12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

by Jordan B. Peterson

Hardcover, 2018

Status

Available

Call number

BJ1589 .P48

Publication

Random House Canada (2018), Edition: Later prt., 409 pages

Description

Philosophy. Psychology. Self-Improvement. Nonfiction. HTML:#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER  #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 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 readers.… (more)

Media reviews

Jordan Peterson may be the only clinical psychologist who believes that psychology is subordinate to philosophy and the one thing that psychology and philosophy both genuflect before is story. Story, or myth, predates religion and is, in fact, as old as language itself. In his earlier book,
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Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief, Peterson connects the stories we share with our earliest ancestors with modern knowledge of behavior and the mind. It’s a textbook for his popular University of Toronto courses. The one-time dish washer and mill worker spent nearly 20 years at the University before garnering international attention. In September 2016, Peterson released a couple of videos opposing an amendment to the Canadian Human Rights Act which he contended could send someone to jail for refusing to use a made-up gender identity pronoun. Peterson went on to testify before the Canadian Senate, and has emerged as a foremost critic of postmodernism on North American campuses. Postmodernism is the “new skin of communism,” In Peterson’s view. The ideology has been so thoroughly discredited from an economic standpoint that those who still advocate for it, for either political or emotional reasons, have resorted to attacking the very process in which something can be discredited—reason and debate. At the same time they have worked to change the face of oppression away from those living in poverty toward individuals who don’t look or act like those who hold most of the positions of power and authority in Western society. Peterson’s classroom is now the entire globe. Millions are watching his lectures and other videos on YouTube. For this new and greater audience, a more accessible, more affordable compendium than Maps of Meaning was called for. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is more affordable for sure, but only slightly more accessible. Part self-help book, part memoir, part Maps for the masses, it’s organized sprawlingly. Rule 2 (Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping), for example, opens with a discussion of biblical texts only addressing the lesson at hand at the very end.
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User reviews

LibraryThing member starbox
Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson isn't such a Big Thing in UK as the States, but I saw his name mentioned on numerous sites - and, it seemed, with feather-spitting bile by the more Leftist brigade. Intrigued, I tuned into some of his Youtube lectures: if he so upset such folk, surely he must
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have something to offer. I found him astonishingly erudite...and rational. So i got the book.
There's a plethora of self help type books out there, taking you, step by step, through ways to improve yourself. I've read a few and am a bit 'meh' about them, since it always feels you'd need to be reading and re-reading them 'in an undertone, day and night', in order to to re-shape your narural flawed inclinations. One read might impress you- but can it honestly effect any change?
Peterson's book, for all its fun chapter headings is emphatically not to be read with the expectation of something light and simple. It's readable, but you sure have to concentrate. And it moves from little individual things into the bigger picture of how society is going. Thus Rule 11 "Do not bother children when they are skateboarding" begins by advocating adults not to wrap up kids in cotton wool, not to forbid all risks. But this simple idea is followed on to the increasing societal emphasis on the 'nice, safe, accepting" ethos enjoined on all - the feminization, Peterson argues, of society, the vilification of the male. Well argued and with many references to notale philosophers- and the Bible- he writes an impressive and all-encompassing tome.
I feel I should have made copious notes. I've only scratched the surface..and it's due back at library But this is emphatically worth reading, if only to realize there actually ARE great brains out there who 'get' the strange and entirely irrational beliefs which postmodernism has led to in 2019
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LibraryThing member john.cooper
Being a liberal who lives in the nation's most liberal city, getting most of my news and commentary from liberal sources, I've come across a lot of fear and alarm over the rise of Jordan Peterson in popular culture. The trouble is that none of the critics seem able to convincingly point to much
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that Peterson himself argues as representing a threat; instead they all talk in terms of what he represents to them: the influence of the alt-right or the anti-feminist backlash. So I checked out this book to see what Peterson, in fact, argues the most strongly in favor of. And, lo and behold, it includes these dangerous ideas:

That one must be aware of one's own dark side and use it to become a more capable and resilient person. That one should always speak the truth, regardless of the immediate cost. That to act for the alleviation of suffering in the world is a worthier and more practical goal than to pursue happiness. That you have an obligation to take care of yourself, just as you would take care of others who need your help. That you should truly listen to people that you disagree with, although true listening is one of the hardest things you'll ever master. That everyone suffers, and that if you are not suffering now, you one day will, and soon; and that to understand this requires you to be both compassionate and strong.

These are worthy thoughts. They, and others, are expanded upon at length in a clear but entirely non-condescending way that leaves plenty of room for the reader to disagree. Whatever Peterson's actual politics, they're mostly left out of this book; he does make crystal clear that he believes Marxism, and not just its most famous 20th-century expressions, to be evil at its core; that's a conclusion I haven't come to yet. (One the foundational texts that influenced Peterson strongly as a young man was Solzhenitzen's The Gulag Archipelago; he claims that no one can read it without coming to the same conclusion. I'll be checking it out.) I'm certain that Peterson is no ally of the alt-right, which is a reactionary expression of identity politics for white males—Peterson views identity politics as inimical to the open debate of ideas that's needed to discern truth. That Peterson is anti-feminist is probably true from many perspectives, since feminism as it's currently understood denigrates many of the values that are traditionally associated with the female, and seeks to redress historical imbalances by reducing or discounting gender differences. Peterson is too much of a Jungian for that.

The chapters are illustrated by charming cartoons of Peterson's own children when they were younger, usually in front of famous works of art. This corresponds with the the emotionally open tone of the book. In short, there's a lot to engage with here, and it's presented in a generous and forthright way. I don't expect everyone who reads this book to be converted to Peterson's way of thinking, but I do think that if more people read it, it would move our culture a little bit away from unreasoning warfare into the realm of intelligent discussion.
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LibraryThing member johnwgillis
Rule 1 Stand up straight with your shoulders back
Rule 2 Treat yourself like you would someone you are responsible for helping
Rule 3 Make friends with people who want the best for you
Rule 4 Compare yourself with who you were yesterday, not with who someone else is today
Rule 5 Do not let your
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children do anything that makes you dislike them
Rule 6 Set your house in perfect order before you criticise the world
Rule 7 Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient)
Rule 8 Tell the truth – or, at least, don’t lie
Rule 9 Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t
Rule 10 Be precise in your speech
Rule 11 Do not bother children when they are skate-boarding
Rule 12 Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street

Peterson is highly critical of Critical Theory (cultural Marxism) devleoped in 1930s by Max Horkheimer: Western principles (individual liberty, free markets) were a mask to cover inequality, dominance, exploitation; intellectual activity needs to be redirected from seeking understanding to seeking emancipation from the enslavement of the oppressors. Especially pernicious is the way postmodernists (Jaques Derrida most specifically) picked up the Marxist reduction of society & history to economics (culture as the oppression of the poor by the rich), and re-deployed it as a structure of injustice founded onpower (as opposed to monry/wealth). Thus hierachical strutures emerged to include (insiders) and exclude (outsiders=oppressed). Hierachies exist for the sake of the ill-gotten gain accruing to the opressorss from the opressed.

Highly anecdotal, longer than it needed to be. A self-help book by a story-teller - not dissimilar from other books I've read from psychologists. But he has no patience with cultural marxism/feminism, etc.His views on the pernicious character of feminist cirticisms of "the patriarchy" closely mirror my own thoughts.
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LibraryThing member sperzdechly
I really wanted this book to be good. I've seen interviews with the author and he seemed to be intelligent, rational, open to listen and explore new ideas with the scientific method (regardless of his personal views, which might be controversial to some)... and 12 Rules for Life is everything but
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:(

Contrary to its subtitle "an antidote to chaos", it is pure chaos, much too long, convoluted, with many digressions and loose ends, full of stories that bring little or none value to the argument for the choice of those 12 rules. Analogies used by the author are far-fetched and often fail to take into account the nuances and complexity of human life. There is little research done to validate those rules, and when data is presented it is cherry-picked and often misinterpreted in favor of the author's thesis. For many rules the only justification is "because I say so. Period" or "I had this one situation and it worked for me, so it's universal" or "because the Bible says so. Period" (and I have nothing against the Bible itself, just missing a bit more contemporary source of knowledge to argument applicability of those rules to modern life... or, in fact, any other source).

And the worst part is that this book is not totally bad. As in any chaos, as the author repetitively claims, there is some order - there are bits and themes that are interesting and make you question rules of life as you know them. They lure you deeper into the book wishing there will be more, that it will get better later on... but it doesn't. Some rules are written more coherently, some are painful to go through without a facepalm, some provide some insight, some are banal, all of them seem to miss the editor work.

I expected much more of this book and I wish I had stopped at watching videos with Peterson. My recommendation is rather to explore YouTube than start reading this book as for me it was a waste of time.
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LibraryThing member Daniel.Estes
Jordan Peterson knows his stuff. The topics here, like his other books, are the result of a lifetime of research, thinking and teaching on all the related subjects. My only criticism of 12 Rules of Life is that it's too long. Way too long.
LibraryThing member deanc
Deep, at times bordering on the esoteric, yet accessible to any good reader who doesn't mind thinking; insightful, rational, spiritual, practical--all this and more was Peterson's 12 Rules for Life. Read it with an open mind: it will challenge your presuppositions and strengthen your resolve to be
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a better person.
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LibraryThing member highlander6022
Only in the past couple years have I become familiar with Mr. Peterson’s work. I first was referred to one of his videos by another person and thoroughly enjoyed watching it. I then watched another and my friend also suggested I read this book.

I believe the commentary in this book is very much a
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critique of our current culture, and many of the author’s rules are good ones. I do sometimes wonder how some of the rules can be as easily put into practice as the author would have us accept. Nonetheless, I could point to individuals I know who, if they did put some of the rules into place, their lives would be so much better. And, one implemented, their lives would be much less chaotic.

I do question the author’s accurate understanding of the Christian faith. I think he sometimes takes verses from the Bible and completely misinterprets them – and he quotes the King James translation, which can be one of the most difficult to read – its language is quite archaic and not understandable by many today. That is not to say that it is not understandable, but for some, the language needs to be carefully explained - for example, when was the last time you heard the word “hewn” commonly used?

To his credit, the author has admitted having some difficulty with the Christian faith and its tenets - so his misunderstanding of it could be forgiven. However, quoting a different translation of the Bible in the book would be so much better for those who are not Christians, and for those who struggle in reading and understanding the Bible, and doing so would all more emphasis to his discussion of his rules.
Also, I think in some cases he drones on in his discussions – some of this chapters could be reduced in length. I read many books a year, some of which can be technical, a lot of non-fiction, and even I struggled getting through some of the discussion.

On balance, however, the book is very well done and does fully explain his reasoning for why following all the rules would result in a less chaotic life for many. I do recommend the book, but more strongly recommend you view his videos and perhaps see him speak in person.
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LibraryThing member antao
Ok. I'll give the first 3 a whirl:

1: Approach the world with the semblance of confidence and in a manner that implies you are worthy of respect.

My version: smell bad!, be surly, give off the air and demeanor of an anthropomorphic cockroach, the world will respect you because of your inner
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charm!!!

2: How would you help someone in your situation, education, moving to a place with better employment prospects, asking for a promotion or raise, looking for a better job?

My version: Treat yourself like crap; it’s all meaningless and you should definitely drink more/eat more/stay with that abusive partner etc, because changing would mean admitting you were doing something wrong now?

3: Surrounding yourself with people who are happy to assist you (and you them), those whom you think it’s a good idea to learn from or emulate for reasons such as contentment, material success or even stress relief.

My version: Bazza the drug dealer is my mate, johhno the publican is awesome as well and Louie the pimp looks after me so well. I should definitely let them assist me through my life...

OK. Let me put it this way. Peterson decries the rights agenda and the railing against patriarchy, partly with the argument that Western society is the least partiarchal and the most free there has ever been. But he never asks himself why this is so, because the answer of course is that those freedoms have been won by people in the past railing against oppression and proclaiming their own right to a place at the trough - workers, women, minorities. If there hadn't been those 'progressive' moves, for want of a better word, we would still have slavery, we would have less worker representation than we do (though we're heading the wrong way again), women would still be tied to the home, and so on. He doesn't patriarchy because he doesn't suffer from it, only benefits. He prizes the individual because in the old formulation the concept of a sovereign individual was formulated by people just like him. It's no accident that libertarians tend to be white men who feel insulted at the thought that others might lump them into a group - whereas women and minorities tend to feel the sharp end of group identity through years of being treated as a member of a group first and an individual second. And I'm a white man to whom his message has strong appeal. But it's a flawed message. As St Paul said, first take out the log in your own eye. Peterson, the biblical scholar, should think on that.

It is incredible that an obviously clever and articulate bloke like Peterson actually has so little to say when you boil it right down. And that he takes such a long time to say it.

In terms of unintentionally funny right wing diagrams, Peterson's yin yang chart is up there with Sebastian Gorka's terrorism diagram. It actually equates 'femininity' with 'chaos', 'night' and 'the unknown'.

Bottom-line: Most of Petersons stuff isn't particularly new; it's a version of Stoicism in many respects, and the absolute antithesis of the modern collectivist "therapy culture" which seeks to label you as part of a victim group under attack from the world at large.

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”

― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
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LibraryThing member Kronomlo
If you have seen any of Dr. Peterson's lectures on YouTube, then a lot of what he talks about in this book you've probably heard all or some of what he talks about in the lectures. But whether you have or haven't, I still highly, HIGHLY, recommend this book. Though I warn that it can get rather
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technical, and at first glance there are parts that go on almost unrelated tangents on the original topic, but he pulls all the facts and stories together to make his grand point in each chapter (each chapter is one of the twelve rules).

Though anyone interested in self-improvement should read this, people interested in mythology, psychology, and neuroscience should read this as well. He covers a lot of subjects. What I like about this book in comparison to his lecture, is that in his lectures he's talking constantly and can be hard to take in everything he says, which is a lot and it's really freaking deep. But in the book you can digest things at a much friendlier pace, at least for me anyway.

One thing I would mention is that even though anyone could read this book, like his lectures, it's apparent that they have a greater effect on men. Women, of course, can and should read the book. But like he says a lot in his lectures, men seem to be needing the messages he conveys more so than women.

Depending on the reader, this could be a very hard read. Not that it's super complicated, it can get technical yes, but not impossible at all. It's just that the "truth bombs" that he drops can be devastating. But he also tells you that it's completely okay to feel that way, and that means that there's something about you that needs tending-to and fixing. This doesn't mean that all hope is lost for you, on the contrary, you have in you the amazing potential to become something far more than you think you are.

"Don't let who you are get in the way of who you could be", this is one of my favorite quotes of Dr. Peterson. Aim high and do all you can for the highest and best good for yourself, because you've got one life and you're all in, this is going to kill you, so why not go and find out what you are truly capable of. You're going to make mistakes, and that's the absolute best thing you need to do, because that means you're getting more and more oriented towards your goals and who you are.

I felt humbled and hopeful after finishing the book. Please read.
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LibraryThing member spbooks
It's good to see a "self-help" book with some meat to chew on. Jordan B Peterson is a controversial figure so you won't necessarily agree with everything he says in this book. But it will make you think which is what a good book should do. At the heart of the 12 rules is the belief that suffering
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is a part of life and we need to choose to face it or run in the opposite direction. Running in the opposite direction away from suffering is, according to Peterson, a denial of life itselft. So, obviously, Peterson believes we need to choose to face it. His 12 rules are intended to help us do that.
Don't be mislead by the seemingly simple nature of the rules such as Stand up straight with your shoulders back or Tell the truth – or, at least, don't lie. These are merely pithy ways of referring to some challenging ideas on the way to live our lives. This is a book to chew on and to think critically about -- and may provide you with some significant ideas on how to live in the chaos of the modern world.
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LibraryThing member parvita
I enjoyed this book immensely. It is more of a reminder of what I have already known and to actually put it in action. All of the 12 rules are basically to make life in order so we do not have to stress in the chaos. As Peterson is a clinical psychologist, he puts the logic of how beings are
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naturally and why people act in certain ways and how to put things back in order, or to avoid chaos. This book may seem grim because it puts everything in a realistic way, unlike other books that tends to make the world seems colourful. The way he interpret the bible and myths is superb and the way he explain human characters by using Disney characters is awesome. I don’t know if this is in the self-help category, it is more of a mixture of a reminder of what we already know and where we naturally slip and do the mistakes.

The way it was written is unique; sometimes it goes on a detour epxlaining something that you might wonder what does this have to do with the chapter’s title. But then you will learn something new and finally know why he had to do this; if you follow his lectures you will know that he like to talk! This book shows that Peterson knows what he is talking about and use the data to back up his opinion, but also there is a sense that what he thinks is also something that can be discussed further. Nonetheless, if you are a realistic person brave enough to accept that everyday is a struggle and the world is not heaven, this book is for you. Having read some of the books he read like Dostoevsky and Orwell’s it helps to understand why he sees the world the way he sees it (probably too dark for those who likes a more positive approach) but for me, it is very realistic, scientific and very helpful to make life easier and meaningful. Jordan Peterson is one of the best lecturer and thinker in this era.
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LibraryThing member PhilipJHunt
This book is rather like most of the reviews written about it: over-written and much too long. Hard not to like a book that challenges convention, and quotes Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, and the God of the Old Testament, but there's too much of it. I kept wanting him to get to the point. If you like
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Peterson, watch him on YouTube. Much better.
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LibraryThing member librisissimo
Peterson has the credentials to give the advice he is dispensing. Draws from his own life experiences, his clinical psychology patients, teaching in universities, and deep reading in the foundational literature of the world (not just the West).
However, the book is not a jargon-filled exposition of
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academic arrogance. Everything is clear and straight-forward, even if it will be unwelcome in some ideological niches.
If you want to have a more pleasurable and productive life, then take his advice.
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LibraryThing member Paul_S
An otherwise interesting if a bit longwinded set of meditations about life.

Trying to read so much meaning into the Bible is a bit like astrology. You learn nothing about the planets and there is nothing the planets can tell you about you but you learn a lot about whoever is doing the horoscope.

For
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the life of me I can't see what is controversial about this book. There is nothing in it that could be considered even remotely divisive.

A surprising amount dedicated to rearing children but parents can't help themselves I guess.
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LibraryThing member fxm65
2015 I was attending Norte dam philosophy club which I wanted to learn more about Carl Young’s shadow. Everyone said Jordon Peterson. He had several classes on YouTube and then he had issues and the book really sums it up. We all need a meaning.
LibraryThing member deo808
Seems the author speaks randomly in every rule.
I don't think I'll get anything out of this book.
It doesn't sound like the rules are important, or I just don't understand them.
LibraryThing member aadyer
A variable feast of techniques and insight into ways of strengthening character, building resilience and understanding that there is a lot of sorrow and pain in life and dealing with and managing this, is only one of life’s great lessons. There’s a lot of Christianity in this and a lot of
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biblical references. Some of the more convoluted passages involve theological debate.
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LibraryThing member Anna_Libb
Oh, what a pain! Excitement vanished when I finished the book.
I knew the idea of rules providing guidance on how to move from point A to point B in life, it’s a vague idea. Yet I gave it a try and I am not sorry. I do really like how smart and strong human beings are and the promise of a
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wonderful life awaiting everyone if we will take more responsibility for ourselves.
The problem, JBP is not discussing why people aren't taking the responsibilities. Something important to discuss before listing the rules.
Well, the reason is biological - people have to experience unconditional support before they will be able to make choices and to take responsibilities that are right for them. As we all were supposed to experience the first formative years of our lives. The sense of self is developing out of acceptance of our primal urges. When a person is ready to take responsibilities, when self is ready to give back? Certainly not before it's formed.
Attachment it’s a way more acute need for survival then self or authenticity. A person who feels safe in her attachment, who internalizes a voice that accepts her authentic desires and needs, is able to make choices and decisions that benefit her growth, her unique set of needs. And how many of us can brag having that kind of enlightenment?
Feeling alive, being aware of being alive it’s an experience of our inner world coming in touch with our environment. A close circuit of believing in something and testing it, time after time. This is how we connect the idea of self to the environment and therefore feel alive, rather than spirit wondering in space.
Authority giving the green light for experimenting in a safe box of 12 rules may be a relief but what kind of experiments will we choose if we are still afraid of being authentic? To invest precious life testing someone else's idea of what life should be like is depressing by itself.
There is no point to have rules or to take even more responsibilities. The point is to support the person in her desire to find what feels right for her, what she believes at and then help her to test it. It doesn't matter what good are beliefs, the process it's the one who provides meaning and fills the void. The point is to follow a person in the process of moving in this close circuit “belief - environment test”, to reassure that it’s not a ladder ending in the air when inner reality and environment don’t come along. And to keep from delusion of moving up in hierarchy when beliefs and environment are coming along.
The greatness of life is experienced when a person allows herself to live up to her inner desires, therefore inevitably making mistakes and failing. Following rules that other people find right for themselves and even partially supported by science, will not bring a person closer to herself. JBP is maybe smart but unable to give others the priceless, unique feeling of being alive.
He also judges the ones who aren't taking the responsibility on themselves by saying their core values are corrupted. They are corrupted only in light of 12 rules, those have little to do with particular human life.
I think people aren't trying because they can’t rely on other sources of support. Maybe their brains architecture lacks dopamine and serotonin, maybe their environment is too harsh and they are exhausted. Why otherwise would they deprive themselves from something as cool as fulfillment in a career or having friends and family?
The unconditional support groups on Facebook are a great testing platform to learn what it is at all and also shows how starved are people to this kind of communication, maybe even since their birth. It’s not intelligence we lack to make our lives better, neither responsibilities. We lack unconditional support.
So JBP is a peculiar person and interesting to read but his rules aren't for me and many others who have to meet their attachment needs first.
The only motivation the book gave me is to practice more self compassion, to support my least heard voices and to see how it works for me.
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LibraryThing member runningbeardbooks
Peterson is a “Dostoevskian” using Nietzsche as a cautionary tale about the dangers of Atheism and nihilism. Although I found my impatience grow with each Rule, I realize this book was written for the 20something male who discovers Peterson by way of a Joe Rogan podcast and not me. Still,
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Peterson is an entertaining speaker if not so much a writer.
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LibraryThing member ichadwick
A 60-page idea crammed into 400-plus pages dense with far too much Jordan Peterson's bloviation.
LibraryThing member Ron18
I read this through hungrily - not because of its revelations, but rather because of how frighteningly this man has managed to get a following in 2018. He clearly represents a piece of flotsam for any white men desperately searching for a way to escape their sense of persecution. His logic and
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reason are so blatantly peppered with nonsensical comparisons, cherry picking, and deep-rooted fear and loathing for women and minorities, that it seems artfully designed to both appeal to cavemen and to extract delicious liberal tears to enjoy while they gather their war-party.

Because lobster males subjugate lobster females - it's fighting the natural order of things for women to resist subjugation. Because women are outperforming men in school and the workplace, women should be resisted in school and the workplace - so men don't feel outperformed. It hurts their feelings (the feelings they don't have, at that... don't ask me to make it make sense - the point is that it doesn't pass the merest scratch test on any area of its philosophy). Because a man invented the tampon (in a nation and cultural climate where female industry hadn't a prayer of gaining traction), there is no patriarchy (I shit you not).

After telling his audience what an ideologue is, and why they are to be avoided and cautioned against, he reveals to his literate audience that he is exactly that - while the portion of his audience who came for the delicious bowl of red pills yuck it up at the concession stand.

Truly a wine that pairs perfectly with the age of Trump - while proudly parading the irony in front of anyone who knows what irony actually is. Another example of a personality that unintelligent people will mistake for intelligent - because they have the same brands of hate, now with 100% more multisyllabic apologetics. Nothing could be more reprehensible than lying and deception, he says - while paving the hungry minds of confused and frightened white guys with arguments designed to make them think Orwell is holding their hand up the cattle chute into an age of tyranny.

Please teach your children well. Otherwise, some of them will be drawn under this tent - where might always makes right, and the downtrodden and disenfranchised are asking for it.
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LibraryThing member SGTCat
There's a little bit of food for thought here, but it's drowning in excess verbiage. I found it hard to follow the author's arguments or even train of thought as much of what he brought up seemed completely irrelevant to what each chapter was about. It read like stream of consciousness
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writing.

There are definitely things worth considering in the book but it's a hard slog to get from front to back.
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LibraryThing member David_Fosco
When faced with a piece of literature requiring so much intellectual capacity it can be quite humbling. Mr. Peterson is a man who takes his profession seriously and seeks to inform others. I wrestled with this book for quite some time as each rule requires significant thought and digestion. All
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readers should take their time when reading '12 rules for life: an antidote to chaos' so as to properly consume the text, and commit it to memory.
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LibraryThing member adrian_smith
I understand the author wants to give as much foundation as possible to his rules but even so, this book is way too long.
LibraryThing member wyclif
Since gallons of ink have been spilled reviewing this book, I won't belabour the obvious or test anyone's patience with a detailed review—there are far better specimens of that everywhere. Intelligently written Jungian self-help at its finest. There is quite a bit of overlap and shared philosophy
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with popular writers like Joseph Campbell ("The Hero with a Thousand Faces"). As a parent, of particular interest to me was Rule #5 ('Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.') It occurs to me that Peterson's advice on child-rearing is qualitatively better than 90% of all parenting advice books. That chapter alone, to me, was worth the price of the book.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2018-01-23

Physical description

409 p.; 9.29 inches

ISBN

0345816021 / 9780345816023
Page: 0.8247 seconds