I picked up this book as a part of my continued push to familiarize myself with the man the New York Times has called "The most influential public intellectual in the Western world right now". I recently read and reviewed is famous 12 Rules for Life, and Beyond Order is his follow-up book with 12 more rules for us.

This book is also strongly written in which I suppose could be called the "Jordan B. Peterson style"–it is full of an interesting blend of anecdotal counseling practice stories, careful philosophical analysis, and rich references to famous works of literature (the Bible included, but far from exclusive to just the Bible). In that unique voice, Peterson brings us through rules that have to do with personal growth and change (Imagine who you could be, and then aim single-mindedly at that, Do not hide unwanted things in the fog, Do not do what you hate), how to relate to society (Do not carelessly denigrate social institutions or creative achievement, Abandon ideology), as well as home and relational life (Try and make one room in your home as beautiful as possible, Plan and work diligently to maintain the romance in your relationship). As I suspect is the case in all of his writings, what Peterson has to say is often brilliant and frequently quite practical and accessible. He has mastered the "take dense philosophy, and make it as accessible as a therapist should" task, and he brings it to this book as well as the last.

One thing that I noticed which was interesting with this book compared with his last: because I had already read one of his books, I found myself less struck by his approach and style as I was in 12 Rules for Life. It's still executed as brilliantly, it just doesn't feel as new-and-different anymore. It made me realize how much of the experience of both of these books is just being exposed to who Peterson is and how his mind works. It's clear that he's a polymath, and a fair bit of what I find so interesting about him is how well he can span such a wide set of fields of study and link them together as if they are obviously connected and no one has bothered to see it until now.