I watched Jordan Peterson’s video where he referred to his reading list on his website as a starting point for self education; works he deems to be by some of the greatest writers such as Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn, Huxley, Nietzsche, and Jung.
The problem is however that I’m quite limited in my reading comprehension skills and these writers are very deep so I’m quite intimidated by the depth and breadth of their work as someone who has barely read anything.
The only book I’ve read is 1984, the most difficult part of that book was the section designated to describing the intricacies and developments of how the fascist tyrannical ideology of big brother came to power and the ways in which the government has control over the people with using concepts such as double think. Most of the details of that section went well over my head, and overall, it wasn’t an enjoyable read for me.
I tried reading the laws of human nature by Robert Greene but I’m taking a break from it after having read the first 100 pages, from which I don’t think I’ve learned much, though perhaps it’s too soon to judge or read too little to expect increased knowledge and insight?
There are a few books that caught my interest; Behave by Robert Sapolsky, The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt, and The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow.
I’m interested in learning more about psychology; particularly about human nature, our commonalities and differences, and why we adopt certain beliefs and values which vary across different societies, cultures, and eras.
Politics: I know nothing about this subject. For this I found an accessible book called “Chomsky for Beginners” by David Cogswell. I chose Chomsky because he’s known to be the greatest intellectual alive, and is an erudite figure in the political sphere.
Economics: my least favourite topic but it’s essential to learn about to understand how the world works in terms of money, financing, banking, production and buying/selling of goods, and how it plays a major role in the GDP of a country and how developed they are.
History: particularly grand history which tells the story of how we humans emerged out of the savannas of Africa 200,000 years ago, how our ancestors lived as hunter gatherers and eventually settled with the development of agriculture, forming organised societies over thousands of years. This leads me to evolutionary biology which I’d also like to educate myself in.
Philosophy : it’s a broad and daunting subject, but learning logic and logical fallacies are important to form good arguments and identify bad ones. And critical thinking is essential.
TLDR; Is Jordan Peterson’s reading list worth ploughing through as a complete beginner to reading who knows close to nothing about the world, or is there a better approach? If so, I’m open to hearing your suggestions.
by anonymon35