On the surface 12 Rules For Life is a simple self-help book. The title of each chapter gives you the last sentence and the crescendo of that chapter.
At face value each rule is easy to understand.
1. Stand up straight with you shoulders back.
2. Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.
3. Make friends with people who want the best for you.
4. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to someone else today.
5. Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.
6. Set your house in perfect order before you critique the world.
7.Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient).
8. Tell the truth-or, at least, don’t lie.
9. Assume the person you are listening to might know something you don’t.
10. Be precise with your speech.
11. Do not bother children when they are skateboarding.
12.Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.
But, you are not reading this book for the table of contents. The real value in this book is the research into the foundation of each rule and it’s important. It is clear that Peterson is a student of Jung in his study and use of archetypal relationships, this was a reminder for me on the brilliance of Jung. Also, it is clear that he is a student of Russian literature and he shows the importance of Russian thought on big meaning questions.
This is a book I will be digesting for a while as I think about the relationship between the tools of self-help and the Christian meta-narrative of sin, justification, and salvation.
This is a long book, which is my only complaint, and not a worthy one.
I highly recommend this book.