Bookshelf: Review and recommendations by Natasha Church, Bookstop, Tavistock

12 Rules for Life:  An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan Peterson 

Published by Allen Lane - hardback £20

Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist and an ‘outside the box’ thinker. This book combines grounded advice, drawn from his clinical practice, with inspirational anecdotes from his personal life, accounts of his academic work in the field of psychology and his interpretations of myths, stories and the bible.

The author takes this century’s fear of being politically incorrect and inserts common sense into it.  He dares to question our conditioned norms, both individual and collective.  His timeless advice includes setting our own house in order before criticising others, and pursuing that which is meaningful, rather than expedient. One of the book’s most powerful ideas, for me, was the question of how much we are responsible for our own difficulties.  Peterson gives an example of writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, whose ‘life had been rendered miserable by both Stalin and Hitler’, including much time spent in Soviet labour camps and a serious illness. Peterson observes that, rather than blaming the system, Solzhenitsyn “opened his eyes...Then asked himself the most difficult of questions:  had he personally contributed to the catastrophe of his own life?  If so, how?...How many times had he acted against his conscience, engaging in actions he knew to be wrong?  How many times had he betrayed himself and lied?”   

In the chapter Tell the Truth – or, at least, don’t lie, the author writes: “See the truth.  Tell the truth….It will keep your soul from withering and dying while encountering the inevitable tragedy of life”.

I’ll be dipping back into the book at regular intervals, to remind myself of its wisdom.

Recommended top 5 reads:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Debut novel about a lonely, defended woman is profoundly affected by an act of kindness. Paperback £8.99

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things Are Better Than You by Hans Rosling

Describes the ten instincts that distort our perspective of the world. Hardback £12.99

A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership by James Comey

The author shares his experiences of his career, spanning two decades, in the American Government. Hardback £20

House of Names by Colm Toibin

Stunning re-telling of the Greek myth of Clytemnestra, who avenges her daughter after her husband Agamemnon sacrifices her to secure safe passage from Troy. Paperback £8.99

For children

The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo Book 3) by Rick Riordan

Lester, a God cast out by his father, must undergo scary and dangerous trials in order to find a way out of his mortal state. Hardback £12.99