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The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life
It would be impossible for most of us to spend a day without coming into direct or indirect contact with dozens of people family, friends, people in the street, at the office, on television, in our fantasies and fears. Our relationships with others are the most changeable, infuriating, pleasurable and mystifying elements in our lives.
Personality types, based on the ancient system of the Enneagram, will help you to enjoy more satisfying and fulfilling relationships in all areas of your life by introducing you to the nine basic personality types inherent in human nature. This knowledge will help you better understand how others think and why they behave as they do, as well as increasing your awareness of your own individual personality.
Written by the leading world authority on the Enneagram, it offers a framework for understanding ourselves and those around us, as well as a wealth of practical insights for anyone interested in psychology, counselling, teaching, social work, journalism and personal management.
Personality types, based on the ancient system of the Enneagram, will help you to enjoy more satisfying and fulfilling relationships in all areas of your life by introducing you to the nine basic personality types inherent in human nature. This knowledge will help you better understand how others think and why they behave as they do, as well as increasing your awareness of your own individual personality.
Written by the leading world authority on the Enneagram, it offers a framework for understanding ourselves and those around us, as well as a wealth of practical insights for anyone interested in psychology, counselling, teaching, social work, journalism and personal management.
418 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 20, 1988
454 people are currently reading
1751 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
October 15, 2009
If you want to hate yourself a lot, read this version of the enneagram.
I know that the enneagram is different than other psychological tests because it focuses on what your faults rather than your strengths. I also know that this is a definitive book of enneagrams.
However, I refuse to believe my base needs are out of anger, guilt, or lust or other's base needs are out of this way either. While some of it may ring true this book is phrased in such a way, such loathing of human beings and bathed in original sin that I can't recommend this book. Unless you want to hate yourself.
I know that the enneagram is different than other psychological tests because it focuses on what your faults rather than your strengths. I also know that this is a definitive book of enneagrams.
However, I refuse to believe my base needs are out of anger, guilt, or lust or other's base needs are out of this way either. While some of it may ring true this book is phrased in such a way, such loathing of human beings and bathed in original sin that I can't recommend this book. Unless you want to hate yourself.
May 2, 2008
I've been studying this book for years, and it has been one of the most influential books in my life. The Enneagram is a psychological system that explains 9 personality types. As human beings, we all suffer, and this book explains how suffering is connected to type. However, we are more than our personality, so freedom from suffering is available. It has helped me to grow personally and develop more compassion for the people in my life. I've been to numerous workshops presented by the author, Helen Palmer.
August 22, 2019
This is my first in depth read on the enneagram after encountering it through both my mother and aunt - who have studied it for years. It's wide spread use in different areas in both East and West attests to its validity and the 9 types are recognizable people. This is not something esoteric as far as how it manifests in daily life. We each know all of these people and have them all inside us to some extent as well. If there's any tool that can help in our actual lived relations with others then I'm all for it. Unlocking why we think the way we do and why others see similar situations completely different is not a simple proces. But if typing through the enneagram can help at all in that process then we are just a bit closer to greater empathy towards ourselves and others. I'm definitely diving in further with my study of it.
November 2, 2024
çok daha kapsamlı bilgiye ulaşmamı sağlamasının yanında, bazı noktalarda çok sığ buldum. bütün tiplerin en sağlıksız, uç, aşırı noktalarını anlatıyor gibi geldi hep. dolayısıyla biraz karikatürizeleşiyor ister istemez. ama benim gördüğüm kadarıyla diğer kaynaklara kıyasla yine bunu en az yapanlardan biriydi diyebilirim. iş tipolojiye gelince durum stereotipleştirmeye çok müsait oluyor çünkü
neyse gerçek yaşamdan gerçek deneyimlerden örneklerle vs anlamanızı baya kolaylaştırıyor. sona istatistik chartları koymaları da çok iyi olmuş 30 saat inceledim
dediğim gibi çok şey öğrendim güzel bir kitap bence ilginiz varsa öğrenmek için seçebileceğiniz faydalı kitaplardan biri
neyse gerçek yaşamdan gerçek deneyimlerden örneklerle vs anlamanızı baya kolaylaştırıyor. sona istatistik chartları koymaları da çok iyi olmuş 30 saat inceledim
dediğim gibi çok şey öğrendim güzel bir kitap bence ilginiz varsa öğrenmek için seçebileceğiniz faydalı kitaplardan biri
April 9, 2025
I found this workshop to be an easily understood basic yet comprehensive overview of the enneagram and am surprised at the less than stellar reviews. Perhaps, after studying the subject for many years, I can't see it with beginner eyes. Or maybe so many people come to the enneagram these days from instagram memes and corporate workshops, that they don't realize how brutally honest and deep this system of knowledge is. One of the things I most enjoyed about this particular exploration is the compassionate and positive language Helen Palmer uses. But looking at the reviews, that appears to be a minority viewpoint. So maybe listen to this one as a corrective to the surface teaching floating around as the enneagram gains popularity. I finished these lectures and immediately want to listen to them again, to see what I might have missed and to begin incorporating some of Palmer's language into my own understanding and teaching.
September 26, 2019
It seemed like everyone around me was talking about their Enneagram number so, after a mini teach-in at work that gave an outline of the philosophy, I checked out this book from the library to learn more. And, y'all, I think I'm an Enneagram person now.
This particular book is pretty dated and comes from a psychology perspective that is a little off-putting (particularly in strongly tying each type to a childhood trauma) so unless you are a very very patient reader like me, I don't think I'd start here. Still, I found the author's description of the history of the Enneagram and its growth in the United States to be interesting and her descriptions of the nine types were comprehensive and interesting, particularly with the incorporation of transcriptions from in-person workshops with well-articulated folks from the different types reflecting on their experiences.
I'm drawn to this system because it isn't just a "personality test" and it is based on core motivations instead of actions or preferences. Instead of taking a multiple choice test, a person attends a workshop or reads a whole book on the Enneagram and then comes to a conclusion about what type they are. I kind of doubted that until I read Type 2 (with a Type 1 wing for sure) and it just clicked. Not every single thing she said, but a lot of it. And in a way that helped me kind of stand away from my own mind and think about how it worked. And the cool thing is that since you don't only focus on your own type, you also read about people whose motivations are *different* from yours and then have a better understanding of how they tick. YMMV, but I'm embracing my sometimes embarrassing self-help/new age side and I predict there are more Enneagram books in my future!
This particular book is pretty dated and comes from a psychology perspective that is a little off-putting (particularly in strongly tying each type to a childhood trauma) so unless you are a very very patient reader like me, I don't think I'd start here. Still, I found the author's description of the history of the Enneagram and its growth in the United States to be interesting and her descriptions of the nine types were comprehensive and interesting, particularly with the incorporation of transcriptions from in-person workshops with well-articulated folks from the different types reflecting on their experiences.
I'm drawn to this system because it isn't just a "personality test" and it is based on core motivations instead of actions or preferences. Instead of taking a multiple choice test, a person attends a workshop or reads a whole book on the Enneagram and then comes to a conclusion about what type they are. I kind of doubted that until I read Type 2 (with a Type 1 wing for sure) and it just clicked. Not every single thing she said, but a lot of it. And in a way that helped me kind of stand away from my own mind and think about how it worked. And the cool thing is that since you don't only focus on your own type, you also read about people whose motivations are *different* from yours and then have a better understanding of how they tick. YMMV, but I'm embracing my sometimes embarrassing self-help/new age side and I predict there are more Enneagram books in my future!
December 10, 2017
Despite the fact, I did a couple of personality tests when I had started my career at RightHello I found that book as a huge source of knowledge about personalities. Now I see how different people are, how can be happy and angry differently. In many business books, I found many rules and habits how people should behave, some of those suggestions can apply only to particular personalities. Some of the recommended habits are a usual behavior of particular personalities. Enneagram gives a bigger picture.
The book is tough to read longer than 15 minutes at once, most of my reading I did during short travels at the tram. You can start that version from the 6th chapter I don't even remember what includes the rest.
The book is tough to read longer than 15 minutes at once, most of my reading I did during short travels at the tram. You can start that version from the 6th chapter I don't even remember what includes the rest.
April 12, 2010
The subtitle says it all: "Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life". Fascinating book based on ancient Sufi teachings describing nine basic personality types and their interrelationships. I have read it twice, and will keep re-reading it because more is learned each time. It will totally change how you see yourself and others. Highly recommended! (There are other books on the Enneagram, but Helen Palmer is the most esteemed authority.)
March 10, 2020
It’s not the first book you should read on the Enneagram, nor the only book, but there is plenty to make this worthwhile.
November 23, 2025
A POPULAR SUMMARY OF THIS APPROACH TO “PERSONALITY TYPES”
Helen Palmer has taught the Enneagram since the mid-1970s; she and David Daniels co-founded the Enneagram Professional Training Program (EPTP) in 1988; she retired from this activity (becoming ‘Founder and Core Faculty Emeritus’) in August 2020.
She wrote in the first chapter of this 1988 book, “The Enneagram is an ancient Sufi teaching that describes nine different personality types and their interrelationships. The teaching can help us to recognize our own type and how to cope with our issues; understand our work associates, lovers, family and friends; and to appreciate the predisposition that each type has for higher human capacities such as empathy, omniscience, and love. This book can further your own self-understanding, help you work out your relationships with other people, and acquaint you with the higher abilities that are particular to your type of mind. The Enneagram is part of a teaching tradition that views personality preoccupations as teachers, or indicators of latent abilities that unfold during the development of higher consciousness.” (Pg. 3)
She cautions, “One of the Enneagram’s problems is that it’s very good. It is one of the few systems that concerns itself with normal and high-functioning behavior rather than pathology, and it condenses a great deal of psychological wisdom into a compact system that is relatively easy to understand. If you can type yourself and the people who are important in your life, a lot of information is immediately made available about the way that you and another are likely to get along. There is, therefore, a natural tendency to want to put each other in one of nine boxes, so that each can figure out what the other is thinking and predict the ways in which the other is likely to behave. We want each other in a box, because it lessens the tension of having to live with the mystery of the unknown, and because in the West we have an addiction to reducing information to fixed categories so that we can try to make cause-and-effect predictions. The Enneagram, however, is not a fixed system. It is a model of interconnecting lines that indicate a dynamic movement, in which each of us has the potentials of all nine types, or points, although we identify most strongly with the issues of our own.” (Pg. 6-7)
She acknowledges, “Typing can set up an unfortunate self-fulfilling prophecy. We may learn to type people and then begin to treat others as caricature composites of a list of type traits, which very effectively reinforces type… All too often we begin to see ourselves in the way that we are seen by others and to take on the characteristics of what we have been trained to be… A small-minded approach to typing reduces the value and purpose of a system that suggests that type is merely a stepping-stone to higher human abilities. The good news is that typing doesn’t work in the real world… Why, then, are we so concerned about type? If an accurate set of labels won’t eliminate the risks involved in hiring employees or choosing a mate, why bother to uncover type at all? The reason for discovering your own type is so you can build a working relationship with yourself… The second reason to study type is so you can understand other people as they are to themselves.” (Pg. 8-9)
She states, “Intuition can best be understood as the emerging side effect of the withdrawal of attention from habitual thoughts and feelings… It is not within the scope of this book to discuss even basic internal practices. Practices are best learned with an experienced teacher, in a supportive setting, rather than out of a book, where even the most precise language is sure to fall short of what is necessary to gain access to an altered state of mind. This book is about the preoccupations that are characteristic of different types of people, so for our purposes, it is important only to point out that the way in which each type pays attention to its preoccupations can be both a burden and a blessing in disguise.” (Pg. 30-31)
She notes, “The fact that our mental and emotional preoccupations change when we move from a secure life situation into action, and therefore into some degree of stress, has created something of a cult of security among Enneagram enthusiasts. A security reaction sounds infinitely more appealing than an action/stress reactions, and the strategy of moving forward toward security suggests that the way to health lies in cultivating the better aspects of the security point… My interviews with panelists do not at all suggest that a move-to-security opportunity, such as falling in love with an appropriate and willing partner, will necessarily bring out the better qualities of the security point. A good opportunity can paradoxically produce a stress reaction, because of inexperience or insecurities based on past experience.” (Pg. 43-44)
She recounts, “With a graph like the nine-pointed star, everything depends upon a correct placement of the types in the diagram, because they relate to one another in such specific ways. The current placement of the emotional passions was produced by Oscar Ichazo, and with that deceptively simple arrangement of what Gurdjieff called Chief Feature, the Enneagram code became available to us… Ichazo’s work was unknown until 1970, then he announced a psychospiritual training in the desert near the town of Arica in Chile. About fifty Americans attended… who brought back the report that Ichazo was using the Sufi concepts familiar to many through the Gurdjieff work.
“He was using exercises to develop the ‘three brains,’ or the three kids of human intelligence that Gurdjieff has described as mental, emotional, and instinctual; he was also using the teaching method of animal qualities, and he had written a short précis of the nine personality types, which was subsequently published in a chapter on the Arica training in ‘Transpersonal Psychologies.’ … In a rare public statement, Ichazo indicated that he had been taken on as an apprentice to a teacher when he was nineteen and that through his teacher’s group he had been exposed to Zen and the esoteric basis of Sufism and the Cabla. The group also used techniques that he later found in the Gurdjieff work. Ichazo eventually founded the Arica Institute, which is currently based in New York City.” (Pg. 46-47)
She states, “The difficulty with Ichazo’s Enneagram was that his précis was built on only one of the many dominant issues characteristic of a type, and his descriptive language did not readily translate into psychological terminology. The missing piece in the transmission was supplied by Claudio Naranjo, a Chilean psychiatrist, who attended a part of the Arica training and was able to place the Enneagram into the context of psychological ideas. Naranjo had already developed a reputation as a synthesizer of Eastern and Western approaches to conscious… Naranjo gained his insight by interviewing individuals who were psychologically sophisticated, and who could describe their preoccupation of heart and mind… I learned the Enneagram from Naranjo, who taught the material in the oral way. He was interviewing groups of high-functioning people who were involved in spiritual disciplines…” (Pg. 51)
Later, she adds, “Ichazo has continued to develop his insights into the system through the Arica Institute. He is the major modern source for the material and continues the task of exploring the Enneagram as a model of the transformation of human consciousness.” (Pg. 54)
In an Appendix, she adds, “Empirical study of the Enneagram typology has recently begun, based on published descriptions of the Enneagram theory. Studies in this area are useful to the degree that research findings integrate Enneagram theory with Western concepts of personality. Current research focuses on the stability of the individual person’s Enneagram point over time and the relation of Enneagram type to other theories of personality. Also, researchers are developing personality assessment instruments that may reliably and validly predict Enneagram type.” (Pg. 379)
This popular book will be of great interest to those studying the Enneagram.
Helen Palmer has taught the Enneagram since the mid-1970s; she and David Daniels co-founded the Enneagram Professional Training Program (EPTP) in 1988; she retired from this activity (becoming ‘Founder and Core Faculty Emeritus’) in August 2020.
She wrote in the first chapter of this 1988 book, “The Enneagram is an ancient Sufi teaching that describes nine different personality types and their interrelationships. The teaching can help us to recognize our own type and how to cope with our issues; understand our work associates, lovers, family and friends; and to appreciate the predisposition that each type has for higher human capacities such as empathy, omniscience, and love. This book can further your own self-understanding, help you work out your relationships with other people, and acquaint you with the higher abilities that are particular to your type of mind. The Enneagram is part of a teaching tradition that views personality preoccupations as teachers, or indicators of latent abilities that unfold during the development of higher consciousness.” (Pg. 3)
She cautions, “One of the Enneagram’s problems is that it’s very good. It is one of the few systems that concerns itself with normal and high-functioning behavior rather than pathology, and it condenses a great deal of psychological wisdom into a compact system that is relatively easy to understand. If you can type yourself and the people who are important in your life, a lot of information is immediately made available about the way that you and another are likely to get along. There is, therefore, a natural tendency to want to put each other in one of nine boxes, so that each can figure out what the other is thinking and predict the ways in which the other is likely to behave. We want each other in a box, because it lessens the tension of having to live with the mystery of the unknown, and because in the West we have an addiction to reducing information to fixed categories so that we can try to make cause-and-effect predictions. The Enneagram, however, is not a fixed system. It is a model of interconnecting lines that indicate a dynamic movement, in which each of us has the potentials of all nine types, or points, although we identify most strongly with the issues of our own.” (Pg. 6-7)
She acknowledges, “Typing can set up an unfortunate self-fulfilling prophecy. We may learn to type people and then begin to treat others as caricature composites of a list of type traits, which very effectively reinforces type… All too often we begin to see ourselves in the way that we are seen by others and to take on the characteristics of what we have been trained to be… A small-minded approach to typing reduces the value and purpose of a system that suggests that type is merely a stepping-stone to higher human abilities. The good news is that typing doesn’t work in the real world… Why, then, are we so concerned about type? If an accurate set of labels won’t eliminate the risks involved in hiring employees or choosing a mate, why bother to uncover type at all? The reason for discovering your own type is so you can build a working relationship with yourself… The second reason to study type is so you can understand other people as they are to themselves.” (Pg. 8-9)
She states, “Intuition can best be understood as the emerging side effect of the withdrawal of attention from habitual thoughts and feelings… It is not within the scope of this book to discuss even basic internal practices. Practices are best learned with an experienced teacher, in a supportive setting, rather than out of a book, where even the most precise language is sure to fall short of what is necessary to gain access to an altered state of mind. This book is about the preoccupations that are characteristic of different types of people, so for our purposes, it is important only to point out that the way in which each type pays attention to its preoccupations can be both a burden and a blessing in disguise.” (Pg. 30-31)
She notes, “The fact that our mental and emotional preoccupations change when we move from a secure life situation into action, and therefore into some degree of stress, has created something of a cult of security among Enneagram enthusiasts. A security reaction sounds infinitely more appealing than an action/stress reactions, and the strategy of moving forward toward security suggests that the way to health lies in cultivating the better aspects of the security point… My interviews with panelists do not at all suggest that a move-to-security opportunity, such as falling in love with an appropriate and willing partner, will necessarily bring out the better qualities of the security point. A good opportunity can paradoxically produce a stress reaction, because of inexperience or insecurities based on past experience.” (Pg. 43-44)
She recounts, “With a graph like the nine-pointed star, everything depends upon a correct placement of the types in the diagram, because they relate to one another in such specific ways. The current placement of the emotional passions was produced by Oscar Ichazo, and with that deceptively simple arrangement of what Gurdjieff called Chief Feature, the Enneagram code became available to us… Ichazo’s work was unknown until 1970, then he announced a psychospiritual training in the desert near the town of Arica in Chile. About fifty Americans attended… who brought back the report that Ichazo was using the Sufi concepts familiar to many through the Gurdjieff work.
“He was using exercises to develop the ‘three brains,’ or the three kids of human intelligence that Gurdjieff has described as mental, emotional, and instinctual; he was also using the teaching method of animal qualities, and he had written a short précis of the nine personality types, which was subsequently published in a chapter on the Arica training in ‘Transpersonal Psychologies.’ … In a rare public statement, Ichazo indicated that he had been taken on as an apprentice to a teacher when he was nineteen and that through his teacher’s group he had been exposed to Zen and the esoteric basis of Sufism and the Cabla. The group also used techniques that he later found in the Gurdjieff work. Ichazo eventually founded the Arica Institute, which is currently based in New York City.” (Pg. 46-47)
She states, “The difficulty with Ichazo’s Enneagram was that his précis was built on only one of the many dominant issues characteristic of a type, and his descriptive language did not readily translate into psychological terminology. The missing piece in the transmission was supplied by Claudio Naranjo, a Chilean psychiatrist, who attended a part of the Arica training and was able to place the Enneagram into the context of psychological ideas. Naranjo had already developed a reputation as a synthesizer of Eastern and Western approaches to conscious… Naranjo gained his insight by interviewing individuals who were psychologically sophisticated, and who could describe their preoccupation of heart and mind… I learned the Enneagram from Naranjo, who taught the material in the oral way. He was interviewing groups of high-functioning people who were involved in spiritual disciplines…” (Pg. 51)
Later, she adds, “Ichazo has continued to develop his insights into the system through the Arica Institute. He is the major modern source for the material and continues the task of exploring the Enneagram as a model of the transformation of human consciousness.” (Pg. 54)
In an Appendix, she adds, “Empirical study of the Enneagram typology has recently begun, based on published descriptions of the Enneagram theory. Studies in this area are useful to the degree that research findings integrate Enneagram theory with Western concepts of personality. Current research focuses on the stability of the individual person’s Enneagram point over time and the relation of Enneagram type to other theories of personality. Also, researchers are developing personality assessment instruments that may reliably and validly predict Enneagram type.” (Pg. 379)
This popular book will be of great interest to those studying the Enneagram.
April 19, 2020
I found the explanation of the enneagram as a whole quite interesting, and the sections that related to me were fairly insightful; all of the other chapters were rather onerous to get through. I admit I was extremely skeptical at first about any kind of profiling system with a religious foundation (in this case the 7 Deadly Sins), but they were modified and explained in such a way that I can see their relevance.
I think I am a very clear 5 in this system, and I was shocked at how many of the characteristics of a 5, not just their actions, but the way they think, etc, were so accurate to my own personal experience. Although the concluding chapter on what people should do to mitigate the damaging behaviours caused by their ruling passion didn't seem terribly useful (I don't think "focusing on the breath in my belly" and resolving to engage more with others is a helpful piece of advice), I do think this was a highly beneficial read for me for 2 reasons:
1) Personal awareness never feels like a bad thing. I don't believe I am a slave to this system and that every choice I make somehow has its root in my enneagram personality. However, knowing some of the tendencies I may lean toward, I can be more aware of my thoughts and actions and ensure they come from a place of positive choice rather than instinctual reactivity.
2) I think this may help give me more patience and empathy with others. I found all the sections that weren't about 5s kind of boring, as I could not relate to most of them at all. However, if 5s seem extremely accurate to me, it is probably safe to assume others will relate strongly to their own types also. Understanding that there are so many different ways that people approach life, and the driving motivations behind the way people think and act, I think it should force me to accept that my way is only one of many, and is no more valid than any other.
I think I am a very clear 5 in this system, and I was shocked at how many of the characteristics of a 5, not just their actions, but the way they think, etc, were so accurate to my own personal experience. Although the concluding chapter on what people should do to mitigate the damaging behaviours caused by their ruling passion didn't seem terribly useful (I don't think "focusing on the breath in my belly" and resolving to engage more with others is a helpful piece of advice), I do think this was a highly beneficial read for me for 2 reasons:
1) Personal awareness never feels like a bad thing. I don't believe I am a slave to this system and that every choice I make somehow has its root in my enneagram personality. However, knowing some of the tendencies I may lean toward, I can be more aware of my thoughts and actions and ensure they come from a place of positive choice rather than instinctual reactivity.
2) I think this may help give me more patience and empathy with others. I found all the sections that weren't about 5s kind of boring, as I could not relate to most of them at all. However, if 5s seem extremely accurate to me, it is probably safe to assume others will relate strongly to their own types also. Understanding that there are so many different ways that people approach life, and the driving motivations behind the way people think and act, I think it should force me to accept that my way is only one of many, and is no more valid than any other.
June 1, 2017
This was my first serious read about enneagram although I've been searching and reading a lot on the web for one year now. The introduction part is really detailed and explanatory. Each type was handled in a very selective way. But one thing that annoyed me a little was each type was also handled in a very negative way. It felt like all about showing the destructive sides of these 9 personalities. The positive aspects of the personalities were too little mentioned. Sure knowing those negative traits of your personality and accepting them is crucial on your way to fully know and understand yourself but your positive traits can not be ignored. Overall it's a great start for enneagram.
February 21, 2022
It's like astrology with peer review. But seriously, I do find it helpful to see why I may find it challenging to interact with certain personality types. Helen Palmer's narration was a bit too cold, making it sound like an academic lecture, but that adds to the gravitas of what I used to think was just another ridiculous personality test. The book is much more helpful than any of the online tests I have taken.
September 18, 2024
First book I have read on the Enneagram, although I have listened to a lot of Richard Rohr's video lectures which cover it in detail.
Helen Palmer's 'The Enneagram' is an in depth writeup on the Enneagram system and for the most part does a great job at uncovering distinctive traits about each type. I found it informative, not just about the types themselves but at seeing which character traits I or people I know might have.
Recommended for anyone who is interested in other personality "tests".
Helen Palmer's 'The Enneagram' is an in depth writeup on the Enneagram system and for the most part does a great job at uncovering distinctive traits about each type. I found it informative, not just about the types themselves but at seeing which character traits I or people I know might have.
Recommended for anyone who is interested in other personality "tests".
May 14, 2022
One of my top 3 favorite books on the Enneagram
July 11, 2019
I have a lot of friends who are into this right now. It was a mix of interesting and confusing to read. There were times I was wondering why I was reading it, and if I was wasting my time. When I started to read about the types, I got a bit frustrated by reading so much about a type that wasn't telling me anything about myself. Reading about a type 3's (not my type) relationship potential felt unhelpful to me. I started to skim through the type descriptions and found it hard to peg myself into a type. In the end, even when I felt more confident of my type, I still don't know if I find it useful to me in daily life. I'm sure there's more exploration that could be done, but I'm putting a big pause on this for now. I was also recommended Beatrice Chestnut's book, The Complete Enneagram, to really clarify your type via subtypes. Perhaps in the future. For now I'm not feeling motivated to put so much time into this.
December 26, 2022
love a good excuse to hyperanalyse random people again
June 11, 2019
Very good book, has a lot of information, very specific and good research, can learn so much from it.
March 30, 2013
An introductary book that I'd reccommend to my friends just beginning to enneagram. The insights at each chapter offer many a ha moments. The reader will come across the traits that he is unaware of or hard to admit& prefer to keep to himself. Her language is clinical, but as a physician; I am more in tune with Riso: He divides each type into 3 grades -healthy,average,unhealthy- and each grade into 3 level of developments; then puts the faults&gifts at certain levels at lenght. However Palmer mushes the whole type&levels in to one; and accuses with the faults that the reader definitely don't identify with.
Each chapter also includes a very very brief description of instinctual subtypes, Furthermore it lacks the information about winged-types. Type four/the individualist/the artist has, for instance the aristocrat-4w3- and the bohemian-4w5- subtypes as Riso mentioned but Palmer not.
One more thing caught my attention is that Palmer has an unfair tendency to dwell on mostly defective traits of Type Four and she doesnt acknowledge the possibility that an healthy version of 4 might exist,
Each chapter also includes a very very brief description of instinctual subtypes, Furthermore it lacks the information about winged-types. Type four/the individualist/the artist has, for instance the aristocrat-4w3- and the bohemian-4w5- subtypes as Riso mentioned but Palmer not.
One more thing caught my attention is that Palmer has an unfair tendency to dwell on mostly defective traits of Type Four and she doesnt acknowledge the possibility that an healthy version of 4 might exist,
February 26, 2015
This book is in many ways an unpleasant read. An enneagram expert told me what my type was; this book is not the best for that.
Mostly in the sections about one's type it reads 97% negative. It's all about the dysfunctional coping mechanisms one uses to get by. In each type there is also a very small section talking about the possible translation from ignorance to wisdom of this particular way of dealing with the world.
In the introductory portions that talk about the system the possibility of this transmutation from deluded to wise/ignorant to enlightened are discussed more thoroughly, and this in conjunction with the small snippets in the type section are of aid to one who is somewhat along one's path.
There are pointers here to both spot one's own delusional behaviour and its transcendent counterpart, and this is very valuable earning the 4 stars, but there is so much time spent on how screwed up we mostly all are, with surgical detail as to how, that the book must be put down and put deeply away after a while.
Mostly in the sections about one's type it reads 97% negative. It's all about the dysfunctional coping mechanisms one uses to get by. In each type there is also a very small section talking about the possible translation from ignorance to wisdom of this particular way of dealing with the world.
In the introductory portions that talk about the system the possibility of this transmutation from deluded to wise/ignorant to enlightened are discussed more thoroughly, and this in conjunction with the small snippets in the type section are of aid to one who is somewhat along one's path.
There are pointers here to both spot one's own delusional behaviour and its transcendent counterpart, and this is very valuable earning the 4 stars, but there is so much time spent on how screwed up we mostly all are, with surgical detail as to how, that the book must be put down and put deeply away after a while.
January 16, 2014
If an individual is searching for answers, this is the Best book to begin to understand reasons for our behavior patterns as well as your loved ones and the people you know. Not only does one get insights into patterns of behavior, Helen breaks each personality down to where we pick the behaviors up as children and why! From there, she discusses practices to change unwanted behaviors. This is a book, unlike any other. This was the first written record of the Enneagram, an ancient Sufi tradition.
April 12, 2013
Pretty dense book with tons of A three does this, a six does that. If a 2 is a boss and 7 is the employee they will interact in X and Y ways. Its a lot to digest. However, I found it uncanny how some people I know fit perfectly into one or another type. I had to read the whole book before I got my own type. But, I saw shades of myself in multiple types.
March 8, 2008
This is meant to be one of the best explanations of the enneagram, but although it was interesting, it wasn't particularly useful to me. Then again, I see so much of most of the proposed personality types in myself that my test results for these types of classifications are not very reproducible.
December 9, 2007
Dude, this shit will change your life
February 15, 2010
Very insightful, though I'd skip most of Part 1 and skip straight to the personality types. There is a LOT of information in here.
September 11, 2014
Superb insight to the variety of types that the Enneagram explores. A most helpful read, and a book that I will return to from time to time.
February 15, 2016
Fascinating
February 16, 2020
I first learned about the enneagram personality system several decades ago, and I knew what my enneagram number was even back then. But this is the first time I have done any serious reading on the topic. As the enneagram idea has re-surfaced in the 20th and 21st century, this book has emerged as one of the seminal texts in the field.
The enneagram first appears in ancient Sufi wisdom as a way of understanding personality and the guiding passions that drive people's lives. It has since been picked up by psychologists and new age mystics of various types, with each group placing their own spin on it. The durability and flexibility of the model are impressive, and the subtle adaptation of it by different groups speaks to the fact that there is something essentially and recognizably human in it. (Palmer even points out a parallel with the seven deadly sins.) So regardless of whether you buy into the clinical psychology explanations, or the mystic ones, or neither, this book and the enneagram itself model may be of interest.
You can think of the nine personality types in the enneagram like an operating system for human behavior. We each have a primary way of seeing the world, driven by a singular passion or fear. Depending on who you read, these drives are either the product of genetics, or family systems, or childhood traumas, or original sin, or . . . take your pick. What is inarguable is that every individual leans toward one OS or another. This book walks through the primary OS for each of the nine types, and then discusses caveats and limitations. Most types have "wings" that they bleed into, depending on the circumstance, as well as sympathetic points that they move to during action or security (a sort of yin/yang dyad). So although the nine types themselves may seem simplistic, the amount of diversity in variation possible is quite high.
I enjoyed this book, but realize that I probably read it too fast. Because each chapter discusses the same material as it relates to a different point on the enneagram, it's almost like reading a reference book or field guide. I consumed most of this in a 24-hour period and after a while, it was a bit of a slog. My mind numbed over and I started to lose track of which type behaved in what way for what reason.
Still, the material here can be quite helpful for self-awareness and for understanding friends, family members, and co-workers. If you want to consider your own reflex actions, and what things you do instinctively to cope with the world (and why), you might find this book, and the enneagram overall, useful. Of course, I don't want to say that this book is the definitive answer to all things related to personality. After all, I'm an enneagram seven, and I need to keep my options open.
The enneagram first appears in ancient Sufi wisdom as a way of understanding personality and the guiding passions that drive people's lives. It has since been picked up by psychologists and new age mystics of various types, with each group placing their own spin on it. The durability and flexibility of the model are impressive, and the subtle adaptation of it by different groups speaks to the fact that there is something essentially and recognizably human in it. (Palmer even points out a parallel with the seven deadly sins.) So regardless of whether you buy into the clinical psychology explanations, or the mystic ones, or neither, this book and the enneagram itself model may be of interest.
You can think of the nine personality types in the enneagram like an operating system for human behavior. We each have a primary way of seeing the world, driven by a singular passion or fear. Depending on who you read, these drives are either the product of genetics, or family systems, or childhood traumas, or original sin, or . . . take your pick. What is inarguable is that every individual leans toward one OS or another. This book walks through the primary OS for each of the nine types, and then discusses caveats and limitations. Most types have "wings" that they bleed into, depending on the circumstance, as well as sympathetic points that they move to during action or security (a sort of yin/yang dyad). So although the nine types themselves may seem simplistic, the amount of diversity in variation possible is quite high.
I enjoyed this book, but realize that I probably read it too fast. Because each chapter discusses the same material as it relates to a different point on the enneagram, it's almost like reading a reference book or field guide. I consumed most of this in a 24-hour period and after a while, it was a bit of a slog. My mind numbed over and I started to lose track of which type behaved in what way for what reason.
Still, the material here can be quite helpful for self-awareness and for understanding friends, family members, and co-workers. If you want to consider your own reflex actions, and what things you do instinctively to cope with the world (and why), you might find this book, and the enneagram overall, useful. Of course, I don't want to say that this book is the definitive answer to all things related to personality. After all, I'm an enneagram seven, and I need to keep my options open.
May 13, 2022
Other people evidently find this useful, and hey, good for them, but to me it seemed like mostly a bunch of psychobabble comparable to astrology.
I, or some past version of myself, identify strongly with described features of every type, and none really jumped out at me as definitely being mine.
If I chose a type based solely on the brief descriptions given on pages 37–41, it would definitely be One.
Three sounds a lot like me in high school.
People who know this sort of thing tell me I'm a Five, which they say is the type most skeptical about the Enneagram in general.
The appendix is interesting. For a while my Myers–Briggs test results came back as INTJ, but lately it's been INFP. If we imagine that that's accurate—but also with a strong T component because it's silly to have thinking and feeling oppose each other—and then we look at Table 1 on page 380, what do we see? Well, there's a box with "Intuitive, feeling perceiving"—that's three letters right there—and below it another box with "Introvert, thinking," which gets the rest (of course, if I get to include one extra letter, I'm only leaving out three, and I don't even side that strongly on P/J, but work with me here), and what are those two boxes? Four and five.
(Also, in the words of my psychology professor from 2018, speaking on the MBTI, "Don't use it. It's garbage.")
And what were Søren Kierkegaard's MBTI and Enneagram types? Allegedly, INFP and 4w5. So I guess that's the type I want to be, regardless of what I actually am, because I can't really tell.
A typology based on the "big five" might be better. With five traits that could appear in any order, you have 5! = 120 different types! What's mine? Well, lately I've been feeling high openness, moderate conscientiousness, low extraversion or extroversion, high agreeableness, and the usual extreme neuroticism. Is that accurate? Maybe, maybe not. But if so then my type is NAOCE. Perhaps one does have an immutable interior type out of the 120, even though a different type may manifest itself. Maybe you can set up scenarios that put two traits in conflict and one's decision in such a scenario signals which trait is ranked higher in the type as which one is acting. I suppose my ideal self is AOCEN; if that's right, then, well, hey, all I have to do is kill my neuroticism and I'm there. I wonder what my "true self" might be. I also might idealize COAEN. Hard to say for sure. I have multiple ideal selves that may or may not be mergeable. Do I have multiple true selves?
(Friday 13 May 2022 2:59 AM CDT)
I, or some past version of myself, identify strongly with described features of every type, and none really jumped out at me as definitely being mine.
If I chose a type based solely on the brief descriptions given on pages 37–41, it would definitely be One.
Three sounds a lot like me in high school.
People who know this sort of thing tell me I'm a Five, which they say is the type most skeptical about the Enneagram in general.
The appendix is interesting. For a while my Myers–Briggs test results came back as INTJ, but lately it's been INFP. If we imagine that that's accurate—but also with a strong T component because it's silly to have thinking and feeling oppose each other—and then we look at Table 1 on page 380, what do we see? Well, there's a box with "Intuitive, feeling perceiving"—that's three letters right there—and below it another box with "Introvert, thinking," which gets the rest (of course, if I get to include one extra letter, I'm only leaving out three, and I don't even side that strongly on P/J, but work with me here), and what are those two boxes? Four and five.
(Also, in the words of my psychology professor from 2018, speaking on the MBTI, "Don't use it. It's garbage.")
And what were Søren Kierkegaard's MBTI and Enneagram types? Allegedly, INFP and 4w5. So I guess that's the type I want to be, regardless of what I actually am, because I can't really tell.
A typology based on the "big five" might be better. With five traits that could appear in any order, you have 5! = 120 different types! What's mine? Well, lately I've been feeling high openness, moderate conscientiousness, low extraversion or extroversion, high agreeableness, and the usual extreme neuroticism. Is that accurate? Maybe, maybe not. But if so then my type is NAOCE. Perhaps one does have an immutable interior type out of the 120, even though a different type may manifest itself. Maybe you can set up scenarios that put two traits in conflict and one's decision in such a scenario signals which trait is ranked higher in the type as which one is acting. I suppose my ideal self is AOCEN; if that's right, then, well, hey, all I have to do is kill my neuroticism and I'm there. I wonder what my "true self" might be. I also might idealize COAEN. Hard to say for sure. I have multiple ideal selves that may or may not be mergeable. Do I have multiple true selves?
(Friday 13 May 2022 2:59 AM CDT)
May 7, 2019
"The idea that we are blind to much of our own basic character is commonly accepted in our time," says Helen Palmer. That was at the time she wrote the book, but now this is no longer how most people understand their world. People seem predominantly focused outward believing they are "evidence based" yet rarely examining the instrument with which the evidence is gathered--their own awareness. Sure we acknowledge cognitive biases but only as exceptions to the rule. We like to be reminded that we are not as rational as we think we are and thus think that makes us even more rational.
The enneagram is easily mistaken for a parlor game, akin to a newspaper's (remember newspapers?) daily horoscope but it is meant to be a DSM, which, if you don't know, is the book of diagnoses of mental illnesses. If we take as true Ms. Palmer's statement above, that we are blind to ourselves, it makes sense that we would all get diagnosed, not just those who can't function and go see a doctor.
The DSM itself is something like a checklist akin to those online tests that one could take to determine one's enneagram. In the preface to the book, Charles T. Tart, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of California at Davis extols its use as a powerful tool and adds "When the nature of my type was explained to me, it was one of the most insightful moments of my life".
However, later in the same preface, he also says "Used as The Truth, used as a substitute for actual observation of ourselves and others, the Enneagram system, like any conceptual system, can degenerate into one more way of stereotyping ourselves and others". Like the warning on a pack of cigarettes, it is easy to miss and the system is presented with the authority of capital T Truth despite qualifications such as "each of us has the potentials of all nine types". What's more it didn't work for me as a method of understanding myself and others. It seemed too uncomplicated for the kind of people I tried to apply it to, e.g. me. I found that I and the others I tried to classify could fit parts of several types while we failed to fit any one completely. The underlying principle that we each have a "chief feature" didn't seem to apply.
But, then, I never found the DSM itself all that useful either. I find it better not to consider people as collections of symptoms but rather focus on how I experience them in the context of our relationship. You might find that attitude typical of enneagram type 9.
The enneagram is easily mistaken for a parlor game, akin to a newspaper's (remember newspapers?) daily horoscope but it is meant to be a DSM, which, if you don't know, is the book of diagnoses of mental illnesses. If we take as true Ms. Palmer's statement above, that we are blind to ourselves, it makes sense that we would all get diagnosed, not just those who can't function and go see a doctor.
The DSM itself is something like a checklist akin to those online tests that one could take to determine one's enneagram. In the preface to the book, Charles T. Tart, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of California at Davis extols its use as a powerful tool and adds "When the nature of my type was explained to me, it was one of the most insightful moments of my life".
However, later in the same preface, he also says "Used as The Truth, used as a substitute for actual observation of ourselves and others, the Enneagram system, like any conceptual system, can degenerate into one more way of stereotyping ourselves and others". Like the warning on a pack of cigarettes, it is easy to miss and the system is presented with the authority of capital T Truth despite qualifications such as "each of us has the potentials of all nine types". What's more it didn't work for me as a method of understanding myself and others. It seemed too uncomplicated for the kind of people I tried to apply it to, e.g. me. I found that I and the others I tried to classify could fit parts of several types while we failed to fit any one completely. The underlying principle that we each have a "chief feature" didn't seem to apply.
But, then, I never found the DSM itself all that useful either. I find it better not to consider people as collections of symptoms but rather focus on how I experience them in the context of our relationship. You might find that attitude typical of enneagram type 9.
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