I’ve never been much of a ‘morning person’. My father, by contrast, most certainly was. All the years I knew him, there was never a day wherein my father so much as even slept in. Not by my recollection, at any rate.

Several years ago, Jordan Peterson appeared on the rather popular Lex Fridman Podcast. In no time at all, a discussion arose between the two men regarding their favorite author—the great Russian writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky. Their conversation was narrowing in on this point: which of Dostoevsky’s novels can rightfully claim the title as the greatest book ever written, Crime and Punishment or The Brothers Karamazov?

Life is a vapor. The days may be long, but the years are short, and becoming shorter still. There hardly seems time enough in the day to...