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The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others In Your Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Helen Palmer
Publisher: HarperOne
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 40385
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 0062506838
Dewey Decimal Number: 155.264
EAN: 9780062506832
ASIN: 0062506838
Publication Date: April 12, 1991
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Product Description
It would be impossible for most of us to spend a day without coming into direct or indirect contact with dozens of people 埦amily, 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Best Book on the Enneagram August 7, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book gives a very thorough and comprehensive exposition of the personality enneagram. There are books on the enneagram that go into details that this book does not, but they do not really stand on their own without a person being familiar with the material in this book. In other words, the other books are at best supplemental to this book. The author had studied the teachings of Gurdjieff, the insights of Claudio Naranjo, the information that the Jesuits have, and some information from the Arica system. The personality enneagram goes into nine personality types and their dynamics with each other. I have found that typing people according to the enneagram has been more useful than other systems, with the possible exception of astrology. But astrology takes longer to truly master and cannot be done as easily without getting the birth information of someone. With the enneagram, I can often make a rapid assessment that helps when I am meeting people to work with them doing hypnotherapy. For instance, with an ennea-six, taking time to check in to what is comfortable repeatedly makes them few secure and they relax and open up. The same behavior would make an ennea-eight very annoyed, since they take this same behavior as meaning I am weak and am trying to make them dependant on me. With an ennea-eight, being confrontative feels to them that I am honest and am putting all my cards on the table, and they start opening up and relaxing. But if the same thing was done with an ennea-six, they would panic and run out the door. In a similar way, each type responds ideally to a specific approach.
There are some things that are only suggestive in this book and is gone more into detail in other books. Although not part of the enneagram, THE FOURTH WAY by Ouspensky goes into some detailed Sufi training material that is necessary to understand some of the charts that Helen Palmer has. The division of the human into the thinking center, higher and lower emotional center, moving center, sex center, and other centers is developed in this book. The directions of growth and degeneration are gone into more detail in the Riso books. The original Arica system gones into more detail on how the nine types evolve within certain exercises based on the number nine.
The main point I differ with in some of the older enneagram books is that I do not feel that all types are pure types. I feel that some people shuttle between two or three enneagram points and are not easily reducible to one. I have found that sometimes when people are going through a lot of fear, they appear to be like ennea-six types even for a whole year, before falling back to their more usual style. I prefer these days to just type the enneagram strategy of the moment, rather than worry about typing people in a more enduring way. It seems, too, that some people shift their type sometimes.
The other thing to mention is that there are more enneagrams than the personality enneagram. Although this is the most popular one, the Arica system has mapped out a great number of them, and the Gurdjieff system has also mapped out many enneagrams that map out processes flowing through time. The Enneagram book by Irmis Popoff is one good one to show several of them. John Bennett, a student of Gurdjieff, also did a few studies on the Enneagram, including one on the Lord's Prayer (the Our Father prayer of Jesus). Gurdjieff hints of another enneagram where 27 personalities are mapped (intellectual, emotional, and physical types of each of the nine types) and which he felt were necessary for certain kinds of advanced group work. Even so, the Helen Palmer book, especially if you take the time to use it in daily life and in observation of others, is still a very good place to start.
One Valid Framework to View Personality Types January 21, 2005
12 out of 18 found this review helpful
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.
It's not the whole picture, but a big part of it. December 12, 2004
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
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I'd rate this Helen Palmer book as about the best of all the books on the Enneagram. I think Palmer's personality descriptions are insightful and thought provoking.
It is also the best starting point for anyone interested in personality types who wish to delve deeper on this subject.
What I find most amazing is that you will never see this topic, ever discussed in any collegiate psychology department. For them, ideas are like religion and they can never agree.
The truth is this one book would put most of them out of business. Or rather, there are more truths in this book than most others.
These books as a class, describe what I'd call the unified theory of personality types. It gives you a clear picture of who you are, why you act the way you do, and what you are likely to do under pressure or stress. All of this applies others around you too.
This is a must read book for anyone interested in finding out who they are. I recommed it as a present to give it to any recent graduate because this is not taught in schools.
Strongly recommended.
Thorough & Informative Coverage of the Enneagram June 24, 2003
30 out of 32 found this review helpful
Along with Don Riso & Russ Hudson's "Personality Types," Helen Palmer's "The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others In Your Life" has established itself as one of the definitive and most thorough texts available on this subject. I have been a student of the enneagram for a long time, and I frequently reach for this book as a reference.The book is divided into two main parts. The first 70 or so pages are dedicated to an overview of the enneagram system, both from historical perspectives, as well as in terms of pratical application. The remainder (and majority) of the book's 400-odd pages provides a well organized wealth of information on each of the nine enneagram personality types. Because each of these nine chapters are laid out in a standard "template" format, expect some minor duplication from chapter to chapter. UNlike most personality typing books, Helen Palmer's book does NOT include any kind of "quiz" to help readers determine their enneagram type. However, the descriptions of each type are so thorough that it isn't difficult to determine which one is the best fit. The book is quite comprehensive, and goes well beyond merely examining the enneagram as a "personality type inventory," instead also covering the self-growth and life philosophy aspects of the system. Palmer goes into great depth in her decriptions of each of the Nine enneagram personality types-- starting with the childhood "programming" that influences current behavior patterns, then going on to outline the adult "preoccupations," including how they affect that type's behavior in both intimate and "authority" relationships. She relies extensively on the "oral tradition" of the enneagram; that is-- the practice of listening to, and learning from, groups of people of the same "type," talking about their lives and motivations. Many quotes and examples from Palmer's enneagram study groups are included in the book, and they add a nice "live" counterpoint to what is otherwise somewhat "academic" material. Each chapter also includes a brief description of "instinctual subtypes," and concludes with a list of actions/environments that might help each type grow and thrive. If there is one (minor) complaint I have about this book, it is perhaps that Palmer has a tendency to dwell at length on the negative or "defective" traits of human nature while not really giving equal time to the positive-- or even how to work our way through the negative. In addition, she does not acknowledge the possibility that an "emotionally healthy" version of any type might exist-- which is one of the reasons I prefer the work of Riso and Hudson. In personal growth terms, it is certainly of great importance to identify the pitfalls of life (Our "preoccupations," as Palmer calls them), but it is almost of equal importance to be offered some guidance for self-devlopment-- and this book falls a bit short in that area. Which, in a way, is surprising, since Helen Palmer is a practicing psychotherapist. However, this is trivial issue that really doesn't detract a great deal from the book's overall usefulness. Final thoughts: An excellent and worthwhile reference (9 out of a possible 10 bookmarks), especially for the more serious student of the enneagram. Provides a nice counterpoint to Riso & Hudson's writings. Perhaps not the best "first read" for someone just beginning to explore the enneagram-- if that's you, I'd recommend Baron & Wagele's "The Enneagram Made Easy" as an excellent introduction. Thanks for reading! --Peter
MY FAVORITE ENNEAGRAM BOOK: VERY THOROUGH! January 24, 2003
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
Here's a book that people seeking happiness in their careers should definitely read. It's the first step for career planning.Palmer gives clear, concise explanations of an intricate personality system making reading intriguing and exciting. Her understanding of the delicate nuances of the types makes her a trustworthy and solid guide. Additionally, she is particularly respectful to the limitations of categorizing people and avoids any hint of such. We wouldn't expect anything less from this top expert of the Enneagram. Part I gives an excellent summary of the theory; including numerous diagrams that define the passions and perspectives of the types. Part II gives explanations of each of the nine types. In particular, presenting the dilemma at the beginning of each chapter immediately gives us insight. If any doubt surfaced about where you fit in the Enneagram world her descriptions of the dilemmas clearly helps us understand ourselves, bringing a deep comfort. Palmer also provides a unique blend of personality characteristics and psychological perspectives. Such topics as major issues, intimate relating patterns and intuitive style are covered. Most importantly much of her knowledge and insights were gathered from twelve years of interviewing thousands of students learning the work. And all of these details are why Helen Palmer's book is so crucial to our development. Those wanting greater love in their relationships will find the book meaningful. Those in transition in love or career will find great insight into their desires and strengths. Whether we apply the understanding of personality to our professional or personal lives it is a benefit. While most of our time is spent in some type of relationship, it's amazing that discovering who we are is not a mandatory course. This book clearly would be the required reading. Helen Palmer has written the bible of the Enneagram -- a first choice for anyone desiring deeper self-understanding.
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