Thom

Can you become more happy? How would you do it? What does that even mean?

From Aristotle to Disney, culture low brow and high has put happiness at the top of the tree when it comes to life's prizes. For many, it is the ur-good, from which all other goods derive their instrumental worth. But often, too, the pursuit of happiness is dismissed as a mere frippery.

Bringing together what psychologists have to say on the subject, Gilbert tackles these big questions through engaging and entertaining prose. The book has plenty of practical techniques and insights that you could apply to try to become happier, but it is by no means your typical self-help nonsense. The author is a properly credentialed scientist and expert in the field, his statements are backed up by studies which are clearly explained and the book takes the time to explain. I have no background in the subject, so I can't speak to the accuracy of his presentation of the science, but I have heard the book praised by a number of different people who know more than I do, so I take that it is at least generally accurate.

A really interesting and easy read. I would definitely recommend this to anyone over pretty much any and all of the self-help shelves in your local bookstore.

An accessible and incredibly inspiring introduction to meta-learning.

Ultralearning sells a big vision: the author claims to have taught himself an entire computer science degree in under a year; several languages and how to draw. He says you can gain incredible levels of skill in almost anything you want as well in only a few months of intense work.

I think that, when you really look at what it takes to achieve these results, it is probably simply impractical for most people who have jobs; families, and so forth. But that doesn't mean - as Young himself says - that you can't take some of these ideas and adapt them to your own situation to learn more effectively.

Learning new skills is not only an incredibly satisfying way to spend time; for most of us, in a rapidly changing world, it is essential. If you are going to learn, you might as well do it in the most efficient and effective way practical for you in your situation. Ultralearning provides you with a toolbox of techniques and approaches to do exactly that. It sets these out accessibly with plenty of inspiring anecdotes from people who've achieved incredible results of their own which help illustrate the techniques being explained.

If you are already well acquainted with the literature on metalearning, I imagine this book probably won't include much you don't already know; but for literally anyone else; I'd definitely recommend this book.

“Thank you,” I said, genuinely sad for her when I thought of all the heartbreak ahead of her— all the phalluses just waiting to be drawn in the dust on the windshield of her future. I wanted to tell her to run. To save herself while she still could. But I had been about the same age when I'd fallen for Steven, and if anyone had told me he'd turn out to be a philandering creep, I never would have believed them.'

It is hard to sum up how much I love this book. For me, this is the perfect comedy novel. There were moments where I didn't want to turn the page because I knew what was about to happen and it was making me cringe too hard (but in the best possible way).

If the setup doesn't swing you, I don't think we can be friends: Finlay is the author of romantic mystery novels and a newly single mother of two young kids, struggling to keep her house afloat and meet her agent's deadlines. At lunch with her agent, in disguise because she's been banned from the establishment for throwing soup on her ex's new girlfriend - she is mistaken for a hit-woman and accidentally hired to kill this woman's husband. Things get worse when she accidentally fulfills the hit! Now, she has a bag of dirty money, and a dead body, and still needs to finish that novel. What's worse, she finds herself in a love triangle with a hot cop Nick, and a trainee lawyer/sexy bartender Julian. Can Finlay finish her novel, stop her husband from taking custody of the kids, work out her feelings, and - ideally, obviously - not go to jail for murder?

This novel is just full of hijinks, Finlay spends most of the book trying desperately to get out of one tight corner only to box herself into an even tighter one. Each time, you can see the car crash coming and you just want to scream at Finlay to stop! It is delicious and hilarious and the romance is enthralling as well. One of my favorite books of the year.

Jordan B. Peterson is definitely a marmite figure. Half the world seem to regard him as an irredeemable bigot while the other half some kind of modern prophet. I don't subscribe to either camp, but this is a review of his book, not his character.

What I would say, however, for any reader who is thinking about picking up the book, is that the portrayal of Professor Peterson in the media, good or bad, is not a very good indicator of what this book is like. Many of the topics he is famous for (like the infamous lobsters or his views on sex-based behaviour differences) do indeed crop up, but they are distinct passages and do not constitute the main themes of 12 Rules.

12 Rules for Life sets out to use a combination of science, philosophy and literary analysis to bring time honoured wisdom about how to live well to a modern audience. Each of the 12 rules is really an essay grouped, some more loosely than others, around the rule set out in the title. Some of the rules are more direct, while others are illustrations of broader points Professor Peterson wishes to riff on.

Overall, I thought that that was quite a compelling premise. By taking well-worn wisdom and expressing it through biblical analogies and Jungian archetypes, I found that the book did make me stop and consider concepts that are usually so ordinary that they slip into the background.
As an example, everyone knows lying is bad from the age of four. But exploring truth-telling concerning our self-concept, life in gulags, marital collapse and the ‘life-giving truth of the word of God' (to name a few of the takes in the book) provides enough context to actually spend some time thinking about the role of truth-telling in our lives and in the world more broadly.

Speaking of truth-telling, that leads me onto the book's main weakness. In the sense of the word as ‘a scientifically provable proposition', I'm not sure how ‘true' much of the book is. In particular, most of the book presents the alternative to sticking to the rules as some form of extreme disaster, often literally described as hell. I'm no psychologist, but I'm also always naturally a bit suspicious whenever figures like Freud and Jung are bought up.

I don't think this would matter if the book was presented a little differently. If it was sold as a set of essays ruminating on ancient wisdom and poetic truths, for example - i.e. truth as the way we often experience the world not what is necessarily objective - then I'd be on board with much of what is said. The exaggeration would be artistic license and to ask for data would completely miss the point. However, Professor Peterson frequently alludes to his clinical psychological practice and at times to various studies in biology and psychology which suggest that the book sees its truths as ‘scientifically' true rather than true in some more artistic sense.

Overall, I thought this book was perfectly fine. I enjoyed it somewhat and I do think it made me consider how I move through the world a little differently. I would recommend readers don't take the book too seriously though. Jordan Peterson is a very charismatic speaker for sure and has some interesting ideas in this book and elsewhere. But he is not the messiah, some would say he is just a very naughty boy.


Looking for an alternative? I'd recommend Feline Philosophy by John Gray which I think touches on the same overall theme of living a good life but does it better, in a shorter form and with way more mentions of cats.