How does what Peterson have to say effect your opinion on the significance of the contents of The Gulag Archipelago?
I bought a copy of it, so I could make up my own mind. Peterson brought it to my attention and it was timely as I read Man's Search For Meaning this year. That book is very widely read.
I had never even heard of The Gulag Archipelago. Peterson points out that it's severely under-read in the West compared to how significant it is. He's saying you should at least read it and judge for yourself and not let only the ideology itself be the basis on which you judge the ideology.
He uses it as a boogeyman, which makes me less inclined to read it. But it could be great. Just a slight variation in my inclination, I'm not making any sweeping statement.
He does mention it an awful lot. Then again if he's right about what he's saying that the ways of thinking that produced those kinds of outcomes are alive and well and trying to advance their agenda either consciously or unconsciously, then that seems significant to me.
I guess to that end it's one data point among many.
As I've grown ever more curious about history and have started to dive into more and more parts of it I find that really reading through things deeply yourself is a much richer experience than a crude surface level analysis or taking someone's word for it. I had never heard of it prior to him bringing it up and it's like holy moly here looks like the exact kind of thing I find quite engrossing to read.
I think HN book recommendation thread from recently mentioned An Era of Darkness which I haven't bought yet because I implement a moratorium on buying books until I get through another 50, but I did add it to my list. That one is an account of British Rule in India.
Id rather do my best to learn the lessons of history. I think it's a lost art these days.
