Beyond Order - 12 More Rules for Life

Following on from Peterson’s popular book 12 Rules for Life, Beyond Order continues with a further 12 rules to live by. The book is similar in its use of popular cultural and religious stories to explain the reasoning behind each rule. I loved this summary from The Atlantic’s review:

This book is humbler than its predecessor, and more balanced between liberalism and conservatism—but it offers a similar blend of the highbrow and the banal. Readers get a few glimpses of the fiery online polemicist, but the Peterson of Beyond Order tends instead to two other modes. The first is a grounded clinician, describing his clients’ troubles and the tough-love counsel he gives them. The other is a stoned college freshman telling you that the Golden Snitch is, like, a metaphor for “ ‘round chaos’ … the initial container of the primordial element.” Some sentences beg to be prefaced with Dude, like these: “If Queen Elizabeth II suddenly turned into a giant fire-breathing lizard in the midst of one of her endless galas, a certain amount of consternation would be both appropriate and expected … But if it happens within the context of a story, then we accept it.” Reading Peterson the clinician can be illuminating; reading his mystic twin is like slogging through wet sand. His fans love the former; his critics mock the latter.

Jokingly you could title the book “The Bible and Disney Movies: The 12 Bits you Damn-Well Ought To Have Thought About!”. Still, I enjoyed reading the book and despite sometimes flimsy or fantastical arguments, or too much reliance on faith, the rules themselves seem solid to me.