extremely skeptical of this. As a writer, an anthropology graduate, and a reader of Jung, Nietzsche and the Western Canon, I soon found myself mesmerized. His explanations of the ancient Biblical stories made sense. And even better, it made them useful whether or not I subscribe to a deity. All of this is a roundabout way of saying why you should read 12 Rules for Life, and why I will be reading it again and again. This is not a lightweight book. It’s valuable. It’s meaningful. And it will cause you to look at the world and your life a little differently than you did before.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2018 by Ryan Murdock