Abdulrhman Kifayah

Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life is as confusing as it is unnecessary and unhelpful. The book is presented as a self-help book, but the book moves wildly from frenzied assertion to extended analogy to hackneyed generalization. The effect is like listening to a professor who has no curriculum, and clearly veers toward confusion, triviality, and incoherence. The biggest problem is how Peterson handles the biblical narratives. Instead of careful thought, readers are treated to a series of conclusive explanations that appear to be based on personal bias rather than any kind of historical or scientific insight. What is even more striking is how rigid and rigid his view of the proper place of men and women within the universe is. The famous lobster metaphor that Jordan Peterson uses to defend hierarchy within the world of people. He claims, and I quote here, that lobsters “established their hierarchies about 350 million years ago on what appears to be the same motivational platform used by [human] brains” and Jordan's theory suggests that humans more or less followed suit 339,994,000 years later. Compared to the nature of societies and their complex dynamics, this analogy is equivalent to drawing in the sand. This is not only misleading, it is very harmful. Additionally, he supports society's unfair power hierarchies and links his beliefs to the bold idea that a high IQ guarantees wealth, demonstrating a lack of awareness about personal discrimination or privilege. For those looking for informed thought or research-based advice, this book does not deserve your attention. There are much better self-help books than this misleading book.