Rating: 
Summary: Great beginning book
Review: A friend had been talking to me about enneagrams for quite some time, and we had an initial idea of my type. This book, in just 9 paragraphs and a few descriptions made me certain. And it also provides both the strengths and the weaknesses for each type--what a type has lost sight of, and how they might be compensating. This isn't an "in-depth" book--it's the enneagram boiled down to the absolute essentials--and it's a great place to start--and the "What a # has lost sight of" is a great place to get a daily affirmation to try and regain sight of that lost fundamental principle.
Rating: 
Summary: Freedom
Review: Beneath the pseudo-mystical rhetoric lurks a denial of human freedom. According to this book, you are particular type of person. Learn your number, then learn your assigned shadow and your assigned wing. Lovers of freedom, beware.
Rating: 
Summary: fascinating stuff -- but this is only a start
Review: Enneagram personality typing is fascinating stuff -- there are nine basic personality types, with connected wing, security and stress types. If you've taken (and found benefit from) the Myers-Briggs or other similar tests, give this a try. I was amazed that the description of my "type" really fit me to a tee, and the advice on how folks of my type should refocus their thinking was extremely helpful. My concern is how valuable this book alone is as a diagnostic tool. The book is short (about a hundred pages, with lots of diagrams and white space), much of which will be irrelevant or marginally relevant to you. (If you find you're a type four, you probably won't need to read about type one.) You determine your personality type quite simply, by reading nine paragraphs (that describe the nine personality types) and choosing the one that fits best. It's a great introduction, but I think calling it "The Definitive Personality Test and Self-Discovery Guide) is a bit of an exaggeration.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating stuff -- but this is only a start
Review: Enneagram personality typing is fascinating stuff -- there are nine basic personality types, with connected wing, security and stress types. If you've taken (and found benefit from) the Myers-Briggs or other similar tests, give this a try. I was amazed that the description of my "type" really fit me to a tee, and the advice on how folks of my type should refocus their thinking was extremely helpful. My concern is how valuable this book alone is as a diagnostic tool. The book is short (about a hundred pages, with lots of diagrams and white space), much of which will be irrelevant or marginally relevant to you. (If you find you're a type four, you probably won't need to read about type one.) You determine your personality type quite simply, by reading nine paragraphs (that describe the nine personality types) and choosing the one that fits best. It's a great introduction, but I think calling it "The Definitive Personality Test and Self-Discovery Guide) is a bit of an exaggeration.
Rating:
Summary: A simple and practical little gem that covers it all
Review: I got different results on different enneagram tests and found other books cumbersome and confusing. This book is concise, practical, and geared toward personal development. It made the process of discovering enneagram types easy. I laughed and nodded with recognition as the authors clearly described basic personalities using four identifiers. Basic Position: erroneous belief and strategy developed to cope with it; Characteristics: what energies are put into, what is avoided at all costs, and personality strengths; Stress and Anger: what causes stress, what provokes anger, and the nature of that anger (sulking, crying, explosion, etc.); and Personal Development: ultimate goal, how to further personal development, what hinders it, and what others can do to support it. Avoiding the maze of misidentifications and confusion that other approaches are so vulnerable to, The Essential Enneagram discusses wings, security types, stress types, look-alikes, and probabilities. It is a simple and practical guide to understanding and applying Enneagram theory.
Rating:
Summary: Oh no! I'm an unhealthy artist! I'm going to kill myself!!
Review: I stumbled upon this "enchanted and mythological" book at my local bookstore after delving deep into the heart of enneagram studies. Enneagram studies consist of nine types that all coincide within us, but one of the personalities is dominant over all others. Ms. Mccoy on this review page reiterates an interesting point; one she could have tried to more accurately discuss: We can label ourselves by looking at the "typing" of this obvious and blatant info, and the labeling process we do to ourselves can impede our process in life. If for example someone discovers that he or she is an artist, (an artist being one that has trouble feeling and is most likely slow at doing things as it is portrayed in the book)this person might use that label as an excuse to why he or she can't get a job or uses this as a reason to act out. However, just like justice, hatred, caring, or FREEDOM, everyone has a different response to the world in which they live, and I don't feel that this book reveals too much beyond what a person does not already know about him or herself. If ANYTHING - this book is to be used as an indicator, a direction, and most of all, an understanding of everyone else and their secret desires/impulses. Media is a double-edged sword, it can help you or hurt you. Ms. Mccoy's response to this book is one of a person who doesn't want to be labeled, and I can respect that,however; the enneagram gives way to the fact that there are labels in this society - ones we normally use everyday AND not with such discriminatory purposes. Such as she/he. Black/white. Good/Bad. Labeling is built into our heads, its the way we see the world. So it all comes down to asking yourself if its ok to discern differences within people or not. If not, I'd avoid this book----(...)
Rating:
Summary: The Cut-to-the-Chase, Bottom Line Enneagram
Review: Just what enneagram enthusiasts and those curious to discover what all the talk is about needed--a complete, compact, crisp compendium of: how the enneagram really works...what it tells you about yourself and others...how to discover your real type...and what to do with the information to make yourself the best you can be. After reading dozens of enneagram books by any number of therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors, teachers, students, and academics, here, finally, is a book I can recommend to every one of my students to help them take their next steps with the enneagram. Why this book? Because Daniels and Price have transgressed communication style limits and boundaries and made it truly user-friendly for the masses, not an easy task with multi-layered material. I truly believe this is one of the books that will help the enneagram get into bedrooms and board rooms of mainstream North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Antartica. How can one little book do all these things? It is brief for the bottom-liners, personal for the emotionals, and detailed-enough to satisfy the cerebrals. Anyone with curiousity about the enneagram from the seasoned to the surface-testers can sit down with one mug of something delightful and gain a working knowledge of the enneagram and the mysterious self in less than three hours.
Rating:
Summary: A "must-have" resource on the Enneagram
Review: the essential enneagram is a "must-have" book for anyone interested in the Enneagram, from beginning students to experienced teachers! This little book is power-packed with the expertise and wisdom of the authors condensed into a user-friendly form. It contains the Stanford Enneagram Discovery Inventory which is a short paragraph test that provides a first step in identifying one's personality type. The book then shows how to discriminate between possibilities and how to confirm one's choice. The section on the description of each of the personality types does not repeat the lengthy descriptions of behavior which are provided in other Enneagram books. Instead, it summarizes the key characteristics of worldview, attention, energy, avoidances, strengths and principles of personal development which are specific to type. In the final section of the book the authors provide principles and practices for personal and professional development which are general for all personality types plus practices which are specific for each of the types. I have used the Stanford Enneagram Discovery Inventory as a key resource in helping students to discover their Enneagram personality type in an introductory workshop environment. After taking the test, we discuss how to discriminate between types using that section of the book. After more than 200 introductory students, I continue to be amazed at how much progress the students make within the course of a single day. The final section of the book on general and specific practices for personal and professional development is a real gem. David Daniels brings his expertise as a psychiatrist (professor at Stanford Medical School plus private practice), his years of experience teaching the Enneagram with Helen Palmer to thousands of students, and his own personal embodiment to this deep and rich description of practical and simple practices for human and spiritual development. I personally will refer to this section often as my own development continues to unfold. the essential enneagram is a whole library's worth of wisdom in a book...don't miss it!
Rating:
Summary: An Invaluable Resource!
Review: The Essential Enneagram, by David Daniels, M.D. & Virginia Price, Ph.D. This is an absolutely fabulous "user-friendly" book! I'm a psychologist and I've been able to use it quite comfortably with my clients who are totally new to the Enneagram : Not only does it provide an exceptionally effective way for everyone to discover their own type, but it also provides a daily spiritual practice specifically tailored TO each type. In terms of identifying one's own type, the reader is supplied with the following concise and comprehensive information applied to each type: The fundamental principal I lost sight of: What I came to believe instead: The strategy I developed to cope with this belief: Because of this strategy, my attention is on: I put my energy into: I do everything I can to avoid: My strengths: What causes me stress: What makes me angry: The nature of my anger: The ultimate goal of my development: How I can further my personal development: What hinders my personal development: How others can support my development: But as if this weren't enough, by far the most useful and important gift of this book is to be found in Section 2: What to Do When You Have Discovered Your Type. This section provides us with a daily breathing and centering practice for all, complete with Five General Principles: (Three Laws of Behavior; Three Centers of Intelligence; Three Life Forces; Three Survival Behaviors {the Subtypes}; and Three Levels of Knowing and Learning). Best of all, we are then provided with a specific daily meditative practice for each type which covers practices in awareness, taking action, previewing/reviewing our progress and reflection. Whether or not you are a student of the Enneagram, I highly recommend this book to you.
Rating:
Summary: An Invaluable Resource!
Review: The Essential Enneagram, by David Daniels, M.D. & Virginia Price, Ph.D. This is an absolutely fabulous "user-friendly" book! I'm a psychologist and I've been able to use it quite comfortably with my clients who are totally new to the Enneagram : Not only does it provide an exceptionally effective way for everyone to discover their own type, but it also provides a daily spiritual practice specifically tailored TO each type. In terms of identifying one's own type, the reader is supplied with the following concise and comprehensive information applied to each type: The fundamental principal I lost sight of: What I came to believe instead: The strategy I developed to cope with this belief: Because of this strategy, my attention is on: I put my energy into: I do everything I can to avoid: My strengths: What causes me stress: What makes me angry: The nature of my anger: The ultimate goal of my development: How I can further my personal development: What hinders my personal development: How others can support my development: But as if this weren't enough, by far the most useful and important gift of this book is to be found in Section 2: What to Do When You Have Discovered Your Type. This section provides us with a daily breathing and centering practice for all, complete with Five General Principles: (Three Laws of Behavior; Three Centers of Intelligence; Three Life Forces; Three Survival Behaviors {the Subtypes}; and Three Levels of Knowing and Learning). Best of all, we are then provided with a specific daily meditative practice for each type which covers practices in awareness, taking action, previewing/reviewing our progress and reflection. Whether or not you are a student of the Enneagram, I highly recommend this book to you.
| 
