informative inspiring reflective medium-paced
informative inspiring reflective

What can I say? This book put me in a reading rut. Did not really resonate with me at all. It was borderline preachy and the continuous biblical references wasn’t really my cup of tea. It started off alright but could not hold my attention as much as I would like and I felt I had to force myself to finish.

Surprisingly good book. I think 12 rules given in this books are good advises for anyone wishing to make changes in their life. However, I'm not sure that those most in need for self help recommendations are able or willing to wade through all the philosophical, psychological and religious commentary around them. Good thing Mr. Peterson shares his self help tips in Quora as well.

As I'm not familiar with mindset of either conservatives or christians, it was interesting to read Mr. Peterson's thoughts on the subject. I also appreciate that there was very little societal or political discussion, as I found myself mostly disagreeing with what there was, and not really understanding how Mr. Peterson leaped from his rules to his societal conclusions.

I will recommend this book for anyone who has heard about Jordan Peterson and want's to read more about his thoughts. If you are in need of self help book, or tips to improve your life, maybe start from his Quora answers, or from some of the other books suggested in other reviews here.

(Edited some typos)

Not impressed by this "oeuvre" by Jordan Peterson, which he claims to be the antidote to chaos. In fact, the whole book can be described as chaos, with, let's admit, 12 really good "rules" as a starting point, that are then, one by one, completely undermined by an unnecessary and wanting to sound intelligent ramble which is nothing more than a collection of excerpts from the bible, poetry and history books. I have yet to find the first human being interested in reading about the behaviour of lobsters (en ENTIRE chapter, I tell you) to make the point why you as human should "stand up straight with your shoulders back". No thank you. Boring. Besides the point. And truly sad because the basic idea for the book was really good. More practical examples and less preaching would have made all the differences. This antidote to chaos only caused.... chaos.

Alter weißer Mann, der Angst vor Frauen hat, beweist durch Bibelzitate und Pseudofakten, dass ein dominater Hummer niemals eine Katze, die ihr Zimmer gründlich aufräumt, beim Skateboard fahren stören würde.

*3.5 stars, rounded up
*Audiobook
It would be both impossible and negligent to ignore the breadth of sources and references that Peterson draws from to justify his rules for life, exercising his knowledge of philosophy, evolutionary biology, psychology, religion, history and his own personal experience. This richness in explanation made for an extensive justification of his evaluations on human nature. As a sacrifice for this rigorous explanative process, it felt at times as though Peterson strayed from the relevant rule and potentially left readers a bit unsure of the pertinence of a tangent (this, I believe, to be a worthy sacrifice though). His detailed rule justifications made up the 3.5-star rating and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about all topics enclosed, elevating it to something more than a self-help book.
My critiques concern the excessive bible references (in the absence of detailing other religious teachings) and the lack of practical implications of this book - How can the common man, someone less well-versed in Peterson's philosophical experience, be able to exercise the judgement and opinion that he advises in his book? This critique varies in severity from rule to rule. I also felt he lost me intellectually sometimes, this may have been as I was listening to this book while driving, but I suspect Peterson's developed and academic vocabulary was a contributor. The superfluous language made for accurate opinion expression and allowed advanced development of theory, however also made it harder to follow and thus potentially less accessible to people (or better read than listened to). Definitely deserving of a real read.

DNF. You can only read the phrase "consider Adam and Eve" and know it will be followed by "Cain and Abel" on a fuckin loop. I've enjoyed Peterson's public appearances, but after a while you find out Peterson isn't really saying anything about anything. Every time it's "adam and eve", followed by "cain and abel", but "the abrahamic notion", "nietzche said", "dostoyevski though" and the thing is those are all fine and dandy, but when regardless of the topic, you just say the same thing, I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume you're a broken record without regard for context.

Poco después de comprar este libro conocí la reputación "facha" del autor, así que tuve que esforzarme en leerlo sin dejarme contaminar por los posibles prejuicios que circulan por Internet.

Las 12 reglas de Peterson son un compendio de pequeños gestos en apariencia intrascendentes pero que, por su trasfondo psicológico, pueden mantener una vida encauzada y alejada de los males que la acechan. Al igual que esquivando un conflicto puedes ocasionarte un resentimiento que en el futuro acarreará problemas mayores, siguiendo por ejemplo la regla número 10 ("sé preciso en tu discurso") conseguirás una base sólida para una vida honesta y preparada para afrontar los problemas sin dañar a los que te rodean.

Cada capítulo está muy bien escrito. Peterson establece primero una fórmula en forma de ley y luego retrocede hasta la esencia de su idea, que suele radicar —para eso es seguidor de Jung— en los arquetipos del subconsciente colectivo. Aunque en principio uno no vea la relación entre la búsqueda de lo trascendente y la historia de Caín y Abel, Peterson desenmaraña la historia desde un punto de vista psicoanalítico que ayuda a comprender el origen del mal, o el de la infelicidad, y aporta su solución -«antídotos contra el caos»- para combatirlos. Leerle ayuda a obtener una comprensión profunda del comportamiento humano, pero incluso si no entiendes muy bien por qué deberías hacerle caso, si sigues sus consejos te mantendrás alejado de las espirales destructivas de las malas decisiones vitales.

El problema es que Peterson abusa de la Biblia. Aparece mencionada en todos los capítulos. Y aunque es cierto que, sobre todo en el Génesis, esté la semilla psicológica de nuestra civilización, no creo que nuestros arquetipos estén solamente compuestos de personajes bíblicos. Se echan de menos ejemplos de otras mitologías -apenas hay una mención a la Grecia clásica-, y sobran otras: ¿qué importancia tiene en el mundo occidental el mito egipcio de Horus? Aunque esta última pregunta ya me surgía cuando leía a Jung...

El libro parece muchas veces de la sección de autoayuda, aunque se le supone una sólida base psicológica (se supone que el autor lleva décadas ejerciendo).

Peterson se contradice en alguna ocasión. Por ejemplo, en un pasaje critica la diversidad social, que todo lo complica, y en otro rechaza las categorías demasiado simples ("el sexo", "la raza") alegando que cualquier grupo social es reductible hasta la individualidad. Para creer tanto en el individuo, luego le provocan demasiados problemas las otras opciones de género o de familia que se salgan de lo tradicional... Pero estas contradicciones no hacen más que demostrar que la vida es compleja, quizás demasiado como para intentar abarcarla con solo 12 reglas.

Estoy en desacuerdo con muchas de sus ideas. De hecho, creo que Peterson no pretende que todo el mundo esté de acuerdo con lo que dice, sino que él mismo aboga por llevar una vida responsable y reflexionada. Hay consejos útiles, pero también hay planteamientos polémicos (como su negación del patriarcado, que no falla en ninguno de los titulares que le dedican). Peterson se le escapa alguna idea machista, y tiene hasta un capítulo entero -«no molestes a los chavales que van en monopatín»- dedicado exclusivamente a los niños, como si el desarrollo infantil de las niñas no contara para nada.

Conclusión: ideas encontradas en un libro interesante y bien estructurado. Algunos consejos valiosos que te acompañarán mucho tiempo, en todo caso una forma global de ver el mundo que te hace reflexionar.

I would not recommend this book. I can’t understand why anyone would give it 4 or 5 stars.