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3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
I came to this book knowing that I was not the target audience, but I have a family member who loves the book and really wanted me to read it.
Despite it but being my kind of book, I did find it very interesting and engaging for the most part. It wasn't the most helpful to me, because I have gotten these ideas other places, but I did get some good out of it and can appreciate how it is helpful to others.
Despite it but being my kind of book, I did find it very interesting and engaging for the most part. It wasn't the most helpful to me, because I have gotten these ideas other places, but I did get some good out of it and can appreciate how it is helpful to others.
DNF- just had to give up on this one, was very repetitive and I struggled to read it l.
JBP's 12 Rules for Life is to self help what Ancient Aliens is to history. By that I mean, like in Ancient Aliens, the arguments presented in this book would sound much more convincing after a lengthy bong rip! In fact I increased my rating for this book from 1 star to 2 stars based purely on how entertaining it was to read some of Peterson's more bonkers claims. I actually found myself enjoying reading this, even though I disagreed with just about every one of his claims, based solely on how fun it was to point out his more ludicrous positions.
Peterson is a Conservative, meaning one of the strongest themes I noticed in this text is his aversion to change and his reverence for established customs and traditions (particularly the lobster tradition of hierarchy). He is also a Christian, sort of, as he views the Bible as a metaphorical text, instead of a literal one. This leads to some very interesting asides by Peterson, who probably realizes that a portion of his audience will be religious. For example, in the chapter about why charity is a bad idea Peterson's toughest critics will probably be Christians who are told by Jesus to be charitable. Peterson's response is that Jesus was a superhuman example, one that cannot be reached by common mortals. This doesn't explain why we shouldn't strive to emulate Christ in works of charity, but I found that Peterson even responded in this way fascinating.
Each chapter begins with a pretty straightforward bit of advice, such as stand up straight, treat yourself like you would treat others, etc. and each chapter end with further words of basic self help advice. In between those sections Peterson goes off the deep end with his Chaos/Order mythology, his pseudo Christian theology, his use of personal anecdotes, and his experiences as a clinical psychologist to truly baffle the reader. It was as if the first section and last section of each chapter were written completely independently from rest of the chapter, as I often struggled to understand why Peterson would be talking about Cain and Able, Dragons, the evils of Feminism and Post Modernism, and Lobster hierarchy in chapters which supposed to be about personal development and self help. Instead the self help only feels like an excuse for Peterson to push his own conservative ideology.
The nicest thing I can say about this book is that those sections devoted to self help aren't actually bad advice. The advice is targeted towards a white male middle class audience, and it is understandable why some people found this book to be inspirational. But I would imagine those who like this book probably are not reading it very critically, because Peterson rarely ever supports his arguments with anything approaching actual evidence. Much like in an episode of Ancient Aliens Peterson's claims are built upon the scaffolding of his own personal mythology, and are not structurally sound enough for any serious scrutiny.
There was one claim Peterson made that I found myself agreeing with wholeheartedly. That was when Peterson claimed that Donald Trump was a fascist, kudos JBP! You got yourself a new fan.
Peterson is a Conservative, meaning one of the strongest themes I noticed in this text is his aversion to change and his reverence for established customs and traditions (particularly the lobster tradition of hierarchy). He is also a Christian, sort of, as he views the Bible as a metaphorical text, instead of a literal one. This leads to some very interesting asides by Peterson, who probably realizes that a portion of his audience will be religious. For example, in the chapter about why charity is a bad idea Peterson's toughest critics will probably be Christians who are told by Jesus to be charitable. Peterson's response is that Jesus was a superhuman example, one that cannot be reached by common mortals. This doesn't explain why we shouldn't strive to emulate Christ in works of charity, but I found that Peterson even responded in this way fascinating.
Each chapter begins with a pretty straightforward bit of advice, such as stand up straight, treat yourself like you would treat others, etc. and each chapter end with further words of basic self help advice. In between those sections Peterson goes off the deep end with his Chaos/Order mythology, his pseudo Christian theology, his use of personal anecdotes, and his experiences as a clinical psychologist to truly baffle the reader. It was as if the first section and last section of each chapter were written completely independently from rest of the chapter, as I often struggled to understand why Peterson would be talking about Cain and Able, Dragons, the evils of Feminism and Post Modernism, and Lobster hierarchy in chapters which supposed to be about personal development and self help. Instead the self help only feels like an excuse for Peterson to push his own conservative ideology.
The nicest thing I can say about this book is that those sections devoted to self help aren't actually bad advice. The advice is targeted towards a white male middle class audience, and it is understandable why some people found this book to be inspirational. But I would imagine those who like this book probably are not reading it very critically, because Peterson rarely ever supports his arguments with anything approaching actual evidence. Much like in an episode of Ancient Aliens Peterson's claims are built upon the scaffolding of his own personal mythology, and are not structurally sound enough for any serious scrutiny.
There was one claim Peterson made that I found myself agreeing with wholeheartedly. That was when Peterson claimed that Donald Trump was a fascist, kudos JBP! You got yourself a new fan.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I feel like the writing is a bit long winded and spends a touch too much time using counter points to prove its points. That said the core of the rules seem like good advice, so the takeaways are worth it.
It's been a while since I picked up a self help book, having grown little tired of the all too simple preachy solutions to quite complex problems. Since I have been following Peterson's work for some time now, I knew him to be an articulate thinker if nothing else. I didn't expect him to have given shallow thought and on that part he delivered. It's the other parts which I found problematic.
Some of Peterson's rules for life are good axioms to leave by. There is some serious thought given to ways for betterment of life. Taking agency to solve a problem, finding momentary respites whenever possible while going through periods of distress are all good advises. Author, to convey the time tested quality of his ideas, cites giants like Nietzsche, Freud, Dostoyevsky and others but none quite in abundance like the Bible. The religious text finds its way so often in the book that it starts feeling like indoctrination at a point. Peterson is a rare intellectual who still believes in God given roles of genders in society and why they are important for mankind to survive and thrive. Not to mention his not-so-subtle ways to criticize the changing structure of society ("Women have "strong proclivity" to marry across or up the economic dominance hierarchy. Men are "perfectly willing" to marry across or down, although with preference for young mates." Sheesh!) Often there are religious overtures to the suggestions put forth. Some just sound like commandments themselves.
In conclusion, it seems that Peterson has tried to use his predilection of the Bible & early philosophers' works as well as his articulate thought processes to pen down a handbook to fruitful life, but could not help but come off as crass and out of touch in places.
For someone who has shown clear contempt for "self appointed judges of human race", he sure managed to sound like one!
Some of Peterson's rules for life are good axioms to leave by. There is some serious thought given to ways for betterment of life. Taking agency to solve a problem, finding momentary respites whenever possible while going through periods of distress are all good advises. Author, to convey the time tested quality of his ideas, cites giants like Nietzsche, Freud, Dostoyevsky and others but none quite in abundance like the Bible. The religious text finds its way so often in the book that it starts feeling like indoctrination at a point. Peterson is a rare intellectual who still believes in God given roles of genders in society and why they are important for mankind to survive and thrive. Not to mention his not-so-subtle ways to criticize the changing structure of society ("Women have "strong proclivity" to marry across or up the economic dominance hierarchy. Men are "perfectly willing" to marry across or down, although with preference for young mates." Sheesh!) Often there are religious overtures to the suggestions put forth. Some just sound like commandments themselves.
In conclusion, it seems that Peterson has tried to use his predilection of the Bible & early philosophers' works as well as his articulate thought processes to pen down a handbook to fruitful life, but could not help but come off as crass and out of touch in places.
For someone who has shown clear contempt for "self appointed judges of human race", he sure managed to sound like one!