Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules For Life - An Antidote to Chaos

This is Jordan Peterson’s bestselling “how to” book on life.    I recently finished it at the request and/or suggestion of my brother Matt, with whom I generally share not merely interests and genes but also values.   His part of the bargain is to complete the Three Body Problem trilogy.   Ahem.

Almost all of these are fairly straightforward and could be described as “enlightened self-interest”. 

Oddly, throughout this whole book, absolutely no reference is made to Ayn Rand, though the essence of his advice is the same:  look out for your own interests but not at anyone else’s expense.  I notice many references to fascism and communism, not in favorable terms; those discussions were enjoyable on their own merits.  Also, there’s a fair dose of religion in here, but more as a reference and not as a source of morality.  Dante referred to “virtuous pagans”, and sadly too many religious people tend to be hypocrites and less “moral” than others who affect either atheism or merely an indifference to organized religion and going to church every Sunday.   Peterson fits right in here, advising us to be moral – above all, consistently so – without invoking God or retribution to back it up, virtue for its own sake.  Throughout the whole thing I found little or nothing to disagree with. 

Here are the 12 Rules:  

Rule 1.  Stand up straight with your shoulders back.

Rule 2.  Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.

Rule 3. Make friends with people who want the best for you.

Rule 4. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.

Rule 5. Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.

Rule 6.  Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.

Rule 7. Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient).

Rule 8.  Tell the truth – or at least, don’t lie

Rule 9. Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t

Rule 10.  Be precise in your speech.

Rule 11.  Do not bother children when they are skateboarding.

Rule 12.  Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.

Fairly straightforward and sensible enough.   He really needs to wake up and read Atlas Shrugged.