Dying Earth

Dying Earth cover
Good Books rating 2.62
Technical
  • ID: 5001
  • Added: 2025-10-22
  • Updated: 2025-10-22
  • Reviews: 4
Reviews
fantasybookreview.co.uk · Unknown · 2025-10-23
insightful 4.00

The review discusses Jordan Peterson's books, '12 Rules For Life' and 'Beyond Order', highlighting their focus on balancing order and chaos in life. The reviewer finds the rules practical and applicable to general practice, offering insights into patient care and personal growth.

The review delves into Jordan Peterson's works, '12 Rules For Life' and 'Beyond Order', which emphasize the importance of balancing order and chaos in life. The reviewer appreciates the practical nature of Peterson's rules, finding them relevant to general practice. For instance, the rule to treat oneself as someone you are responsible for helping is seen as a powerful technique in patient care. Similarly, the advice to compare oneself to who you were yesterday rather than to others is noted as a valuable approach in encouraging resilience and persistence. The reviewer also highlights the rule to avoid doing what you hate, which is particularly relevant for university students struggling with anxiety and depression. Overall, the review suggests that Peterson's rules offer meaningful insights into personal growth and patient care.


Quick quotes

    The individual rules as espoused by Dr Peterson are each accessibly germane and disarmingly common-sensical.

    Humans have a seemingly endless capacity to care for other people — be it their children, other family members, their friends, or even strangers — which often exceeds their ability, or perhaps more accurately their willingness, to care for themselves.

    By helping them recognise what brings meaning to their lives, and by contrasting that with the choices that fail to serve them positively, they often move to replace these harmful activities with those that sustain their mood and wellbeing.

fantasyliterature.com · Unknown · 2025-10-23
thought-provoking 4.50

Jordan Peterson's '12 Rules for Life' is a deeply evidence-based plea for the re-establishment of classic virtues and faith in human well-being. The book offers practical advice and profound insights, drawing from a wide range of sources including religious and philosophical traditions.

Jordan Peterson's '12 Rules for Life' is a thought-provoking and deeply evidence-based book that aims to re-establish classic virtues and faith in human well-being. Written in a relaxed idiom, the book provides self-help advice for those struggling with mental health issues or life's crossroads. It is also engaging for those who do not fit these categories, offering insights into moral and philosophical questions. Peterson draws from a wide range of sources, including religious and philosophical traditions, to shed light on the human predicament of suffering. He argues that the world needs taming and that shared belief systems are essential for making people intelligible to one another and simplifying the world. The book is not controversial for the sake of it but rather a sincere attempt to help people live better lives. Peterson's unashamedly moralistic approach is rooted in decades of clinical experience and a wealth of reading and research.


Quick quotes

    Peterson is a controversial figure, highlighted in March 2019 when the University of Cambridge withdrew its invitation for him to become a visiting fellow

    Peterson’s book is written in a strikingly relaxed idiom and designed to provide self-help to those who have lost their way in today’s cross-currents, are suffering mental health issues or are hesitating at a traffic-laden crossroads in life.

    Peterson’s unashamed view is that the world needs taming

goodreads.com · Unknown · 2025-10-23
critical 1.00

The review critiques Jordan B. Peterson's '12 Rules for Life' as a banal mix of common sense and right-wing ideology, driven more by the author's online fame than scholarly merit. The book's popularity is seen as a reflection of contemporary cultural and political polarization, particularly among young men.

The review of Jordan B. Peterson's '12 Rules for Life' is highly critical, describing the book as a collection of unremarkable observations and trite Darwinist generalizations interwoven with right-wing wisdom. The author's vast online following is cited as the primary reason for its publication and success, rather than any significant scholarly contribution. The book's popularity is attributed to a market for reactionary, PC-baiting content, particularly among young men. The review also highlights Peterson's conflation of Marxism and postmodernism, his anti-Marxist stance, and his advice that discourages compassion toward others, which is seen as mean-spirited and hypocritical. The book's appeal to young men struggling with masculinity issues is noted, with its emphasis on procreation and patriarchal values. The review suggests that Peterson's work resonates with many due to contemporary cultural and political polarization.


Quick quotes

    They are, in and of themselves, a publishing phenomenon.

    It is an ugly, mean-spirited treatise against human kindness.

    The right to exercise an “appropriately self-protective territorial response” does not extend to those groups.

tachy.org · Unknown · 2025-10-23
critical 1.00

The reviewer criticizes the book for its verbose style and lack of original ideas, finding the content simplistic and the reliance on biblical references obnoxious. They argue that the book's arguments are subjective and dogmatic, offering alternatives like Bertrand Russell's essays as better reads.

The reviewer gives the book a one-star rating, criticizing its length and content. They argue that the book's ideas are simplistic and could be found in any self-help book, and that the author's reliance on biblical references is excessive and unexpected. The reviewer also takes issue with the author's presentation of himself as an objective investigator, despite his clear bias towards religious dogma. They suggest that the author's interpretations of ancient stories are subjective and say more about his own psychology than anything else. The reviewer also criticizes the author's choice of Jesus as the 'archetypal perfect man', suggesting Socrates as a better fit. They argue that the book's arguments are not objective truths, but rather the author's own interpretations. The reviewer concludes by suggesting alternatives to the book, such as Bertrand Russell's essays on religion.


Quick quotes

    I’m giving this one star for a couple of reasons. The content does not justify the length of the book. When you strip away the pseudo-profundity and verbosity, you’re left with rather simple ideas you could find in any self-help book or discover on your own.

    The introduction of the book presents the author as an objective investigator of the truth, disillusioned by dogmatic ideology and prepared to demonstrate its dangers. He then proceeds to incessantly quote from the bible, perhaps the most dogmatic text ever written.

    The stories the author has selected to focus on, his preferred interpretations, and the stories he ignores, says more about his psychology than anything else.