Reddit Reddit reviews 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

We found 14 Reddit comments about 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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14 Reddit comments about 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos:

u/baj2235 · 10 pointsr/ExplainBothSides

So this won't be brief, as I am adapting my own work from this comment I've made elsewhere. Parts I and II are explainers, and in part III attempts to come at this form both sides per this spirit of this sub. For background, I've listened to most of Peterson's three prominent lecture series, read is second book (1st one is on my reading list), and have generally followed him since he blew Joe Rogan's mind. Additionally, I'll vouch for his wikipedia as not being particularly misleading. The only thing that is really important is that he is an eccentric Canadian psychology professor and practicing clinician at the University of Toronto (previously Harvard).

I. Elements of his work you may run into.

Jordan Peterson's work can be best broken down into two spheres. The first sphere consists some fairly mainstream clinical psychology research focused mostly on the big five personality model. From what I am able to gather, his work here is fairly well respected and uncontroversial among his peers: he isn't what one would call a rock star but he's had a successful career. Additional products of this domain you may come across are a series of lectures available on youtube from a class he teaches on personality and the Self authoring program, a self-help program he developed with 3 other psychologists prior to his notoriety. Additionally, he recently released a book entitled 12 Rules for Life describing some general advice for leading a fulfilling life based on his experience as a clinical psychologist. This book should be rather uncontroversial. From what I've read doesn't really say anything that Moloch, Kek, or any other dark gods could grab onto. Furthermore, his work in this area writ large is only controversial in that he asserts that median man and the median woman are not equivalent, though "they are more alike than they are different." Also, lobsters and dominance hierarchies.

His other body of work is decidedly less mainstream. Beginning in the 1980s, Dr. Peterson became obsessed (his words) by threat of Nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States. The question Dr. Peterson wanted to examine was, how can two opposing ideologies become so convinced that they are right that they would risk total annihilation of human life in opposition to one another? What resulted was an examination of mythologies and ideologies (which he refers to as fragmented mythologies) from the psychological perspective (heavily influenced by Carl Jung). If your interested, it detailed in his first book, Maps of Meaning available for free on his website or, alternatively, the more approachable lecture series of the same name. See also: his lecture series on Genesis. All in all, I'd describe this body of work as quirky yet incredibly interesting. As to whether its "true" or not, well, it would (as Peterson says) depend on what you mean by "true." I would say that I'm decidedly on the fence about it. Un-falsifiable comes to mind (which does not necessarily equal untrue, but is worth noting before internalizing it as gospel).

II. Why does anyone actually care what some kooky old academic has to say?

Jordan Peterson's first bit of notoriety came upon the introduction of Bill C-16 which, in Ontario, makes it a crime to to refer to someone by their non-preferred pronoun. Dr. Peterson took issue with this on the basis that the state should not compel someone to speak in a certain way. He contrasted this with previous hate speech legislation, that merely banned (prohibited?) the use of certain speech the state deemed unacceptable, and never compelled a person to speak in a way it felt acceptable. Additionally, based on his work studying the Soviet Union while writing the Maps of Meaning (and heavily inspired by the book The Gulag Archipeligo) he compared it to similar "Marxist" practices during Stalin's rein. His claim is, in a nutshell, that Soviet citizens were compelled by the state to say things they believed to be untrue on constant basis, neutering their ability to organize and communicate effectively.
Additionally, he said giving into the demand would cede linguist territory to the "post-modern" leftists in the humanity departments, particularly Xxxx Studies departments, which were doing irreparable harm to the academy. The justification for the leftist part of this claim actually better explained by Jonathon Haidt.** In short, the social sciences overwhelmingly liberal (ranging 1:7 to 1:17, conservative: liberal in many department) which colors their perceptions of the world, and makes it difficult for them to act objectively and in good faith when conducting certain studies. Furthermore, their scholarship is overwhelmingly informed by critical theory, a school of thought that is rather difficult for me to be objective about, but I will say isn't thought highly of by those working in "hard" sciences (I hold a PhD in Microbiology, for your reference so adjust your epistemic status accordingly. I'm less than unbiased on the matter).

III. And explainer on both sides of this conflict.

Pro-Peterson: Most visibly, many see Jordan Peterson as standing up to politically correct, left wing bullies who are attempting to impose their viewpoints on them as discussed in part II. However, I can say personally that a lot of his hardcore supporters are actually drawn to what I discussed in part I. His second book (which just past a million copies sold) actually discusses pronouns and the culture war very little, for instance.***

Anti-Peterson: These individuals view Peterson as a reactionary: attempting to undo the in roads progressive values have made in society. They view his opposition to Bill C-16 is evidence of this, and his claims regarding compelled speech are overblown. Likewise, even if he himself is not a bigot many of those who follow him are, and supporting him is giving power to people who don't want what they view as best for society as a whole, especially its most vulnerable members.

TL:DR?* Kermit the Frog is a good psychologist but occasionally goes off into Jungian Crazy town. Strangely, this is actually pretty interesting (though of questionable "truthiness"). Kermit get's mad at bloody neo-marxist pansexuals and Kek and Cthulhu have a field day. Moloch praises the sun. The United Emirates of Kekistan come for the talk about traps, stay because he tells them to clean their rooms and stand up straight. NEETs try and become Chads, or at least less NEET-y than yesterday. Also...as told by 4chan
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personality research is quite far outside my domain, so adjust your epistemic status accordingly

indeed, I've heard him comment that his general success in conventional research has given him slack to pursue his work in this domain


*His justification here is that speaking and thinking are inextricably linked, and that being prevented from talking about something also neuters their ability to think about it. In other words, banning some one from calling a trans person by their non-prefered pronoun prevents them from clearly thinking about what gender a trans person actually is. Compelling someone to use a pronoun is writing the conclusion into the language you are allowed to use to discuss the matter. Personally, of all the arguments he makes, this is the one I'll go as far as to endorse personally. I'm about 1/3 through the Gulag Archipelago, and while no one in Canada is being sent to prison for thought crimes, there is a resemblance in the the prosecutor's conduct the Wilfred Laurier University incident that occurred last year in Canada and the Soviet trials of 1920-1940s.

*Hopefully this is the proper lecture where Dr. Haidt talk about the 1:17 (1:7?) conservative to liberal slant in the humanities/social sciences. I remember it being an hour long, yet this one is only 20 minutes. If someone else has a better link, let me know and I'll change it. I'm not a fan of TED talks.

If at all. I don't actually remember any specific references to anything Culture War related, but its been a couple months since I've read the book so I'm couching my language to avoid being misleading (Rule 8: Tell the truth, or at least don't lie).
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Additional explainers for EBS:

What's with the ancient gods? In several online circles, different aspects of American culture are often personified as ancient uncaring Gods, inspired by Scott Alexander's essay Meditations on Moloch, which uses a caanite God of child sacrifice as a metaphor for coordination problems in society. Similarly, Kek is a stand in for the right's worst tendencies, while Cthulhu (inspired by an essay by the infamous Curtis Yarvin) is used for the left's worst tendencies. I've also seen Tiamat used for feminism. Its a weird internet thing, don't worry about it.

u/moondrunkmonster · 10 pointsr/starterpacks

The problem is he can't read it.

Look at reviews for his book on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FPGY5T0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1#customerReviews

Even the five star reviews include a paragraph such as...

> But there is something to be said for the lessons Peterson teaches. They are complicated, sometimes a little indirect, and mired in allegory. This makes them more valuable, if anything. Peterson doesn't use a magic formula, he uses principles of right action. This book provides general ideas and positions that can serve as a great tool to understanding how people think and why things go wrong.


>That being said, this book spoke to me. It is not an easy read. I had to re-read chapters slowly to fully condense my thoughts. I agree with the critical review that stated you have to be intellectually equipped to really get the most out of this. I had to utilize my background in philosophy and religion to go beyond the surface of what the author was trying to say. This is not a book you can listen to at 2x speed on Audible and hope to retain anything, imo. You need to digest this.


The book reviews are a who's who of /r/iamverysmart kids reflecting on how fucking smart they had to be to get it.

Oddly, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and Seneca all managed to get their ideas across without encapsulating their ideas in unreadable nonsense.

Jordan Peterson's books are the ultimate 21st century Rorschach where you see what you want and if you take the time to see anything, you get to label yourself a very stable genius.

u/3sides2everyStory · 6 pointsr/RedditForGrownups

Learning to meditate and taking long brisk walks listening to audiobooks. Healthy for body and mind.

Some suggested titles (in no particular order):

Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up

Mindset

When Things Fall apart

12 Rules for Life

Let your life speak

There are some great podcasts too... listen and walk,... walk and listen

u/massivewang · 2 pointsr/confession

If you're up for it give this book a read:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FPGY5T0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Life is a bitch. I don't know your circumstances nor what has led to them but keep your head up. Just because things are bad now, does not mean they have to be forever. If you're able to identify the biggest issues, formulate a plan, and take steps to improve, you have no idea how amazing things could be five years from now.

u/loamfarer · 2 pointsr/JordanPeterson

One of those books was '12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos' and will be out January 2018.

u/hibou_confus · 2 pointsr/JordanPeterson

Your first link seems to be a fake one. The true one is here.

u/jediknight · 2 pointsr/Romania

Momentan citesc Growing Gourmet Medicinal Mushrooms. :)

Inainte de ea am terminat 12 Rules for Life.

Urmatoarea probabil o sa fie Skin in the game.


> Bonus: Cartea preferata.

Nu prea mai am o carte preferata. Sunt mai multe aflate la nivelul maxim din varii motive si nu prea pot alege intre ele.

"The Gift" a lui Hafiz si "Felicity" a lui Mary Oliver sunt doua carti de poezie care mi-au placut enorm si pe care le pot recomanda fara ezitare. :)

u/DrMnhttn · 1 pointr/INTP

> I am unequivocally doomed.

> I'm such a misanthrope

Girl, you need to work on yourself. If you don't love yourself, no one else will either.

It took me a long time to figure that out. I didn't find my perfect introvert wife until I truly understood and accepted myself.

This book turned my life around:

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Give it a read.

> Being a bit of nihilist tw*t doesn't really help anything.

It really doesn't. Stop that. It won't make you happy. Here's another book that might help you find some purpose in life:

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

> EDIT: I'm female (25

The good news is that you have plenty of time. I found love in my late 30's with my wife in her early 40's, and we couldn't be happier.

u/charlesgrodinfan · -4 pointsr/SeattleWA

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FPGY5T0/

speaking of, who's reserved a ticket? only need 53 more to unleash the larpers!