Adler was not interested in theories of the unconscious (psychoanalysis) the way Freud and Jung were. Instead, he was concerned with the practical world, particularly the social world. Understanding Human Nature is a book about understanding why people do the things they do, what arbitrary influences they had in childhood, and what attitudes hold them … Read more
A list of books referenced by Jordan Peterson in 12 Rules for Life. Solzhenitsyn, A.I. (1975). The Gulag Archipelago Based on his experience of being incarcerated, and that of 200 prisoners and Soviet archives, Solzhenitsyn reveals the apparatus of Soviet repression. Waal, F. B. M. de (2007). Chimpanzee politics: Power and sex among apes … Read more
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson is not about giving no fucks about anything, it’s about choosing the few things to give a fuck about. A funny book with sharp insights worth remembering. Seek Out Negative Experiences Don’t look for positive experiences, don’t chase after pleasure mindlessly, doing that is … Read more
Sapiens by Harari is an ambitious attempt to summarize the history of humankind, including our harsh beginnings when we competed with other human cousins for resources, our conquests, our innovations, our tragedies, and our greatest achievements. This book will teach you about where you came from, and it will give you an idea of where … Read more
One of the lessons from the book so far is that humans have been unable to break free from their biological chains. No matter what lands they have conquered, and intellectual feats they have achieved, no man has been able to transcend their own biology – until now. For the first time in history, we … Read more
Happiness The last 500 years have seen breakthroughs in every area of human concern. We have become more scientifically competent, economically prosperous, peaceful, and secure, but are we happier? Historians rarely ask these questions, but they should. One progressive idea is that since we are more capable than our ancestors, we must be happier, but … Read more
There are tens of thousands of wild animals, including giraffes and wolves, but there are hundreds of millions of domesticated animals, and billions of humans today. We have taken over the world. In 1800 there were 950 million of us. By 1900 we almost doubled our numbers to 1.6 billion. And by 2000 that quadrupled … Read more
We used to rely on animals for energy. Muscle power was key to everything we did. Human muscles built carts and houses, ox muscles ploughed fields, while horse muscled moved things around. The energy that fueled this came from plants, and plants got their energy from the sun through photosynthesis. For thousands of years, people … Read more
Credit allowed people who did not have wealth, to make money. It is one of the greatest human inventions, but credit did not have such a glorious past. At one point, it was believed that the total amount of wealth was limited. When someone got richer, it meant that someone else got poorer. The pie … Read more
In the period between 1500 and 1850, the military-industrial-scientific complex blossomed in Europe, but why not in India? Why did countries like Britain, France, Germany, and the US leap forward, while China did not? Was it so hard for the Chinese to manufacture machine guns and lay down railroads? In reality, the Chinese, Persians, and … Read more