Author: Jordan B. Peterson
Publication Date: March 2, 2021
Publisher: Portfolio
Genre: Self Help, Psychology, Philosophy, Non-fiction
The sequel to 12 Rules for Life offers further guidance on the periolus path of modern life.
It’s no secret that I’m a Jordan B. Peterson fan. I’ve been following him for a while now and I’m proud to say that he was teaching at my univeristy, The University of Toronto but now retired. I think he speaks so eloquently and well that it’s hard not to be captivated by the wisdom he speaks. What I like about Jordan B. Peterson is how courageous he is for speaking what we are all thinking but too afraid to say; his relentless seeking of the truth in spite of nasty public opinion is truly admirable. I have so much respect for Peterson because his ideas are so novel and a breath of fresh air in a society too ridden with people who support creative transformation to an extreme; politically conservative, Peterson thinks about issues in a well reasoned manner and keeps us wary of the immense changes that liberals propose.
I’ve read the first book he wrote as well, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos a while ago and I finally got around to reading his second book. I have to say I enjoyed the second book more than the first book because the religious references were kept more lowkey: I enjoyed the larger scope of examples he used from his clinical practise, history, mythology, fairytales, and popular fiction. As much as the religious references are powerful because they’re the oldest examples that can be use, not being religious takes away the charm of the references. I felt that unless I did studies in theology I would not be able to understand the full picture of the references. However, the general theme he proposed about chaos and order needing to strike a balance rung very true; the insights in Beyond Order were more nuanced than 12 Rules for Life. The life advice is simple to get but Peterson thinks deeply about each of his proposed rules. The writing in this book was also clearer and easier to read and follow than the first book in my opinion even though at times it is filled with academic jargon. It gets quite dense in some areas and takes a while to absorb and understand. But some of the analyses of the references were quite profound. I really enjoyed reading about the childhood fairytales, the Harry Potter quidditch reference, and the Egyptian mythology. I found these examples super interesting to think about in a different lense.
There’s so much gold in the content if you can get around the jargon. The philosophy is deep and there is a great exploration of the human psyche. I want to talk about some of the rules; one of the rules I resonated the most with is the one about “Do not hide unwanted things in the fog”. In the past, due to cognitive behavioural issues, I was constantly gaslighting myself into thinking I was dramatic for having emotions. I thought that my thoughts were invalid and engaged in a self-fulfilling loophole of being too demanding and not tolerating enough so I stopped standing up for myself. I thought I was creating elephants out of beetles but in actuality, I was hiding unwanted things in the fog by not being confrontational and bringing up issues as they arised. As a result, these issues amalgamated into bigger issues that all it took was a tap to destroy the iceberg. This rule solidified for me that I shouldn’t be afraid of confrontation using the example that we spend most of our lives putting up with “little things” that condense into a routine. If we were not happy with the size of the dinner plates, then we should talk about it rather than ignore it and think that it is not worthwhile to discuss. It really helped me put the things that annoy us into context and describes how we should care about the little things.
I also loved how wide of a scope the topics he talked about were, from parenting to romantic relationships to self-help. I found the romantic relationship section very helpful because it unveiled what we know but can’t put into words. He also uses a very pragmatic way to calculate how much time we should be putting into our romantic relationships to create a healthy one such as if we spent four hours a week going on a date with our significant other, that would add up to xyz hours in a year, or how our relationship would only work if we spent ninety minutes each week talking to our significant other about practical matters, and how it’s the things we do in a routine that is the biggest accomplishment we can have. He puts a positive spin to fixing deteriorating relationships by calling us out on behaviours such as thinking relationships are easy when in actuality, they are a lot of work.
Peterson seamingly integrates so much history, theology, philsophy, and literature into what looks like simple rules that can be read from the table of contents. He ties together so many complex ideas into one narrative. Sometimes I found it hard to see the relationship between the deeper ideas he talks about and the rule but I felt like I learned so much after reading each rule. It is listed as a self help book but in disguise it is a treatise on philosophy, psychology, theology, and politics. It is not a self help book for someone trying to look for an easy and light hearted read; it is a book for the extremely literate depressed and educated individual trying to find meaning in life by exploring the world in so much depth.
Beyond Order is a well reasoned and thought out book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and it made me think about stories we hear from fairytales and popular culture in a different light. It is extremely nuanced and sends a powerful message on how to live your life right. Peterson is one of the most bright and astounding intellectuals of our times and I think it is so important to be hearing what he has to say, to challenge what we think we know. He is part of the force of balancing retaining and conserving tradition with creative transformation. I believe our society is at a place where we are leaning too far on the creative transformation side without remembering our roots. Peterson is an individual to keep on track with; it is truly a blessing to have such a powerful and rational intellectual in the public sphere. If you were to read one book of Peterson’s I think it should be Beyond Order.
Publication Date: March 2, 2021
Publisher: Portfolio
Genre: Self Help, Psychology, Philosophy, Non-fiction
The sequel to 12 Rules for Life offers further guidance on the periolus path of modern life.
In 12 Rules for Life, clinical psychologist and celebrated professor at Harvard and the University of Toronto Dr. Jordan B. Peterson helped millions of readers impose order on the chaos of their lives. Now, in this bold sequel, Peterson delivers twelve more lifesaving principles for resisting the exhausting toll that our desire to order the world inevitably takes.
In a time when the human will increasingly imposes itself over every sphere of life—from our social structures to our emotional states—Peterson warns that too much security is dangerous. What’s more, he offers strategies for overcoming the cultural, scientific, and psychological forces causing us to tend toward tyranny, and teaches us how to rely instead on our instinct to find meaning and purpose, even—and especially—when we find ourselves powerless.
While chaos, in excess, threatens us with instability and anxiety, unchecked order can petrify us into submission. Beyond Order provides a call to balance these two fundamental principles of reality itself, and guides us along the straight and narrow path that divides them.
Review
It’s no secret that I’m a Jordan B. Peterson fan. I’ve been following him for a while now and I’m proud to say that he was teaching at my univeristy, The University of Toronto but now retired. I think he speaks so eloquently and well that it’s hard not to be captivated by the wisdom he speaks. What I like about Jordan B. Peterson is how courageous he is for speaking what we are all thinking but too afraid to say; his relentless seeking of the truth in spite of nasty public opinion is truly admirable. I have so much respect for Peterson because his ideas are so novel and a breath of fresh air in a society too ridden with people who support creative transformation to an extreme; politically conservative, Peterson thinks about issues in a well reasoned manner and keeps us wary of the immense changes that liberals propose.
I’ve read the first book he wrote as well, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos a while ago and I finally got around to reading his second book. I have to say I enjoyed the second book more than the first book because the religious references were kept more lowkey: I enjoyed the larger scope of examples he used from his clinical practise, history, mythology, fairytales, and popular fiction. As much as the religious references are powerful because they’re the oldest examples that can be use, not being religious takes away the charm of the references. I felt that unless I did studies in theology I would not be able to understand the full picture of the references. However, the general theme he proposed about chaos and order needing to strike a balance rung very true; the insights in Beyond Order were more nuanced than 12 Rules for Life. The life advice is simple to get but Peterson thinks deeply about each of his proposed rules. The writing in this book was also clearer and easier to read and follow than the first book in my opinion even though at times it is filled with academic jargon. It gets quite dense in some areas and takes a while to absorb and understand. But some of the analyses of the references were quite profound. I really enjoyed reading about the childhood fairytales, the Harry Potter quidditch reference, and the Egyptian mythology. I found these examples super interesting to think about in a different lense.
There’s so much gold in the content if you can get around the jargon. The philosophy is deep and there is a great exploration of the human psyche. I want to talk about some of the rules; one of the rules I resonated the most with is the one about “Do not hide unwanted things in the fog”. In the past, due to cognitive behavioural issues, I was constantly gaslighting myself into thinking I was dramatic for having emotions. I thought that my thoughts were invalid and engaged in a self-fulfilling loophole of being too demanding and not tolerating enough so I stopped standing up for myself. I thought I was creating elephants out of beetles but in actuality, I was hiding unwanted things in the fog by not being confrontational and bringing up issues as they arised. As a result, these issues amalgamated into bigger issues that all it took was a tap to destroy the iceberg. This rule solidified for me that I shouldn’t be afraid of confrontation using the example that we spend most of our lives putting up with “little things” that condense into a routine. If we were not happy with the size of the dinner plates, then we should talk about it rather than ignore it and think that it is not worthwhile to discuss. It really helped me put the things that annoy us into context and describes how we should care about the little things.
I also loved how wide of a scope the topics he talked about were, from parenting to romantic relationships to self-help. I found the romantic relationship section very helpful because it unveiled what we know but can’t put into words. He also uses a very pragmatic way to calculate how much time we should be putting into our romantic relationships to create a healthy one such as if we spent four hours a week going on a date with our significant other, that would add up to xyz hours in a year, or how our relationship would only work if we spent ninety minutes each week talking to our significant other about practical matters, and how it’s the things we do in a routine that is the biggest accomplishment we can have. He puts a positive spin to fixing deteriorating relationships by calling us out on behaviours such as thinking relationships are easy when in actuality, they are a lot of work.
Peterson seamingly integrates so much history, theology, philsophy, and literature into what looks like simple rules that can be read from the table of contents. He ties together so many complex ideas into one narrative. Sometimes I found it hard to see the relationship between the deeper ideas he talks about and the rule but I felt like I learned so much after reading each rule. It is listed as a self help book but in disguise it is a treatise on philosophy, psychology, theology, and politics. It is not a self help book for someone trying to look for an easy and light hearted read; it is a book for the extremely literate depressed and educated individual trying to find meaning in life by exploring the world in so much depth.
Beyond Order is a well reasoned and thought out book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and it made me think about stories we hear from fairytales and popular culture in a different light. It is extremely nuanced and sends a powerful message on how to live your life right. Peterson is one of the most bright and astounding intellectuals of our times and I think it is so important to be hearing what he has to say, to challenge what we think we know. He is part of the force of balancing retaining and conserving tradition with creative transformation. I believe our society is at a place where we are leaning too far on the creative transformation side without remembering our roots. Peterson is an individual to keep on track with; it is truly a blessing to have such a powerful and rational intellectual in the public sphere. If you were to read one book of Peterson’s I think it should be Beyond Order.
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