Jordan Brent Peterson (born June 12, 1962) is the author of Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief (1999), 12 Rules of Life: An Antidote to Chaos (2018), and Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life (2021). In addition to being an author, the Canadian is a professor of psychology, a clinical psychologist, and a YouTube personality. He is married to Tammy Roberts and has two children, Mikhaila and Julian. Peterson often mentions his family in his lectures and writings.

As Peterson recounts in Maps of Meaning, he grew up in a religious household in Canada’s Alberta province. Although he initially chose to major in political science at the University of Alberta, he grew disenchanted with the approach to teaching and studying politics, so he turned his attention to psychology. Peterson holds a PhD in clinical psychology from McGill University in Montreal. After teaching at Harvard University, he returned to Canada in 1998 and joined the psychology faculty at the University of Toronto.

Maps of Meaning is a genre-defying book that combines disciplines as disparate as history, psychology, mythology, and neuroscience. It sold less than a thousand copies in its first publishing run and garnered few reviews at the time. However, Peterson began receiving media coverage in the 2010s for his critique of political correctness as well as his controversial views on gender identity and expression, and this attention renewed interest in his writings and lectures.