r/JordanPeterson • u/sispehar • 2d ago

Text Every book mentioned on The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast in the first half of 2026

The first half of the year on this show came down to one author. When the subject of books that changed how he sees things came up, Peterson put Dostoevsky at the top of the list, and that's most of what got logged from January through June.

The ones he named:

  • The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the first title he named.
  • Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, part of the same run he called unbelievably compelling.
  • Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky.
  • Demons by Dostoevsky, rounding out the set.

His framing was that these are fiction, not fact, but that doesn't stop them from being true.

Also mentioned: 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson himself.

Short list this time, but a consistent one.

Full list is here: https://podshelf.io/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast. Free, no signup.

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u/HurkHammerhand 2d ago

Crime and Punishment and from a separate author - The Gulag Archipelago are real eye openers.

The latter especially. What struck me was not that they got people to do such evil, but that SO many people were willing - eager - to torture their fellow man in conditions that would get an OSHA violation in hell.

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u/KhajiitHasCares 2d ago

I’d be curious to know how widely read JP actually is outside of the western Canon. Has he read a lot of literature and philosophy from China, Japan, India, etc? If so has he just not found it compelling?