The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others In Your Life

I found this book one of many excellent frameworks in describing personalities. Originally an esoteric Sufi and Cabalist mysticism, then elaborated on by others such as Gurdjieff, Oscar Ichazo, Claudio Naranjo, Joseph Hart, John Lilly, Riso and Helen Palmer. I think Jung's is most famous that embrace the introvert and the extrovert regarding the four personality types of a thinker, feeler, sensor and intuitive, which presents 8 personalities. And in this book by Palmer (also Riso) on the Enneagram, there are nine personality types. Like Jung's personality types, the Ennegrams presents scores of in-between stages, a fourish-five, a threeish-four and so forth, so you can't fault this theorem, nor the non existent particular attributes believed to be of one personality type to an individual, even when that one fits one of the selected types. The idea that must be remembered here is a person is not one personality type, but a core type fluctuating between two others, one in stress, the other in non-stress. So each person is continuously traveling between three points, one of them being the core, while at the same time, this person may or may not lean towards one of it's wing points. To repeat, it is a core point fluctuating between two other points, towards one in stress, towards the other in security, while some are heavily influenced by one of its wing points. A Five for instance, is secure in eight, but when stress hits it goes towards seven in order to secure its core of Five, like a rubber band effect. I am a fiveish four, or a four-Tragic Romantic, who acts as a withdrawing observer, from leaning in my wing point as a Five-Observer-Solitude. As a Four, I fall into the secure point of a One-Perfectionist. So under stress, I move towards a Two-Giver, in order to balance out my Four. You have to accept the system with degrees of relativity. As helpful as this system is, it is not an exact science, and in this sense, there are no absolutes in any formulated structures. The first four chapters of the book are small and explain the system itself and how it works. The remainder of the book describes in quite detail the nine personality types and is very helpful in observing both the self and others with scores of helpful hints and workable areas that one can work and benefit on by knowing the basic principles and framework of thinking that externally show in actions. By looking in this particular lens of personality types, you can gain greater perception of the person you are dealing with and how you yourself are dealing with the other and make the necessary adjustments. I found myself constantly envisioning many persons I know that really do fit many of the personality types with a large degree of accuracy, including that of myself. I found what is important is to read the entire book, and try to get a handle on the types. Then go back to the first four chapters and re-read to get a full understanding on how each point is really a base of three points and how the wing points can be a major influence.

I'm still fairly new to Enneagram (just started in the last 2-3 months) and I wanted to get a much deeper understanding of the Enneagram. I did a quick read through Riso's The Wisdom of the Enneagram and, while I found that book a good introduction and practical, it just didn't really feed me what I was looking for. I'm a deep thinker and when I'm wanting to be really confident in my personality typology (whether enneagram or any really) I want a really thorough understanding of it so that I am sure of what preferences I have and to really understand where I may be habitually blocking myself. What I liked about this book is that the subtypes (and how they look within each type) is well explained. It's not really long (like a couple paragraphs each) but it helped me a lot to see how exactly a one-on-one subtype 9 looks different then a one-on-one subtype 2. This book gave me the clarity I was looking for with that. Palmer also gives examples of how one type's dynamic is with another type. She doesn't do it for each combination (that'd be a really long read) but enough to get an idea. I feel that Palmer's book Enneagram in Love and Work goes into more depth in that realm. Overall, I just personally like Palmer's descriptions of the types and the way she explains it. I was trying out several different authors and people who have done research with Enneagram and I've found her descriptions to make the most sense for me.

I thought I had a good overview from a one day seminar and I thought religious groups were a bit overzealous with shoehorning these concepts into the idea of “spiritual gifts” but I found this book to be filled with deeper understanding of human nature. It was definitely worth the considerable amount of time required to get through every chapter.

Helen Palmer’s book is, in my view, the deepest and best of the available books on this system of thought. Of particular interest are the passages which quote exemplars of the types. The Kindle edition is marred by some orthographic and transcription problems, of which the most disconcerting is the failure to place those personal narratives into a different point size or font, or even just to indent them which would have made it clear right away when Palmer is writing and when someone else is being quoted. Because I know this book well and only acquired the Kindle version to keep as a reference, this oversight isn’t such a problem for me, but it will prove confusing to new readers.

I read this book many years ago and it still remains my favorite book about the Enneagram. Before this I had judged all systems of character typology as oversimplified and fairly uninteresting. The Enneagram is complex and useful! It helped me to understand my interactions with many friends, my life-partner, and especially and most importantly with my two step-sons, with whom it helped me become much more accepting and understanding. I think it can be a significant part of one's personal/professional growth. It also relieved something in me to understand that there were many other people out there with a lot of my own characteristics, and that I shared many with everyone. Extremely insightful!

I had hoped for an explanation of the Enneagram with a test to determine my #. This book is extremely technical, in-depth and textbook-like. If that’s what you want, it’s great. Unfortunately it was not for me.

A very serious and important book for those who wish to grow spiritually and emotionally. Many books have been written on this subject. Palmer does a superb insightful job. I've been reading and re-reading this nearly 20 years. Always discovering something new. She's deep without being too dense, or too intellectual. Definitely not pop psychology either.

j'ai acheté ce livre pour me familiariser au vocabulaire technique de la psychologie en anglais. le livre est d'occasion en parfait état et l'envoi a été assez rapide pour la distance Usa - France, donc pas de problème

Will be reading this & learning more on the ennegram.

This is one the best, if not the best books I've read about personalities and the psychology of the self. I learned a lot and got to be as close as possible to knowing my self and how I operate. I've read many books on psychology but this one is a unique perspective through the Enneagram lens. I highly recommend reading this book for people who are struggling with their interactions with other and are not sure what elements are triggering their reactions. This the book for you.

Great book. Very insightful. Anyone who reads this will find out more about themselves and others.

alles bestens!