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3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
There were good aspects to this book, and some very thoughtful discussions. The majority of it, though, was pretentious blather. Sorry - I don’t like to make outlandish or unnecessarily critical statements - but this book was simply bad. The chapters were like meandering, purposefully convoluted stream-of-consciousness tirades often bolstering political or religious agendas. The arguments didn’t connect logically and most assertions were based on little or no evidence. The writer did not attempt to mask his biases, for which I actually give him credit. Still, I am giving two stars rather than one because there were a few chapters (or at least particular portions of them) that had a lot of meaning despite the writing and argument style. I wanted to quit reading this book so badly (it took me two years to finally finish it) but I kept pushing myself through it because it did often improve my way of thinking about life, relationships, and things in between.
Jordan B Peterson is a member of the so called "dark internet" crowd; independent, rational thinkers, not afraid to call out extremists on either side. Peterson is especially vocal in criticizing the far left who deny that there are any biological differences between men and women, for example. His rules are good ones, although the great depth he goes to to explain their philosophical and even biblical underpinnings gets a little tiresome. He is at his best when he explains how failing to be truthful and to address problems head on can lead to difficulties in relationships we have with our loved ones and the rest of world. Overall, worthwhile; a good challenge to my liberal pieties and reflex agreement with all that is "politically correct."
Personally, I didn’t find much in this book to be that groundbreaking. I think it could have been one-fourth of the length and still conveyed the same points. The bulk of this book is anecdotes and metaphors that feel repetitive at best, and unrelated to the main point at worst. I think there are a few interesting ideas, specifically Chp 6, but ultimately I found it to be a slog to finish.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
I bought this book when it launched in 2018, but struggled to get through it. Years later, I picked it up again—and I'm glad I did.
Some parts were difficult to read, perhaps because English is not my native language, but also because it demands careful attention and deep reflection.
It clarified my thoughts and gave me tools to better understand life and cope with its inevitable suffering. Peterson offers a structured approach to putting your life in order.
This book may not have the solution for all your problems, but it’s bloody better suffering with this knowledge, than to suffer without it, I'll tell you that.
Some parts were difficult to read, perhaps because English is not my native language, but also because it demands careful attention and deep reflection.
It clarified my thoughts and gave me tools to better understand life and cope with its inevitable suffering. Peterson offers a structured approach to putting your life in order.
This book may not have the solution for all your problems, but it’s bloody better suffering with this knowledge, than to suffer without it, I'll tell you that.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
It's more religious than philosophical or self-help.
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
If you want something to really sink your teeth into and chew on, this would be the book for you. I found myself swallowing my pride and backtracking to re-read several portions because they either didn't make sense, had me questioning myself, had me evaluating situations, or all of the above. It's not the easiest book to read, and it took me a while to get through, but I'm sure glad I did. I thoroughly enjoy listening to Jordan Peterson's other works, and reading this book helped me understand him a lot better. While I didn't agree with everything he states, I think his main points are definitely valid, and worth adapting to your own life and circumstances.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
If there is something I totally dislike about a book is getting the feeling that it's pretentious. This is how I would describe this book.
Setting aside that I disagree with a lot of the reasoning, I will focus on less subjective criticism:
It's pretentious because it tries to make the points as more relevant and illuminating than what they actually are. They are pretty simple (and some quite reasonable). I guess this is what you get when you ask someone to write a book after an answer he gave in quora (just kidding, or else this review is too harsh).
- The justification of the points is weak, not connected and it is a lot of ramble. Starts with a story, adds tons of biblical references and shakes in some historical anecdotes together with reference to various authors and then comes to his point in the excessively long chapter. Using arguments of authority does not make your point any better not any more true. Quoting is tricky, anything can be quoted out of context and I am not going to get started with how unnecessary is to refer so much to the holy book to make a point.
-The most annoying thing is getting drowned in this ramble and thinking: what is this person actually trying to tell me with this whole verbiage and random stories made fit into the case? His chapters could be much shorter and relevant to the message.
-There are so many bold statements that follow no proper justification and logic errors. I cannot go through all of them but making a statement of something not being true and supporting it by "it is simply not, period." Sorry but this is not a good defense of your case. If you do not spot logical errors or so, of course it makes sense, following a set of leading points "properly" structured can initially make almost anything make sense. Yet, let's not forget that it is not only the premises and the conclusion what has to be reviewed to confirm its validity, also the line of arguments.
-Finally, this book is clearly oriented to some certain public and you can see the biases through it. However it attempts to be serious and impartial truth, a virtuous illumination.
Setting aside that I find it pretentious (this might be a personal interpretation) if this book was any shorter, more to the point and supported such points better then I would rate it better, because of course his main points (than can be summed up in the original answer in quora) are reasonable.
Setting aside that I disagree with a lot of the reasoning, I will focus on less subjective criticism:
It's pretentious because it tries to make the points as more relevant and illuminating than what they actually are. They are pretty simple (and some quite reasonable). I guess this is what you get when you ask someone to write a book after an answer he gave in quora (just kidding, or else this review is too harsh).
- The justification of the points is weak, not connected and it is a lot of ramble. Starts with a story, adds tons of biblical references and shakes in some historical anecdotes together with reference to various authors and then comes to his point in the excessively long chapter. Using arguments of authority does not make your point any better not any more true. Quoting is tricky, anything can be quoted out of context and I am not going to get started with how unnecessary is to refer so much to the holy book to make a point.
-The most annoying thing is getting drowned in this ramble and thinking: what is this person actually trying to tell me with this whole verbiage and random stories made fit into the case? His chapters could be much shorter and relevant to the message.
-There are so many bold statements that follow no proper justification and logic errors. I cannot go through all of them but making a statement of something not being true and supporting it by "it is simply not, period." Sorry but this is not a good defense of your case. If you do not spot logical errors or so, of course it makes sense, following a set of leading points "properly" structured can initially make almost anything make sense. Yet, let's not forget that it is not only the premises and the conclusion what has to be reviewed to confirm its validity, also the line of arguments.
-Finally, this book is clearly oriented to some certain public and you can see the biases through it. However it attempts to be serious and impartial truth, a virtuous illumination.
Setting aside that I find it pretentious (this might be a personal interpretation) if this book was any shorter, more to the point and supported such points better then I would rate it better, because of course his main points (than can be summed up in the original answer in quora) are reasonable.
You wanna guess if I'm serious about saying this five stars
A little heavy on the biblical references. I think if I knew more about the Bible I would have taken more from it. The best parts of this book for me was when he would tell of personal stories and connect them to what he was discussing. A couple pages before the end of each chapter he sums a lot of it up beautifully and gets his point across effectively. I will definitely read it again down the line and see if my viewpoints on anything have changed with age.