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A review by anastasiabeaverhausen
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson
3.0
I was so overwhelmed by all the information that it was hard to process. I spaced out several times while reading and didn't even bother going back to re-read because it was just rambling about how humans are like lobsters and crustaceans, the Bible, men are order, women are chaos, the Disney movie Frozen is propaganda...
I ended up reading an online review of his book because I really wanted to know what all the hype is about. The author of one of the reviews I read had been to one of Peterson's lectures and in his review, he said, "...he sometimes appeared to be in the thrall of his ideas and would not, or could not, constrain himself and self-monitor what he was saying." To me, that totally comes through in this book. Peterson goes on and on and on... It made me think of that scene in The Office where Michael Scott is talking to Dave Wallace, and then it cuts to Michael, who says, "Sometimes I'll start a sentence, and I don't even know where it's going. I just hope I find it along the way." That's what it felt like reading this book. Like, Peterson had all these little stories he wanted to tell and somehow he had to make them fit a rule, but he wasn't sure how he was going to do that.
One thing that will stick with me from this book is from the Coda. He says that we should be grateful for the progress our ancestors have made; people have suffered immensely. Although, I didn't ask to be born (that's a whole other conversation), I can appreciate that my parents have had a hard life and if they hadn't immigrated to the U.S., I would likely barely be literate and I, certainly, would not have time to sit around and read a book.
Overall, the rules are good and I know they've changed people's lives. I just wish he had been concise.
I ended up reading an online review of his book because I really wanted to know what all the hype is about. The author of one of the reviews I read had been to one of Peterson's lectures and in his review, he said, "...he sometimes appeared to be in the thrall of his ideas and would not, or could not, constrain himself and self-monitor what he was saying." To me, that totally comes through in this book. Peterson goes on and on and on... It made me think of that scene in The Office where Michael Scott is talking to Dave Wallace, and then it cuts to Michael, who says, "Sometimes I'll start a sentence, and I don't even know where it's going. I just hope I find it along the way." That's what it felt like reading this book. Like, Peterson had all these little stories he wanted to tell and somehow he had to make them fit a rule, but he wasn't sure how he was going to do that.
One thing that will stick with me from this book is from the Coda. He says that we should be grateful for the progress our ancestors have made; people have suffered immensely. Although, I didn't ask to be born (that's a whole other conversation), I can appreciate that my parents have had a hard life and if they hadn't immigrated to the U.S., I would likely barely be literate and I, certainly, would not have time to sit around and read a book.
Overall, the rules are good and I know they've changed people's lives. I just wish he had been concise.