The Essential Enneagram: The Definitive Personality Test and Self-Discovery Guide ― Revised & Updated – A Stanford Professor's Research-Based System for Nine Types

This is a really good introduction to the Enneagram. I've struggled in the past to identify my Enneagram type, and I don't think I would have been able to using the just the initial test at the start of this book. However, after reading the type determination and type description pages, reviewing the very helpful summary of type discriminators, and considering the explanation of the three centers of intelligence in Section 2 (which I wish had been included earlier in the book), I felt very confident that I'm a Type 6. One of the nice things about this book is that not only does it make it very easy to explore the different types and discover your own type, it also provides tips and practices for all types and for each specific type to encourage personal development. The one thing I felt frustrated about is that some of the concepts introduced in Section 2, such as the subtypes, are touched on so briefly that I didn't really understand them. I would have liked some examples in that area so I can make better use of that practice. I generally liked the layout of this book and found it easy to use. I have both the Kindle and paperback versions. Either works just fine, although I think it's a bit easier to flip back and forth in the paperback version. I highly recommend this as an introduction to the Enneagram, suitable for a wide audience interested in psychology, spirituality, and personal growth.

I’ve been teaching the Enneagram for 20 years and this is the book I give clients after their typing interview for these reasons: 1) David originally taught me the Enneagram and his depth of understanding and compassion for the dilemmas of each of these types is stellar. He was a man of both humor and kindness. That matters when you’re helping people unpack their core defense structure. 2) He has some serious street cred. He was a psychiatrist at Stanford University and he understood the human psyche with depth. Back before anyone had ever heard of the Enneagram, he was advocating for it at Stanford as he knew how helpful it was in understanding who we are. You can see this in what he calls the “basic proposition” of each of the types. The basic proposition identifies those core survival needs of a developing child. What did we need for love, security and a sense of control and esteem? My clients are most always moved when their Enneagram patterns are positioned through this lens. They see how this is in our hardwiring. 3) David did a lot of research on the biology of emotions and was endlessly curious about neurobiology and type. This never went away. This comes through in the book particularly in his explanations of the Enneagram centers. This is a guy who both did his homework and worked with countless clients and students. Straight up academics can often miss the empathy and heart when writing about the Enneagram. Not David. You can feel his compassion particularly in the practices. If there is one weakness in the book, it is a more in depth understanding of the body center. In fairness, this book was written prior to our understanding of somatic psychology and interception where we understand the internal state of our bodies in the present moment. Our type structure house is itself in our bodies and that is not unpacked in this book. This is a crucial contemporary understanding of the Enneagram that is best learned through practice with someone who knows what they’re doing. I highly recommend this book. It’s best read slowly and digested so you have a good sense of how the type lands for you.

As someone who has been involved with the Enneagram for 21 years, this book appeals to me as a tool for comparing all Enneagram Types with each other. I recommend the Tritype method where you pick one Type from each center: head, heart and body. This book will help to identify common elements that express themselves in each Type and can be an aid in picking a dominant Type in the body center, one in the heart center, and another in the head center. You will still pick one dominant type overall, but the other two are likely to function in certain situations. This book helps in those assessments.

Un'opera molto ben fatta, sia dal punto di vista teorico che pratico. La consiglio a tutti coloro che siano interessati al tema, anche se non in possesso di conoscenze preliminari.

Je n'ai pas tiré grand chose de ce livre, je n'en vois pas l'intérêt. Tout est survolé et je ne conseille donc pas sur le sujet.

Good starter book, easy to understand, workable guide and felt the content very nice and speicifc

Gute gediegene Bedienung wie man seinen Enneagram Persönlichkeit findet. ANschaulich und klar. Kann dann mit andren Büchern erweitert werden, aber zum Anfang gibt es klare ANleitung wie man sich zurecht findet, und sich auch heran tasten kann, wenn man noch Zweifel hat. ICH knnte mich gut bestätigt sehen in meine Auswertung.

Es delegado y pequeño