Author: Derek Beres / Source: Big Think
- Peterson’s Great Books list features classics by Orwell, Jung, Huxley, and Dostoevsky.
- Categories include literature, neuroscience, religion, and systems analysis.
- Having recently left Patreon for “freedom of speech” reasons, Peterson is taking direct donations through Paypal (and Bitcoin).
We like to know what informed thinkers we respect, to better understand what shaped their worldview. On his website, Jordan Peterson offers his Great Books list, granting insight into the turning of his own mind. I’ve discovered a few that I’ll pick up from the numerous titles that he offers. The following ten also resonated with me.
Island — Aldous Huxley
Everyone loves dystopia. There’s a reason we all have to read Inferno in high school yet most people don’t even realize Paradiso exists—it was a terrible ending to the trilogy. Island was Aldous Huxley’s utopian counterpart to Brave New World, yet unlike Dante, he concluded this series (and his life; it was his last novel) quite well. This is a more reflective, psychedelic-loving Huxley sharing his profound connection to Buddhist philosophy in the guise of the disbelieving writer, Will Farnaby. The myna birds screaming “Attention!” throughout the book serve as an important reminder to everyone walking around with their head glued to a screen today.
East of Eden — John Steinbeck
This is simply one of the greatest novels of 20th-century America. I think of it often, reading about Amazon caravans traveling around the country in RVs seeking the next factory to try to work at. Not much has changed in the nearly 70 years since Steinbeck published this masterpiece. Too many Americans are still clawing at the imagined dream. This book is the poet and patriot in his finest moment.
The Denial of Death — Ernest Becker
This book was my introduction to philosophy and psychology, given to me by my brother-in-law’s brother while I was in high school. It opened my eyes to the reality of fear and death, and the reality that most of our fears are rooted in the existential threat of biology. It’s also Becker wrestling with his own questioning and validation of Freudian psychology. I also recommend the posthumous follow-up, Escape From Evil.
Answer to Job — Carl Jung
Jung saw this book as describing the unmentioned fourth face of God: evil. It’s hard to read the biblical book any other way (though many have tried). Jung doesn’t…
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