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Jordan B Peterson's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Jordan B Peterson recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Jordan B Peterson's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ernest Hemingwa | 4.04

Hemingway's classic novel of the Spanish Civil War. In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war; three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight," For Whom the Bell Tolls. The story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades, it tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal. Surpassing his achievement in The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway creates a work at once rare and beautiful, strong and brutal, compassionate, moving and wise. "If the... more
Recommended by David Kadavy,  Josh Waitzkin,  Jordan B Peterson,  and 3 others.

Josh WaitzkinExquisite novel. (Source)

Jordan B PetersonFor Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway https://t.co/1DfwVoZDRJ, a book from my great books list https://t.co/AxBNX3QpMb (Source)

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2

The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway | 4.14

The Old Man and the Sea, an apparently simple fable, represents the mature Hemingway at his best. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature soon after its publication, and half a century later it is still one of his most read books. more
Recommended by Jack Dorsey,  James Altucher,  Jordan B Peterson,  and 4 others.

Jack DorseyI keep coming back to it. I love the straightforwardness, the tightness, and the poetry. I think it shows a common struggle that is repeated over and over in so many narratives both fictional and nonfictional. (Source)

Jordan B PetersonThe Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway https://t.co/7dJE4Pfn56, a book from my great books list https://t.co/AxBNX3QpMb (Source)

May WitwitI taught this book to my students in Iraq during the economic sanctions. And I feel like it gave me some kind of strength to continue. (Source)

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3

The Gulag Archipelago

(Abridged edition)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn | 4.53

The Gulag Archipelago is Solzhenitsyn's masterwork, a vast canvas of camps, prisons, transit centres and secret police, of informers and spies and interrogators and also of heroism, a Stalinist anti-world at the heart of the Soviet Union where the key to survival lay not in hope but in despair.

The work is based on the testimony of some two hundred survivors, and on the recollection of Solzhenitsyn's own eleven years in labour camps and exile. It is both a thoroughly researched document and a feat of literary and imaginative power. This edition has been abridged into one... more
Recommended by Jordan B Peterson,  and 1 others.

Jordan B Peterson"The Gulag Archipelago" audiobook is available now in the UK (https://t.co/FwqDKSEp2w) with a forward narrated by me as well as a Q&A with myself and Ignat Solzhenitsyn at the end of the book that I believe you'll enjoy! Who here has previously read the book? https://t.co/SHldoeI0sY (Source)

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4

Notes From The Underground

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, Richard Pevear, David Magarshack | 4.18

Notes from Underground (Russian ??????? ?? ????????, Zapíski iz podpól'ja, also translated in English as Notes from the Underground or Letters from the Underworld while Notes from Underground is the most literal translation) (1864) is a short novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is considered by many to be the world's first existentialist novel. It presents itself as an excerpt from the rambling memoirs of a bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator (generally referred to by critics as the Underground Man) who is a retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg. more
Recommended by David Heinemeier Hansson,  Jordan B Peterson,  and 2 others.

David Heinemeier HanssonIt’s such a lovely weird book. Partly, it’s Dostoyevsky giving us an account, through the fictional narrator, of his view on the human condition. Just one quote: “But man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic”. The idea of humans being suckered into... (Source)

Jordan B PetersonNotes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky https://t.co/WuSwComIfi, a book from my great books list https://t.co/AxBNX3QpMb (Source)

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5

Brave New World

Aldous Huxley | 4.14

Now reissued in a gorgeous hardcover edition: "one of the most prophetic dystopian works of the 20th century" (Wall Street Journal) must be read and understood by anyone concerned with preserving the human spirit in the face of our "brave new world." Huxley's masterpiece has become a bestseller once again after the American election.

Aldous Huxley's profoundly important classic of world literature, Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically... more
Recommended by Sam Altman,  Yuval Noah Harari,  Andra Zaharia,  and 12 others.

Yuval Noah HarariThe most prophetic book of the 20th century. Today many people would easily mistake it for a utopia. (Source)

Sol OrwellQuestion: What books had the biggest impact on you? Perhaps changed the way you see things or dramatically changed your career path. Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 (though Huxley's Brave New World is a better reflection of today's society). (Source)

Andra ZahariaThese books and their core ideas have stuck with me the most and continue to guide me when I hit crossroads along the way. (Source)

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6

The Idiot

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear, et al. | 4.30

Returning to Russia from a sanitarium in Switzerland, the Christ-like epileptic Prince Myshkin finds himself enmeshed in a tangle of love, torn between two women—the notorious kept woman Nastasya and the pure Aglaia—both involved, in turn, with the corrupt, money-hungry Ganya. In the end, Myshkin’s honesty, goodness, and integrity are shown to be unequal to the moral emptiness of those around him. more
Recommended by Jordan B Peterson,  Henry Medine,  and 2 others.

Jordan B PetersonThe Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky https://t.co/cInEojC9OO, a book from my great books list https://t.co/AxBNX3QpMb (Source)

Henry MedineLoved this book, had to read it twice! Dostoevsky is recognized as one of the most accomplished writers + philosophers ever. What appeals to me most in The Idiot is how deep and consistent Dostoevsky gets with his protagonist character, Prince Lev Nokolayevich Myshkin. Myshkin is constantly put through challenging moments where he is lied to, manipulated, stolen from but remains compassionate... (Source)

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7

Our Culture, What's Left Of It

The Mandarins And The Masses

Theodore Dalrymple | 4.31

This new collection of essays by the author of Life at the Bottom bears the unmistakable stamp of Theodore Dalrymple's bracingly clearsighted view of the human condition. In these pieces, Dr. Dalrymple ranges over literature and ideas, from Shakespeare to Marx, from the breakdown of Islam to the legalization of drugs. Here is a book that restores our faith in the central importance of literature and criticism to our civilization. Theodore Dalrymple is the best doctor-writer since William Carlos Williams. --Peggy Noonan. Includes When Islam Breaks Down, named the best journal article of 2004... more
Recommended by Jordan B Peterson,  and 1 others.

Jordan B PetersonOur Culture: What's Left of It by Theodore Dalrymple https://t.co/LH56A26fG3, a book from my great books list https://t.co/AxBNX3QpMb (Source)

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8

Island

Aldous Huxley | 4.06

In his final novel, which he considered his most important, Aldous Huxley transports us to the remote Pacific island of Pala, where an ideal society has flourished for 120 years.

Inevitably, this island of bliss attracts the envy and enmity of the surrounding world. A conspiracy is underway to take over Pala, and events are set in motion when an agent of the conspirators, a newspaperman named Faranby, is shipwrecked there. What Faranby doesn't expect is how his time with the people of Pala will revolutionize all his values and—to his amazement—give him hope. more
Recommended by Aubrey Marcus,  Jordan B Peterson,  and 2 others.

Jordan B PetersonIsland by Aldous Huxley https://t.co/7N4nyrwCCj, a book from my great books list https://t.co/AxBNX3QpMb (Source)

9

Devils

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Michael R. Katz | 4.39

Devils, also known in English as The Possessed and The Demons, was first published in 1871-2. The third of Dostoevsky's five major novels, it is at once a powerful political tract and a profound study of atheism, depicting the disarray which follows the appearance of a band of modish radicals in a small provincial town. Dostoevsky compares infectious radicalism to the devils that drove the Gadarene swine over the precipice in his vision of a society possessed by demonic creatures that produce devastating delusions of rationality. Dostoevsky weaves suicide, rape, and a multiplicity of scandals... more
Recommended by Ben Shapiro,  Jordan B Peterson,  Ari Iaccarino,  and 4 others.

Ben ShapiroThere's some light reading for you. (Source)

Jordan B PetersonThe Devils by Fyodor Dostoevsky https://t.co/dvPAP76XPe, a book from my great books list https://t.co/AxBNX3QpMb (Source)

Ari IaccarinoI’m currently reading The Devils by Dostoevsky, and I expect to glean absolutely nothing from it but the pleasure of disconnecting from any other literature that requires me to learn a skill for the company. The overburdening characters and plethora of words for something that could otherwise be said in an instant is a type of therapeutic brain massage in an environment where saying as little as... (Source)

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10

A Farewell to Arms

The Hemingway Library Edition

Ernest Hemingway, Seán Hemingway, Patrick Hemingway | 4.01

Presented by Patrick and Seán Hemingway, this augmented edition of Ernest Hemingway’s classic novel of love during wartime features early drafts and, for the first time, all of the author’s alternate endings.

Written when Ernest Hemingway was thirty years old and lauded as the best American novel to emerge from World War I, A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Set against the looming horrors of the battlefield—weary, demoralized men marching in... more
Recommended by Jordan B Peterson,  Julia Enthoven,  Jordan Peterson,  and 3 others.

Jordan B PetersonA Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway https://t.co/dwAYVoKl3K, a book from my great books list https://t.co/AxBNX3QpMb (Source)

Julia EnthovenFor non-business, I’ve loved so many different books that it’s hard to pick a favorite. Recently, I’ve enjoyed The Art of Fielding and Americanah, and I love classics like A Farewell to Arms and Lord of the Flies. (Source)

Jordan Peterson[Jordan Peterson recommended this book on his website.] (Source)

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11

The Charterhouse of Parma

Stendhal, John Sturrock | 3.71

Headstrong and naïve, the young Italian aristocrat Fabrizio del Dongo is determined to defy the wrath of his right-wing father and go to war to fight for Napoleon. He stumbles on the Battle of Waterloo, ill-prepared, yet filled with enthusiasm for war and glory. Finally heeding advice, Fabrizio sneaks back to Milan, only to become embroiled in a series of amorous exploits, fuelled by his impetuous nature and the political chicanery of his aunt Gina and her wily lover. Judged by Balzac to be the most important French novel of its time, The Charterhouse of Parma is a compelling novel of... more
Recommended by Jordan B Peterson,  and 1 others.

Jordan B PetersonThe Charterhouse of Parma by Marie-Henri Beyle https://t.co/YcXWUsbjXB , a book from my great books list https://t.co/AxBNX3QpMb https://t.co/twi8XLSy9d (Source)

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Don't have time to read Jordan B Peterson's favorite books? Read Shortform summaries.

Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:

  • Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
  • Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
  • Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Sign Up for Free Book Summaries