12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson - ★★★★

Like most everyone I know, I’m inspired by the words of Jordan Peterson. He made such a strong showing on YouTube and the Joe Rogan show standing up for logic against true madness. In this book, Peterson plots a course for self improvement, but is much more thoughtful than that, really talking about the larger issues behind things. With a mix of personal stories, stories from his patients, Simpsons references and a fair amount of Biblical stories, Peterson makes the case for self improvement and offers reasonable common sense ways to improve without coming off as preachy or holier than thou. While I don’t know if this book will be accessible to most people, it is unlike most self help books in its length and detail, I for one enjoyed spending some time with the Professor. Having seen him on YouTube many times, I read the book in his voice and it seemed more like spending time with an helpful old friend than a stuffy unknown narrator. I hope this personal connection will help me internalize and truly learn from his lessons. While it may seem simple, one of the most important lessons he imparted was to tell the truth. Not in a mean way, but in an accurate and factual way. He relates a story where a patient in a mental hospital wanted to know why she couldn’t line up with the psychology students. There were many ways to answer her question, most of which probably would have caused her pain or amplified the differences between the two groups. Peterson went to his default and told the lady the truth. They were psychology students there for training so they had to line up together. She was initially disappointed, but because his answer was the truth she didn’t feel any pain and understood the situation. It may be a simple cliche worthy of a Billy Joel song, but honesty really is the best policy. Not brutal honesty, designed to hurt, but factual honesty designed to explain the situation and lead to a better understanding. Simple lessons that I think we could all take to heart. Thank you Dr. Peterson, for your thoughtful book.