I just finished reading, on audiobook, Jordan Peterson's 2018 book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. Peterson is a Canadian psychologist who has a podcast which features long shows usually involving interviews. The tone in this book is very moralistic and on audio his adamancy for his opinions can get to the point of coming across a bit shrill and plaintive...at least that's how he sounds to me. In spite of that, I was a bit blown away by the depth of thought and insight underlying his enunciated principles and felt alternately convicted and affirmed by many of his conclusions about society and how individuals can and should function within it. It's a tough-love kind of message here, and I believe that not everyone would receive it as well as myself. I'm planning to go for a reread of this remarkable work in the near future...
Here are the rules:
1 Stand up straight with your shoulders back.
2 Treat yourself like someone you're responsible for helping.
3 Make friends with people who want the best for you.
4 Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.
5 Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.
6 Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.
7 Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient).
8 Tell the truth...or at least, don't lie.
9 Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don't.
10 Be precise in your speech.
11 Do not bother children while they are skateboarding.
12 Pet a cat when you encounter one in the street.
Some of the above...especially the final two...are a bit tongue-in-cheek while others have much more expansive interpretations, which the author is quite willing to reveal in each chapter. This is an idea-packed work, and I don't automatically subscribe to everything Peterson has laid out here...but he did a masterful job of presenting his own thoughtful views about life and how to live it...
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