Jordan Peterson - 12 Rules for Life

[ChocoBro]

Has anybody managed to read this book or heard feedback from somebody about it? Because I wonder if it ever picks up at some point.

 

I bought it, hoping it would have some inspirational ideas because I always liked listening to Jordan Peterson's lectures.

 

I expect that when listening to a worldly person, you will be confronted with some elements concerning evolution, religion and philosophy.

 

But oh my goodness, the foreword by some other random guy was a catastrophe, so I skipped it after one page, the overture was all about yin yang, taoism, chaos and order corresponding to masculinity and femininity (?????) and the first chapter goes on and on and on about evolution it is making me sick.

 

I hate giving up on a book before having read the first chapter, but this is stupid. I have until middle of March to return it to Amazon and I really can't be bothered to keep it, even if it only cost me USD 15,00

[Tortuga]

There is an old saying 

"When in doubt, throw it out...."

Perhaps that applies here..

[New World Explorer]

42 minutes ago, ChocoBro said:

first chapter goes on and on and on about evolution it is making me sick.

What kind of good advice can steam from such source ...? 
Mankind alienated from Jehovah cannot beat him on advice and principles. 

[ChocoBro]

28 minutes ago, New World Explorer said:

What kind of good advice can steam from such source ...? 
Mankind alienated from Jehovah cannot beat him on advice and principles. 

I'm not looking for somebody to beat Jehovah on advice and principles. I've received a lot of advice from people "alienated from Jehovah" that has helped me a lot. Almost every therapist and life-coach is "alienated from Jehovah". The Bible is sufficient as a filter to define what is good and bad, but it is not sufficient to help us in our daily tasks, chores, and challenges. The best example is the "to-do-list" or breaking large goals into smaller goals as was mentioned in the recent Watchtower. In fact, if the Bible were entirely sufficient for our understanding, we wouldn't need the FDS and the Watchtower articles that break it down into more easily discernible thoughts for us.

 

Please, can we stick to my question.  Has anybody read the book and managed to survive chapter one. Does it get better at some point. Or, has anybody read it and recommends that I return it.

 

Thank you.

Edited February 23, 2020 by ChocoBro

[New World Explorer]

Sorry Ruben, I have responded like to any other topic, open for discussion,  did not know that you feel so strongly on specific.....sorry dear brother 

[ChocoBro]

Sorry Ruben, I have responded like to any other topic, open for discussion,  did not know that you feel so strongly on specific.....sorry dear brother 

Sorry if I was being snappy again. I've been getting a lot of input from people close to me that was super negative concerning therapy efforts and life coaching we've been getting lately.

Also, I need to work on clearly communicating my needs and motivations, sorry if I didn't make that clear in my initial post

The Bible is my ultimate filter when it comes to determining good and bad, useful and useless. But it is slightly superficial or in the least unclustered when it comes to actual methods to develop qualities like kindness, goodness, patience..

A good example are the many scriptures in Proverbs giving good advice on communication. And I have recently found some good books on Marshall Rosenberg and non violent communication that tie in very well with the concept of humbly and mildly communicating and being swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

Jordan Peterson has convinced me many a time in his lectures about goals, motivation etc..

That's why the beginning of this book is such a disappointment to me.

I guess I am hoping someone will confirm my hope that after the first few dozen pages, it becomes a worthwhile read

Sent from my S68Pro using Tapatalk

[careful]

I personally have not heard of that author or book. but I have been helped a lot by a book called "how  al anon works for family and friends of alcoholics.    I keep a written list of the scriptures that I feel back up statements in the book. I look for biblical principles in the book. I follow the rule,,,take what you like and leave the rest....with any worldly book.  only the bible is written by Jehovah.  the bible is not a  science book or a mental health manual so sometimes we might need a professional book to help us specifically through certain challenges in life. To discard anything but the bible would make as much sense as it would to discard all medical advice and just read the bible.   my personal advice is to keep searching for the help that you need.

[Pjdriver]

On 2/23/2020 at 3:13 PM, ChocoBro said:

Has anybody managed to read this book or heard feedback from somebody about it? Because I wonder if it ever picks up at some point.

 

I bought it, hoping it would have some inspirational ideas because I always liked listening to Jordan Peterson's lectures.

 

I expect that when listening to a worldly person, you will be confronted with some elements concerning evolution, religion and philosophy.

 

But oh my goodness, the foreword by some other random guy was a catastrophe, so I skipped it after one page, the overture was all about yin yang, taoism, chaos and order corresponding to masculinity and femininity (?????) and the first chapter goes on and on and on about evolution it is making me sick.

 

I hate giving up on a book before having read the first chapter, but this is stupid. I have until middle of March to return it to Amazon and I really can't be bothered to keep it, even if it only cost me USD 15,00

I find Jordan Peterson to have some very good arguments on current moral issues. He often agrees with bible principles, but I don't think he takes the Bible and miracles in the Bible accounts as literal. So I Think you have to be discerning of the topic, when reading or listening to him.

My biggest complaint is that he is not real good at breaking his topic down for the average person to understand. Instead of getting right to the point.....he takes the long way around. Being concise and precise is not his best quality. But if you have time and can sort through all the excess verbiage.....chances are, you’ll find a gem....he actually can be  very insightful. 

Edited March 10, 2020 by Pjdriver

[ChocoBro]

1 hour ago, Pjdriver said:

 

My biggest complaint is that he is not real good at breaking his topic down for the average person to understand.

This.

 

But his videos are far easier to follow than his writings.

[And_Ray]

2 hours ago, Pjdriver said:

I find Jordan Peterson to have some very good arguments on current moral issues. He often agrees with bible principles, but I don't think he takes the Bible and miracles in the Bible accounts as literal. So I Think you have to be discerning of the topic, when reading or listening to him.

My biggest complaint is that he is not real good at breaking his topic down for the average person to understand. Instead of getting right to the point.....he takes the long way around. Being concise and precise is not his best quality. But if you have time and can sort through all the excess verbiage.....chances are, you’ll find a gem....he actually can be  very insightful. 

Sorry i didn't come across this topic earlier... it somehow passed through without me noticing..

 

I totally agree with the quote in bold. I found this book recently when i visited a brother... I have seen many of Jordan Peterson's videos on Youtube and i can say i like the guy... so when i came across the book i thought it would be a real gem that i would regret not finding sooner... i skimmed through the whole book and then read a chapter that captured my attention... 

Oh my.... he talked about everything BUT the point of the chapter... it was the chapter that talked about patting a cat... The point can really be summed in 1-2 pages max... and he talks on the subject for 10 pages... (or more, i cant really remember), and he just keeps bouncing back and forth between many different ideas and subjects... 

Then i came to the conclusion that I'd better stick to his videos and discard the book.

Here's a youtube video that gives a nice overview of the book
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFo9-7VX2K8   

 

 

And on a side note, to those who say that we shouldn't read secular literature to get great advice about life, i most definitely don't agree.

The Bible is the ultimate source of right and wrong, but on the same time all it gives is principles. It seldom offers practical ways to implement those principles in someones lives.

For example, there're the principles of forgiveness, that we should commend others, that we should be good listeners, compassionate with other etc. And how do you put those into practice? We need bunch of watchtowers, emphasizing over and over and OVER again how to act on those principles.

A prime example is the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. If you keep in mind the Bible principles, and then just use those books to find practical ways to apply those principles, I'd say that's the perfect combinations. Oftentimes, the writers themselves use Bible verses to back up a certain claim.

So, in any way, caution must be exercised when reading those books because they always contain some ideas that contradict the Bible...