I've tried for years to finish this book, but I finally gave up. It started off quite strong and lots of the ideas presented are valid ones. However, the pseudo-scientific approach got stronger and stronger and I simply lost interest in what the author had to say. It was also way too long for the content.

Thank you to Netaglley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest and impartial review.

A really interesting perspective on living life fully and well.

I particularly enjoyed the chapters:
2. Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping
4. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today
9. Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don't
10. Be precise in your speech

I struggled to finish this one - so can't really add more to this review. Though I would say it was the title that drew me in, but it didn't hold me I'm afraid.

Not my usual kind of read at all and I wouldn't say I was overly engaged with it. I'm all for trying new things, but I think I should stick more to what I know. That's not to say that others wouldn't enjoy this if this is more up their street as it was very interesting, hence why I kept it up at 3 stars for its rating.

It would sound like wisdom except for the warning in my heart, as Frodo would say. It starts off well, gets a bit convoluted and then turns into a pity party. I actually don't mind Peterson, I just don't think this is the best example of his work.

I'm sorry, but I did not finish reading the book.

I requested '12 Rules' out of curiosity: Peterson was in the news, and I had listened to an entertaining discussion on YouTube between Peterson and Camille Paglia. '12 Rules', however, was rambling and pretentious. I couldn't bring myself to read on seriously after the first couple of sections, so only skimmed the remainder.

Obviously not a fair or full critique, but I don't think serious 'life advice' is actually Peterson's metier.

I thought this would be a great self-help book but it turned out to be something a little different, and unfortunately me and the writer don't see eye-to-eye on some topics.

Although Jordan Peterson is a well known speaker, I'm afraid to say he isn't a great writer. I struggled to read this book, it read like thoughts in his mind which doesn't really have any structure. The thoughts are interesting, but they are probably better in lecture format than book format.

A fantastic book that I will recommend to every person I know. It gives the reader hope and makes them think about every little thing that surrounds us.

If this could be any more abhorrent I’d be surprised. A bible and a manual for a new generation of toxic masculinity, which has set back the cause of equality fifty years. Avoid like the plague it is.

And after finishing this book, I can reveal Jordan Peterson’s core message in three words—take personal responsibility. 
 
This book has sold zillions of copies. There obviously is a need for self-help manuals and this one is engagingly confessional and full of homely examples and snappy illustrations.

These nuggets of grandfatherly wisdom are spread over 448 pages. As others have mentioned, the book is divided into chapters with each title representing a specific rule for life explained in an essay.  There is good advice here for troubled, lost people.
 
However, his prose is clunky and I found the book a difficult slog. Some of his contentions are risible to me such as his idea that male alienation is due to the feminisation of society. And he makes fun of cat owners! I think this book is best appreciated by young men who are bewildered by the strange new social forces.

I'm sorry, I tried to read this book, but the writing style did not gel with me at all and I had to abandon it

I agree with a lot of Jordan Peterson's ideas about struggle and hard work and biology, but he is such a hard writer to read! Too dense, he's just not a very good writer I could get along with at all.

Forget the headlines, misrepresentations, hatchet jobs and all the other nonsense you think you know about Jordan Peterson and read his book, the mans words himself. I don't agree with everything he says, his Christian analogy seems a bit stretched at times but he's just working from what he knows. Knowledgable and full of common sense, this book is like a breath of fresh air in a world obsessed with narcisism and outrage culture.

Really interesting. I keep referring back to it as it completely challenges the readers way of thinking

Oh, give me strength! – was my main reaction to this preachy, condescending, poorly written, self-opinionated, endlessly repetitive and tedious rant. Having been seduced by the baffling welter of positive reviews I expected something rather more profound than a platitudinous ‘to-do’ list for the seemingly infantile audience the author obviously assumes.

But I could have lived with the list had its components been justified in a concise, engaging and far more readable way. Life is far too short to be wasted on smug, trite hogwash like this! Incredible to think that someone who has had, at least, some exposure to scientific thinking, can produce such drivel.

Disappointed. I was really looking forward to reading this; the write up really drew me to this book. Unfortunatley it was very hard to read. I couldn't finish this book.

This is an absolutely wonderful book which I hugely enjoyed reading this bank holiday weekend. Will it change my life? I’m not quite sure yet...but watch this space.

I found this book profound, compelling, challenging and, at the same time, irreverent, funny and too often referencing God, in a variety of guises. Those times seemed to vary between what I guess was the author's personal beliefs and a sense of historical benchmarking.

However, I loved the notions of Being and Non-Being; of the depth of explanation offered for them, though this is not an easy read and the sudden revelation that some of the rules provided when adequately explained. Some I found apparent, some amusing, and others confusing, but all was good in the end.

If you wish to challenge your thinking, this is a book to read!

So many words. An unbelieveable amount of words, to say some very simple things. Also I have no clue what lobster love lives prove about human love lives.