Jordan Peterson: ‘The pursuit of happiness is a pointless goal’

Life is tragic, says the provocative Jordan Peterson, and we are all capable of turning into monsters. But this hasn't stopped millions from watching his online lectures. Tim Lott meets him as he publishes 12 Rules for Life

It is uncomfortable to be told to get in touch with your inner psychopath, that life is a catastrophe and that the aim of living is not to be happy. This is hardly the staple of most self-help books. And yet, superficially at least, a self-help book containing these messages is what the Canadian psychologist Jordan B Peterson has written.

His book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is an ambitious, some would say hubristic, attempt to explain how an individual should live their life, ethically rather than in the service of self. It is informed by the Bible, Nietzsche, Freud, Jung and Dostoevsky - again, uncommon sources for the genre.