12 Rules For Life Jordan B Peterson Book Review

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Photo: Lauren Maccabee

Jordan B Peterson is professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and "internet controversialist". He is very macho and was raised in "the frigid wastelands of Northern Alberta". He enjoys flying stunt planes and has little time for snowflakes, Marxists, postmodernists or gender fluidity. The subtitle of his book, 12 Rules For Life, is An Antidote To Chaos – for him, order is masculine and chaos is feminine – and 80% of his online following is male. He is 55, married with children, and Christian. Canada’s media have called him an "intellectual snake oil salesman" and "prophet for profit".

His book, which his publishers say provides “profound and practical principles for how to live a meaningful life”, has been likened by one reviewer to "being shouted at by a rugby coach in a sarong". But could this be what we need? Do we need to pull ourselves together, stop quibbling, and get a grip? Having ploughed through almost 400 pages of -ologies – psychology, theology, anthropology, mythology, zoology – allow me to road test the 12 Rules for you. How does the world according to “YouTube’s new father figure” work for a feminist?

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