Conservatism and Christianity thinly disguised as a self-help book
12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson
★★★☆☆
This book is a vindication for conservatism and Christianity thinly disguised as a traditional self-help book. Even though Peterson may seem to promote traditional virtues, he is neither a traditional academic nor self-help author.
Peterson is a truly remarkable orator. Even his opponents would have to admit that. But he writes exactly as he speaks. He switch topic all the time. From evolutionary biology to psychology, personal anecdotes, stories about patients as well as a range of interpretation of religious myth as well as quotes from his favourite authors. In a lecture hall, that makes an engaging and compelling speech. As a book by a renown academic this style makes a hotchpotch of unrelated associations and ideas. Ironic that a chaotic book can named “an antidote to chaos”!
His advice on coping with your life, dealing with personal problems, child upbringing and relationships are sincere and helpful. Yes, his 12 rules are interesting, unsurprising and somewhat banal. But his rules distill thousands of hours of Peterson’s experience as a clinical psychologist. After reading I felt compelled that Peterson’s rules are a better guide to a good life than almost any advice from the bottomless garbage pile of self-help books that this book competes with.
His attacks on anything he considers postmodern, marxist, leftist or utopian are sharp, to the point and sometimes even witty. These attacks are culture war battles mainly fought on social media, and is what elevated him to a surprising internet phenomenon. So his restatements of his views in “12 rules…” gives a broader picture of why his views are part of a broader pro-enlightenment pro-science view. This is Peterson at his best.
His defense of Christianity seems weird to me. He seems to start from the presupposition Christianity is true and then go on and on with an endless number of stories from the Bible, ancient myths and Jungian psychology to build support his idea that religious ideas must contain some ancient collective wisdom on the human condition transmitted across centuries as archetypes. This seems like wishful thinking of the same magnitude as he condemn when leftist authors purport equally loopy ideas.
So if you want to find out why Peterson has become such a surprising internet phenomenon, you should stick to Youtube, not Amazon!