12 Rules for Life

Walking around B&N I noticed this book and thought I'd check it out from the library and give it a read. The “12 Rules” have a much different tone than books I usually read which got me interested. Things like “Don't bother kids when they're skateboarding” and “pet a cat when you encounter one”. What I didn't realize was just how religious it was! In every chapter somehow the story is turned back to The Bible. It was during this book that I realized that using Libby I could skip chapters. That worked great for this book where skipping would just fast forward to the next rule.

If you find yourself disagreeing with any particular paragraph or idea in this book, you might be right, but do dig deeper and find the truth for yourself – this is another way reading it can be useful.

Read the first third of a book then gave up. Overly religious. The title could very well be Bible 2.0.

2025 Reading Challenge ~ [5/12]

Seguimos avanzando. 450 páginas y algo más para la lectura de mayor extensión hasta el momento.

Como un punto a destacar: “12 reglas para vivir” vino a reemplazar a Sculpting in Time, de Tarkovsky, a quien dejé en pausa tras leer el primer capítulo y darme de cuenta de que habrá que ver más películas del ruso antes de leerlo, por la vasta cantidad de referencias que incluye. Por eso, un agradecimiento a Peterson, que se ofreció como sustituto.

Dicho eso, el libro se me hizo demasiado largo. El contenido de fondo es bueno, sí, pero la forma en la que está planteado es realmente tediosa. Muchas de las reglas comienzan con claridad y entusiasmo para rápidamente irse por las ramas y recién en los últimos párrafos retomar el camino. Estoy convencido de que el libro podría ser muchísimo más efectivo recortando las secciones medias de cada capítulo y teniendo, al final, no más de 300 páginas.

Adicionalmente, y sin saberlo a priori, el libro está plagado de referencias bíblicas que, aunque válidas, producen un agotamiento brutal para la tercera o cuarta regla. Llegó un punto en el que me dije a mi mismo: “Si leo una vez más la historia del Génesis, o de Caín y Abel, o del Sermón de la Montaña, cierro el libro y me voy a leer otra cosa”. Pasó en más de una vez y tuve que hacer un verdadero ejercicio de paciencia para seguir adelante. Pajazo.

Sumando y restando, me llevo un par de conceptos importantes. Pero también me quedo con la sensación de que todo esto podría haber estado condensando de una manera mucho más efectiva.

12 Rules for Life – Did Not Finish

I found this book terrible—preachy, based on nothing, and unjustifiably patronizing. The author presents weak, unsubstantiated arguments in a tone that feels more like a lecture than meaningful insight. One of the worst things I’ve ever read in my life.

I was unfortunately and very unpleasantly introduced to this shit-stain through far too many videos and clips of his beyond repugnant views concerning women, birth control, sexual assault, and victim blaming. This piece of shit creep asserts that women who take birth control are basically asking for sex because he can't comprehend in his back-assed smooth excuse for a brain any other reason someone might use birth control. He plainly blames women for being raped, calling them “stunningly unsophisticated”, because he thinks we don't know how to say “no” correctly. The only thing this waste of space is concerned with is a man's hurt feelings. Send this turd directly into the sun, no expense spared.

Just finished and still mulling it over. On the whole I enjoyed it a lot. It was helped by listening to the author's narration; at several points you could tell he was getting emotional and that added to the impact of his words. It's just a pity that he veered off into gender politics in the Rule 11 chapter—Do Not Bother Children when they are Skateboarding. It's not that I don't disagree with him, it's that it seemed to stand out as not quite in keeping with the chapter heading and he was just looking for somewhere to slot in his views. It didn't quite fit. I did, as a former skater, enjoy listening to him describing the street skating around Toronto or wherever it was!

The highest impact moment for me was in Rule 7—Pursue what is Meaningful (Not what is Expedient). It moved me to tears and prompted me to send a screenshot to a friend that I think would get a lot of out of this chapter if not the whole book.

This is probably the book I've got the most highlights in this year. So much stood out to me as being meaningful and worth returning to. His adherence to the bible fits with my current worldview and philosophy, as too does his love of Dostoyevsky. As for Solzhenitsyn, I've had Gulag Archipelago on my TBR for a while now and have bumped it up for a definite read in 2025. I have the nice hardcover anniversary edition.

The more anecdotal parts of the book really helped to keep me engaged, like when he talked about his friend Chris (RIP) or went through the horrific story of his daughter's health issues.

Will I follow up with Beyond Order? Honestly, I feel like diving straight in to keep it going, otherwise it'll slip down the TBR and possibly right off the bottom.

And now I'm off to read some more reviews to learn why I'm wrong. Ha ha.

I mean why do I even read these selfhep things? I know they bad so WHYYY

I wonder if Jordan Peterson asks his fellow mates, “How are you?” or if it goes something like, “In the intricate tapestry of your current existence, how do the various threads of your emotional, physical, and mental well-being interweave to create the unique mosaic that is your present state of being?”

There's some good content in this book, but, for the most part, there is a considerable amount of unnecessary information.

This book sadly discusses religion in an unnecessary depth and frequency, a great read otherwise

If this could be any more abhorrent I'd be surprised. A bible and a manual for a new generation of toxic masculinity, which has set back the cause of equality fifty years. Avoid like the plague it is.

AUDIOBOOK

This book had great ratings, but I just couldn't get into it. I listened to about 10% and the only takeaways I got were that he started writing this book by answering questions on Quora, and he spoke alot about crabs, or maybe it was lobsters, and their mating process. Unfortunately, this book started out rough and I gave up.

Speechless.

Jordan B. Peterson is definitely a marmite figure. Half the world seem to regard him as an irredeemable bigot while the other half some kind of modern prophet. I don't subscribe to either camp, but this is a review of his book, not his character.

What I would say, however, for any reader who is thinking about picking up the book, is that the portrayal of Professor Peterson in the media, good or bad, is not a very good indicator of what this book is like. Many of the topics he is famous for (like the infamous lobsters or his views on sex-based behaviour differences) do indeed crop up, but they are distinct passages and do not constitute the main themes of 12 Rules.

12 Rules for Life sets out to use a combination of science, philosophy and literary analysis to bring time honoured wisdom about how to live well to a modern audience. Each of the 12 rules is really an essay grouped, some more loosely than others, around the rule set out in the title. Some of the rules are more direct, while others are illustrations of broader points Professor Peterson wishes to riff on.

Overall, I thought that that was quite a compelling premise. By taking well-worn wisdom and expressing it through biblical analogies and Jungian archetypes, I found that the book did make me stop and consider concepts that are usually so ordinary that they slip into the background.
As an example, everyone knows lying is bad from the age of four. But exploring truth-telling concerning our self-concept, life in gulags, marital collapse and the ‘life-giving truth of the word of God' (to name a few of the takes in the book) provides enough context to actually spend some time thinking about the role of truth-telling in our lives and in the world more broadly.

Speaking of truth-telling, that leads me onto the book's main weakness. In the sense of the word as ‘a scientifically provable proposition', I'm not sure how ‘true' much of the book is. In particular, most of the book presents the alternative to sticking to the rules as some form of extreme disaster, often literally described as hell. I'm no psychologist, but I'm also always naturally a bit suspicious whenever figures like Freud and Jung are bought up.

I don't think this would matter if the book was presented a little differently. If it was sold as a set of essays ruminating on ancient wisdom and poetic truths, for example - i.e. truth as the way we often experience the world not what is necessarily objective - then I'd be on board with much of what is said. The exaggeration would be artistic license and to ask for data would completely miss the point. However, Professor Peterson frequently alludes to his clinical psychological practice and at times to various studies in biology and psychology which suggest that the book sees its truths as ‘scientifically' true rather than true in some more artistic sense.

Overall, I thought this book was perfectly fine. I enjoyed it somewhat and I do think it made me consider how I move through the world a little differently. I would recommend readers don't take the book too seriously though. Jordan Peterson is a very charismatic speaker for sure and has some interesting ideas in this book and elsewhere. But he is not the messiah, some would say he is just a very naughty boy.


Looking for an alternative? I'd recommend Feline Philosophy by John Gray which I think touches on the same overall theme of living a good life but does it better, in a shorter form and with way more mentions of cats.

4.5/5

Spazzatura per gente affamata di spazzatura.
Se hai bisogno di un libro per dirti come vivere la tua vita, amico, è meglio che leggi la bibbia ti fai prete. Delle due quella è scritta persino meglio (e con più fantasia).

Highly recommended for any young person. These are truly foundational concepts that can help a person throughout life. Best to learn about them as early as possible and use them frequently throughout life.

Yikes

A lot of people I know have read this book or have strong opinions (in both directions) on Jordan Peterson. I tried to take the information as it was presented without reading through the lens of “what so-and-so would think of this”, but sometimes that was difficult.

On the whole I enjoyed it. I thought Peterson had some valuable observations about culture, history, psychology, spirituality, all sorts of things. I didn't feel that most of his opinions were revolutionary to me - I have already heard most of his ideas in different forms. In that respect this was not a life-changing book.

Peterson is a good writer. I found myself highlighting and saving quotes all the way through, not because I agreed with everything he said, but because he captured an old idea in a poignant or clever way. A lot of this book is clearly his opinion, and it comes across as such. He isn't afraid to say what he thinks, sometimes caustically, which is refreshing.

Peterson put a lot of his own personal history into this book. If you care to know who he is, and how he came to be that way, you can find out by reading 12 Rules for Life. He has endured some tragedies, lost friends to suicide, intently studied the dark parts of history (Soviet Russia, the Holocaust etc.), and come out fairly whole. Despite heavy references to Christianity, God, and the Bible I would categorize this as a staunchly secular book.

He proposes a worldview that is moral and emotional, not at all austere or intellectual as many modern philosophers tend to do, but without the accoutrements of religious tradition or mysticism. It is an attractive modern worldview for modern times, but personally I am left unsatisfied. It would take a much longer review and a much closer reading of 12 Rules to pinpoint the source of my dissatisfaction. Perhaps it is something in me that craves the mystical and transcendent explanations for life, despite their caprices and inconsistencies.

12 Rules was a worthwhile read and provides fodder for many excellent campfire conversations down the road.

Jeg ville lese 12 Rules for å gjøre meg opp en egen mening, Peterson får skryt og kjeft fra de forskjelligste kanter, og kritikken om at han er en filosof for Alt-Right krevde av meg at jeg måtte sette meg inn i hva han faktisk står for.
Saken er at Jordan Peterson først og fremst er psykolog, og i de kapitlene (eller reglene) som bygger på hans hovedkompetanse, så er det svært mye bra. Det er mer enn en selvhjelpsbok, med forankring i gode historier og grundige kunnskaper. Men med en gang han trer inn i det politiske, blir kritikken fra venstresiden og fra feministene relevante: Kritikken mot feminismen og det venstrevridde (i hans øyne) akademia oppleves som mildt sagt problematiske og kaster mørke skygger over resten.

Etter å ha lest boken tar jeg avstand fra de som mener at han har en protagonist for Alt-Right, men ser at de som vil kan lese noen av reglene hans i den retning. Jeg tror derimot at det som utfordrer folk - meg også - er at han tar et ganske så solid tak i de mørkere sidene ved livet, og våger å si det samme som Paulus gjør i Romerbrevet: “Det gode som jeg vil gjør jeg ikke, og det onde som jeg ikke vil gjør jeg”. Å stirre mørket inn i øynene er ganske smertefullt, og humanister vil ha problemer med å svelge det fordi det ikke passer inn i et (for) positivistisk verdensbilde. Løp og les? Nei, men du kaster ikke bort tiden heller. Men du må tåle at han kan være litt moralistisk av og til, og at han skriver mange flere ord enn det han hadde trengt.

A bit heavy on biblical references but absolutely superb overall

Probably the worst decision to listen to this as audiobook. I had to give up having gone through 70-80% already. The contents are extemely hard to catch up with. Really lengthy examples and stories were used. Not at all enjoyable or profitable.

Following one of the rules in the books, which is to tell the truth I decided to be as honest as possible whilst reviewing. A lot of the content within the book resonated with me and has given me a lot of food for thought about my life and how I'm living it. Around half way through the book I decided to read some reviews to get a general feel from other people who have read it and I found that much of my concerns and opinions were shared. The book has a lot of good inside of it but also has a lot misinterpretation and skewing of stories and quotes to fit an argument. That being said I feel I'm a more compassionate, understanding and thoughtful person through reading it which is why I would recommend it to anybody looking for a little guidance through this journey we call life.

Das Buch befriedigt das Bedürfnis nach Halt durch naturalistische und mythologische Begründungen: Der Autor fundiert seine Argumente stets mit bio-psychologischen oder mythologischen Prämissen. Es werden also entweder psychologische und evolutionsgenetische Befunde genannt, oder die “Bibel” bzw. andere “archetypische”, mythologische Schriften.

Dies hat zuweilen etwas Erfrischendes. Endlich mal weg von dem weichgespülten Ratgeberzeug. Aber letztlich wirkte es dann doch arg gezwungen “episch” und pseudo-tiefsinnig: Das ständige Beharren auf die “Gefahr des schrecklichen Chaos” und das wir es bändigen müssen...

Insgesamt wirken die zwölf Regeln sehr willkürlich und alles ist unsystematisch und unstrukturiert. Die Regeln sind nur Anlass für spontane Gedankenausflüge des Autors. Die fehlende Offenlegung der letzten Prämissen (die man somit selbst heraus kristallisieren muss) wird nur überdeckt durch den gezwungen-epischen Tonfall des Buches, der als Glasur über allem liegt.

Es ist also schön mal etwas anderes als den üblichen Konstruktivismus zu hören. Letztlich ist das Buch aber kein Ausbruch aus dem bürgerlichen Zeitgeschehen, sondern eine bürgerlich-konservative Rückkehr zu den alten Dingen, die Halt geben: Bibel, Christentum, Mythologie. Der Naturalismus ist dann das moderne, wissenschaftliche Äquivalent dazu – die “Rückkehr zur Natur”.

Die Geisteshaltung ist letztlich eine liberal-konservative: Es darf wieder Mann und Frau als primäre Kategorien geben, außerdem die Kernfamilie und die Religion. Der Mensch kann wieder durch die Natur geprägt sein, Wettbewerb ist gut, Kinder brauchen Grenzen (gegen den Hang zum Antiautoritären) etc... Alles irgendwie am Leitfaden der Unterscheidung von Ordnung und Chaos - nicht wirklich hinreichend begründet, sondern, wie gesagt, rhetorisch überdeckt.

Es könnte sich lohnen das Buch genauer zu analysieren, um zu sehen, was es über den Zeitgeist und die Bedürftigkeit der Menschen aussagt. Aber den Zeitaufwand ist mir das dann doch nicht wert.

I downloaded this audiobook after it came up on one of my favorite podcasts, Malcom Gladwell's Revisionist History. Gladwell spoke to the concept of developing one's own “12 Rules for Life,” which apparently became highly popular as a result of Peterson's lectures/this book.

Being an unabashed lover of rules, self-help books, and academics lauded by Gladwell, I thought this would be right up my alley. And on the face of it, the rules are inviting – from “Stand up straight with your shoulders back” to “Be precise in your speech,” to the less conventional “Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.” But I struggled from the outset: firstly, this book is all over the GD place. I had such a hard time following; if I stopped paying attention for a few moments (as I often do, typically because I'm listening while doing something else, like driving or cross-training) then I would get super confused. For example, how did we go from talking about taking care of yourself like you would a dear friend to how the cultural narrative of Adam and Eve explains our shame of nakedness? Where's the connection I missed?

This book is a pejorative and wholly overwrought polemic. Though some points of his made sense to me, they were completely lost in a mixture of his own personal experience, the work of other psychologists, scientific literature, summaries of books and historical figures, and long explanations of cultural narratives (often within the same sub-heading, and often fairly unrelated). But it REALLY lost me in Chapter 11 when he went on a neo-patriarchal rant, trying to get the reader to feel bad for poor privileged white boys now they they are underrepresented in college (among a slew of other stupid reasons)? Fuck that, dude.

I still like the idea of having 12 rules for life, but not in the way this book presents. I'd recommend listening to the episode of Revision History instead.