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Maps of Meaning  By  cover art

Maps of Meaning

By: Jordan B. Peterson
Narrated by: Jordan B. Peterson
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Publisher's summary

Jordan B. Peterson's Maps of Meaning is now available for the first time as an audio download!

Why have people from different cultures and eras formulated myths and stories with similar structures? What does this similarity tell us about the mind, morality, and structure of the world itself? From the author of 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos comes a provocative hypothesis that explores the connection between what modern neuropsychology tells us about the brain and what rituals, myths, and religious stories have long narrated. A cutting-edge work that brings together neuropsychology, cognitive science, and Freudian and Jungian approaches to mythology and narrative, Maps of Meaning presents a rich theory that makes the wisdom and meaning of myth accessible to the critical modern mind.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2002 Jordan B. Peterson (P)2018 Random House Audio

What listeners say about Maps of Meaning

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This is NOT an easy book

Jordan Peterson has claimed on twitter (multiple times) that 12 Rules for Life is a good introduction to Maps of Meaning.

Bullsh*t.

This book is FAR more difficult to follow than 12 Rules. It wasn't written for the general public. It's in a different galaxy.

It is, however, a great book, but I can tell I'm going to have to listen to it at least twice to absorb what Peterson is saying.

If you love JBP, you'll enjoy this book, but be warned: this milkshake is extremely thick.

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657 people found this helpful

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profound.

Over the last couple years Dr. Peterson has come into his own and to the attention of the general public with his beliefs which resonates with many conservatives. His detractors would dismiss him and his views and just assume he's just another unintelligent right wing fear mongerer. I've seen videos with people utterly dismissing his ideas because they are of another political view.

Listening to this book, you begin to realize that Dr. Peterson thinks at a higher level than most people. His political opinions have been formed not out of personal agenda, rather from deep philosophical understanding of how we as humans come to the beliefs we do. This book is a mix between developmental psychology, philosophy, anthropology, and sociology. Our beliefs and reactions to what is happening in the world around us (the unknown) has been shaped by centuries of myths that effect the culture around us. You also begin to realize just how intelligent and profound his thinking is. When he formulates an opinion, you can be sure, he's not shooting off the hip, rather he has processed his opinion at a much higher level that 99.9% of his detractors would ever consider.

That being said, this would be much better read than listened to. This doesn't follow like a lecture, but rather a text book. I often times caught myself flipping back 30 seconds to have him repeat a statement because what he just read was so complicated and profound, I needed to hear it a few times in order to process it properly. I have a degree in psychology and still find it difficult to fully grasp some of his statements at first pass.

At times the material is dry. It is still necessary as he formulates arguments. But I find my mind drifiting. Unless I give it my full attention, I often have to back up and re-listen to sections. This is not background sound, but something that demands full engagement.

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299 people found this helpful

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Life Changing Book

Having read both this and 12 rules for life has been extremely transformative for me. As a 27 year old man, I feel like I now have a path and a guide to lead a meaningful life. I will be listening to this audiobook for many years to come. Also, I am very happy that Peterson decided to do the narration, its like he is talking to me directly. :)

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The lectures are many times better

I've watched all of the Maps of Meaning lectures of Dr. Peterson, plus most of his lecture series on Personality; I also listened to his Twelve Rules of Life audiobook. I liked all of them, so I thought this book might inspire me even more. Nothing could be further from the truth, alas.
It's too verbose, has no coherent structure (unlike the lectures) and the chapters are ridiculously long. I mean, 11 hours for one chapter; for the audio version at least more chapters would have been helpful.
If you want to get what he's thinking and saying, watch the Maps of Meaning lecture series, all of them, and skip this book.

His narration is great though. He reads with the same passion he lectures with, and probably writes with too. I find him one of the best narrators for serious works of literature I know, judging from his reading quotes from The Gulag Archipelago, the works of Dostoyevski, Orwell, and several others. He has a real knack for that, I think because he really understands those works and therefore knows which words to emphasize, where to sound appalled or angry, where to raise or lower his volume, etc. If he would narrate those works here on Audible, I'd probably buy all of those books, knowing I would get a great understanding of the works through listening to Peterson as narrator.

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PDF Available on Actual Computer

I haven't finished the book yet (will revise review), but I couldn't respond to other reviews so I'm putting the info here. I couldn't find the PDF on my phone, but managed to find it on my computer in the browser. Check your library; under "Download," it should say "View PDF."

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91 people found this helpful

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Brilliant Seminal Work (Figures Unreadable)

Maps of meaning is a seminal work that for the first time integrates modern scientific reasoning with the worlds of mythology, religion, psychology, neurology, and philosophy. It explains how the underlying "animal" brain of homo sapiens has become the vessel for human cognition as we now understand it; and how culture and values, even unstated and not understood by those who carry them, are transmitted and disseminated from mind to mind, across society, and through time in the evolution of culture.

For most readers who are not students of arcane mythology and theology, much of the middle part of the book is a tedious academic treatment that beats the dead horse of the author's well proven thesis, but the author should be excused for the unrelenting assault in this magnum opus as the concepts he presents are scientifically and philosophically revolutionary and "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence".

The Audible reading is well performed by the author, but a major problem with the Audible presentation is the poor quality of the accompanying pdf diagrams, many of which contain text or detail which is simply not legible. Why not redraw the artwork with high resolution images?

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72 people found this helpful

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Helped me understand why people do bad things

This is a long book that took time to get through, because I wanted to understand it. It's contains some things that are comforting. For example:

1. Some people become so consumed with despair and and arrogance that they hurt others and themselves, but there is an antidote to that.

2. Our actions can be meaningful and can decrease the misery in the world, and bring comfort to others.

3. Religion teaches us the best wisdom of the ancients, and helps us find meaningful inner peace. Religious observance is wise, not foolish.

4. Life is going to be painful, but we can do things that make pain worthwhile or easier to bear for ourselves and others.

5. Sometimes a system of order can get too rigid or tyranical, but a hero can give up his comfort and go find a way to help heal the system. It will take courage and the cost will be high, but it can make the order whole again.

This book is full of wonderful things to know. It articulates the timeless value of ancient stories. It reaffirms the power of transcendent faith, which faith helps people grow and change for the better. It encourages me to more boldly seek to help build faith in the people around me.

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64 people found this helpful

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Shocking. Shockingly good. Holy...

Jordan Peterson says this work is a tough read. I beg to differ.

After churning though what feels like ancient tomes of philosophy for the past months, listening to this feels absolutely exhilarating. Lets go through some points - 1. Penned in my native language (the awkward cadence of translation is not to be found here!) 2. Succinct scientific approach to some of the most mulled over epistemology and moral, and general philosophy questions of all time. Compared to the works of Nietzsche I've combed through - though absolutely packed with brilliance - the relative ease of understanding in this book feels like thick, viscous, pure intellectual heroine!!!! I do not say this lightly!

I love how Peterson nests Psychology with it's undoubtedly kindred discipline, philosophy. As a psychology major, hearing him use the terminology I've learned really helps integrate the knowledge into my sort of "mushy grey database". Eloquently put, yeah.

Sorry, needless to say I'm a bit excited over the book. Currently I'm 6 and 1/2 hours in, and going strong. Thank you so much for this insanely erudite and lucid work! Please though, you don't need to be so humble!

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Get ready for some heavy mental exercise

I have listened to many of Jordan Peterson's lectures and listened to the 12 Rules for Life. This audiobook is much heavier and more detailed than most of the previous material.

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Pure Gold

Holds up 18 years later, Dr Peterson at his best, narration couldn't be any better

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