Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life: An honest book review

A book blogger's honest thoughts on Jordan Peterson's book, "12 Rules for Life"

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[ezracoble]

To anyone wanting to read this book: this book is a little heavy. And its best paced out. Take a few days between each chapter and let it set in. I am a pre med student and spend a lot of time reading and I can say that I had to reread paragraphs at times. It's a fun little challenge

[jack]

I personally don't find the book superfluous at all, I would have not enjoyed the book if Jordan had just sated his 12 rules. When he goes off on tangents and really explains the importance of each rule, and the evidence supporting the pragmatic usefulness of each rule this for me really gives the rules more weight and purpose and motivates me to do them.


Also this is just a side note about Maps of Meaning because I've read that book. If you've found 12 rules to be too dense and complicated I would recommend you don't read Maps of Meaning because that book is incredibly complicated and dense, I mean its literally a psychology textbook given to college/university students. I personally have never read a book more complicated than Maps of Meaning. But if you found 12 rules to be a walk in the park then go and read Maps of Meaning.

[matthewantero]

As I write this comment, I am at Rule 10 of the book. His perspectives are indeed very interesting and his ability to grab ideas from different fields of study and funnel them into a single idea is amazing. Yes, some parts of the book are super complicated, but it's awesome once you get it. I may not agree with everything he says, but if I am going to write a book, I would love to write like him.

[saadawan]

Y'all complaining about JP's book being dense, try reading Nietzche 😂

[gorilanator]

¿Why do you keep your books in reverse?
I'm scared...

[nikkivenable]

I have found Jordan Peterson to be a very smart man, almost too smart, and I often found myself wandering as I would listen to his lectures in the past....however, during Covid, when my therapist no longer was working and I desperately needed help, I began watching his Biblical series and honestly, it helped me so much. I am actually chocking up as I'm writing this because I was just so profoundly moved and changed as I went through that series...and the whole lockdown thing was so stressful, no mental health services were really available, etc etc. I am a believer, but even if you aren't, try the Biblical series...Jordan speaks of the stories in the Bible, but most of what he talks about is life and how to get through it.... and if you are interested in the Bible but find things confusing about it(who doesn't), he connects some dots and I found it all just so fascinating. Actually when you talked about each chapter in his book being a journey, and the many paths that one can take(and does take with JP at the helm), that's SUCH a great point...this is exactly what he does in the Biblical series and that's perhaps why it was kind of challenging in the beginning to follow. The heading of each lecture is taken from a Biblical story, but it's so much more(that's an understatement!). He has often said that the Biblical series was a great challenge because he was learning as he was lecturing...he'd have an outline, but as you watch him, you see him work things out in his own mind and then try his best to convey that to his audience. If one can just let go and enjoy the ride(with all it's twists and turns), you'll be changed by the end. It's a metaphor for life, in a way.

He is a national treasure, for sure. I don't have this book and I keep wondering if I should get it. I keep putting it off...maybe it's that I prefer listening/watching him...watching his body language, listening to him get emotional at times(very moving!), hearing his inflection, hearing him laugh and joke etc. Thank you for giving your honest thoughts about his book...I found this video very helpful.

[sentientmlem]

Jordan Peterson can sometimes ramble in his books. He uses long-winded examples to clarify points. This is fine but sometimes his long-winded examples are followed by more long-winded examples. It can be a long read but it is well worth it.

[bradspitt]

Hmm, I don't know how familiar you are with JP but this book is like the cliff notes version of his other work "Maps of Meaning" (I haven't read it, I hear it's way tougher than 12 rules). It's like his entire life's work.

I believe his intention was to try to scientifically obtain meaning. In addition to psychological studies, religious texts (he uses daoism a lot too) are heavily used along with other archetypal stories as you've pointed out. He's used the Lion King, beauty and the beast, sleeping beauty, Peter pan, pinnochio, sometimes other stories like Dante's inferno.

To put it another way, he saw a society becoming increasingly nihilistic because meaning had been robbed from it with the constant rhetoric that "God is dead, " and he was attempting to tether the gap between the morality/wisdom of the ancient teachings (because that's what got us here) and our modernity without affirming the supernatural. Now I don't think he succeeded but that's another discussion.

[audiobooksummary]

This book gives people 12 unforgettable rules. It helps a lot!

[gmy]

My god .. you gave me such a supperior book report .. i m hitting miself for not expecting that .. thankyou thankyou i wish you all the best you are a prime example off actually what mr peterson is standing for !!! .. creating educating expressing yourself as refined as possible

[jasjotsingh]

I can relate to that. A lot of times I felt that a significant portion of a rule was irrelevant or unrelated to its core.

[AeroPR]

The references to the religious references is not to turn you into a Christian. Is to validate that his rules are an amalgamation of learnings and things our ancestors figured out over thousands years and not something that a god figure wrote dictating it to apostles. And completely ignoring these teachings because you are not religious is a mistake.

[trevorworkman]

I liked this a lot!! Such a refreshing review to listen too, I also like your bookcase background.

[midi]

I think that for one to get a really full and rich experience of JP's thought processes, an IQ of, say, 130 or more is necessary. He does tend to get a lot of balls in the air all at once and may keep them there for quite a while before bringing them back down to resolve them.

I can totally relate to his desire to not just throw the rules out there with out laying the foundation for and path to those rules. It didn't start with the rules, like a flower doesn't start with a blossom, but a seed and the blossom is the finale. The rules are the conclusions to thought processes.

[hpscmoon]

I just finished this book and yes I agree that it's really deep and at times superfluous. But his perspectives were really interesting.

[davidbrendli]

So, I set it out as my new year’s resolution to read a book a month. I decided to start with this one, as I actually had it. I haven’t read a book in years, and this one as a first book as pretty heavy. Take into consideration that I had to force myself to get used to getting infomartion at a slower pace, as opposed to youtube, etc. which I have been really absuing lately. This really was a test. I don’t think it would have been an issue if it wasn’t my first book, but the 4-5th, when I am already used to reading. His ramblings didn’t help. There were times when I was like, just get to the point man. With all of that said, I can see several people benefiting a lot more from this book, as I have really managed to put my life in order before starting the book and had pretty similar views on some topics. With all of this, I don’t want to disregard the importance of this book if you feel like your life is a bit of a mess. I also summarised the chapters in a notebook after finishing each chapter, this way I would remember the core ideas much better and I feel that it worked like a charm.

[No-oneInParticular]

Thanks for the review. I have to ask though, why are your books backwards? Is it backwards if you read it or...?

[fahadmunirkhan]

I guess an honest review must contain the way the book changes you, and how you transformed from who you were and what you became after reading this book.

[AcousticAvenueNB]

Check out the full summary for 12 Rules for Life on my channel!

[joshweatherly]

I read it.. i enjoyed it. Agreed it a disservice to call it ‘self help’... but i love that it IS different than other self-help books. I think that’s the beauty of it... you can read others for that.