12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos - Hardcover

Peterson, Jordan B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345816021 ISBN 13: 9780345816023

Publisher: Random House Canada, 2018

Synopsis

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER
#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson's answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research.

Humorous, surprising and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily, and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street.
What does the nervous system of the lowly lobster have to tell us about standing up straight (with our shoulders back) and about success in life? Why did ancient Egyptians worship the capacity to pay careful attention as the highest of gods? What dreadful paths do people tread when they become resentful, arrogant and vengeful? Dr. Peterson journeys broadly, discussing discipline, freedom, adventure and responsibility, distilling the world's wisdom into 12 practical and profound rules for life. 12 Rules for Life shatters the modern commonplaces of science, faith and human nature, while transforming and ennobling the mind and spirit of its readers.

About this title

Review:

#1 NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

"Jordan Peterson, has become one of the best-known Canadians of this generation. In the intellectual category, he's easily the largest international phenomenon since Marshall McLuhan. . . . By combining knowledge of the past with a full-hearted optimism and a generous attitude toward his readers and listeners, Peterson generates an impressive level of intellectual firepower." --Robert Fulford, National Post

"Like the best intellectual polymaths, Peterson invites his readers to embark on their own intellectual, spiritual and ideological journeys into the many topics and disciplines he touches on. It's a counter-intuitive strategy for a population hooked on the instant gratification of ideological conformity and social media 'likes, ' but if Peterson is right, you have nothing to lose but your own misery." --Toronto Star

"In a different intellectual league. . . . Peterson can take the most difficult ideas and make them entertaining. This may be why his YouTube videos have had 35 million views. He is fast becoming the closest that academia has to a rock star." --The Observer

"Grow up and man up is the message from this rock-star psychologist. . . . [A] hardline self-help manual of self-reliance, good behaviour, self-betterment and individualism that probably reflects his childhood in rural Canada in the 1960s. As with all self-help manuals, there's always a kernel of truth. Formerly a Harvard professor, now at the University of Toronto, Peterson retains that whiff of cowboy philosophy--one essay is a homily on doing one thing every day to improve yourself. Another, on bringing up little children to behave, is excellent.... [Peterson] twirls ideas around like a magician." --Melanie Reid, The Times

"You don't have to agree with [Peterson's politics] to like this book for, once you discard the self-help label, it becomes fascinating. Peterson is brilliant on many subjects. . . . So what we have here is a baggy, aggressive, in-your-face, get-real book that, ultimately, is an attempt to lead us back to what Peterson sees as the true, the beautiful and the good--i.e. God. In the highest possible sense of the term, I suppose it is a self-help book. . . . Either way, it's a rocky read, but nobody ever said God was easy." --Bryan Appleyard, The Times

"One of the most eclectic and stimulating public intellectuals at large today, fearless and impassioned." --The Guardian

"Someone with not only humanity and humour, but serious depth and substance. . . . Peterson has a truly cosmopolitan and omnivorous intellect, but one that recognizes that things need grounding in a home if they are ever going to be meaningfully grasped. . . . As well as being funny, there is a burning sincerity to the man which only the most withered cynic could suspect." --The Spectator

"Peterson has become a kind of secular prophet who, in an era of lobotomized conformism, thinks out of the box. . . . His message is overwhelmingly vital." --Melanie Philips, The Times

From the Back Cover:

Praise for Jordan Peterson

'Jordan Peterson is the most important and influential Canadian thinker since Marshall McLuhan. His bold synthesis of psychology, anthropology, science, politics and comparative religion is forming a genuinely humanistic university of the future' Camille Paglia

'Profound, charismatic and serious ... Peterson has become increasingly difficult to ignore - and whoever chooses to do so will deprive themselves of an intriguing intellectual journey' Tim Lott, Spectator

'A master at helping his students become more reflective, and take themselves and their futures more seriously' Norman Doidge, author of The Brain that Changes Itself (from the foreword)

'12 Rules for Life hits home - from identifying the deeply engrained hierarchical ladder that motivates our decision making to asking indispensable and sometimes politically unpopular questions about your life and suggesting ways to better it' Howard Bloom, author of The Lucifer Principle

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Canada
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0345816021
• ISBN 13: 9780345816023
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 448