12 Rules for Life

I try to read every book given to me by a friend so I suffered through this one. All in all it was better than I expected. Most of it is decent advice even if his justifications for it are dumb sometimes.

Peterson needs an editor, every chapter is 2-3x longer than it should be with entire sections that don't really relate to the point he's trying to make.

Strawman after strawman which is hilarious because at one point he talks about not building up a strawman. Also jesus christ this guy is a hypocrite.

Rule 11: don't bother children skateboarding, starts off pretty reasonable then he goes into a 20+ page tangent about how communism and women's studies are bad. And no, he doesn't really ever tie it back to the theme of the chapter/book.

He quoted Mein Kampf in the context of people accepting the Big Lie easier than small tiny lies... I'm too lazy to look up the context for that quote but I'm pretty sure I don't need to. Talk about a bold choice lmao...

My favorite anecdote is the one about his daughter being in pain from RA. Her doctor doesn't want to put her on opiates because of risk of addiction. Peterson says doctor's don't know everything and doctor shops till he finds one that'll give her opiates. She's eventually zonked out on oxycontin and slurring her words all the time. Peterson buys this daughter a motorcycle. She eventually gets off the opiates after going through a very long withdrawal and says life was miserable that way and she'd rather be in pain. Great job Dr. Peterson you're right, doctor's don't know everything... Father of the year right there.

Overall the book makes a lot more sense when you realize he was strung out on benzos when he wrote it.

(audiobook, read by author)
DNF - got as far as rule 4 and gave up when the author was shrieking at me that I couldn't possibly be an atheist if I had values.

It is isn't completely awful. It has some merit, with some reasonable observations on taking responsibility for our lives. But most of it is really of use only for people who want someone other than their mother to tell them to sit up straight and think positively. Possibly if they want that person to be Ayn Rand.

Each chapter veers wildly between personal anecdote (usually about people he used to know and now looks down), vague hand-wavy directives and occasional ill thought through attempts at concrete examples.

I suspect the author is laughing (all the way to the bank) at anyone who takes this seriously, and probably at the rest of us who waste anything more than the smallest amount of our time on it.