Episode · The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast · 2026-08-16

Books mentioned on Why Being Nice Is Destroying Your Family

2 books · Listen · Watch on YouTube

What does a punk rock concert full of sneering nihilists have to do with the oldest question about how to live?

Jordan Peterson discussed Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky and The Devils by Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский.

Books mentioned, in the order they came up

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1. 

   Notes from Underground

   Fyodor Dostoevsky · at 1:19:33

   Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a foundational existential novella that explores the depths of human alienation, paradoxical free will, and psychological spite.

   Discussed

   “So, Dostoyevsky wrote a very famous book called Notes from Underground, and in Dostoyevsky was an absolute prophet.”

   Jordan Peterson Why Being Nice Is Destroying Your Family 2026-08-16 Listen at 1:19:33

   Where to get it

   AmazonListen on Audible
2. The Devils

   The Devils

   Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский · at 1:19:59

   The Devils by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a complex and deeply philosophical novel exploring the ideological extremes and political turbulence of 19th-century Russia.

   Discussed

   “He did that in a book called The Devils or The Possessed, and in many of his other books as well, not least in Notes from Underground.”

   Jordan Peterson Why Being Nice Is Destroying Your Family 2026-08-16 Listen at 1:19:59

   Where to get it

   AmazonListen on Audible