The Birth Order Book: Why You Are The Way You Are

Rating:
Summary: An eye-opening book
Review: Helps you understand certain pieces of your personality based on where you were born in the family. Very valuable for explaining yourself or others. Try it, it is so true it is amazing! Written in a humorous and entertaining way

Rating:
Summary: An eye-opening book
Review: I first read this book one summer during middle school. My (middle sibling) sister had bought it, presumably to figure out why she always got the shaft in our family.

Since that summer, I've understood my family with greater clarity, I've dealt with friends and co-workers more effectively, and I've (perhaps this isn't such a positive thing) been successfully pigeon-holing people (with decent accuracy) since then.

I guarantee that this book will describe to a tee your family and the families of your friends and loved ones. The whole birth order thing may just be a fad, but it surely appears to provide real insight into human behavior.

Rating:
Summary: I have a clearer outlook on my 3 boys and my own personality
Review: I love this book. I felt like such a failure in the kiddos department, I have 3 boys and I thought the way they were and their personalities were so different and strange, I was sure they were just my failures. I read this book and it was all put into perspective. These personality differences were actually just typical for their birth order and for that matter my personality and hang ups were typical for my birth order. It just all made so much more sense after reading this book and since I have read this book, I have bought 3 other copies and given them to friends. I recommend this book all of the time.

Rating:
Summary: Informative and enjoyable
Review: The book is very informative, concise and flows in a locial manner that is very good. Kevin never strays from the specific title of the book which flows from our own specific birth orders as individuals, looks at each of the 3 unique birth orders (first born/only, middle, and last born), birth order regarding marriage, and birth order in regard to parenting. There is just enough (without overdoing) personal experience (through his own upbringing and personal counseling) that adds a nice touch. Enjoyable to read - that makes it 5 star.

Rating:
Summary: Birth Order Book Review
Review: There are many aspects which affect the way a person will behave in life. Most people point to genetics, environment, or other variables as reasons people develop the personalities they have. However, The Birth Order Book by K. Leman introduces a new factor to consider when investigating the origin of someone's personality. This book cites the order in which one is born as the primary factor in deciding one's personality. The book is a very interesting and entertaining read for anyone.
Everyone from firstborns to middle children to lastborns will find The Birth Order Book both interesting and informative. The book can also help anyone deal with anyone else by teaching them to better understand the other birth orders. It will also help a person to better understand and improve upon themselves. Firstborns will find ways to get over their perfectionism, in the same way as lastborns will find ways to concentrate more and 'tone it down a little'.
The Birth Order Book's best attribute is its sections on marriage and parenting. This part of the book is perhaps most helpful because it can teach couples to work together according to their differing birth orders. It gives a run through of just about every birth order combination and how they can have the most effective and happy marriage. The section that concerns parenting is also very helpful. It lets parents know that every child should not be treated the same; rather, they should be parented according to their birth order personality.
The Birth Order Book is a great read for anyone and everyone who wants to improve upon their life. The way Leman informs us about a certain birth order and then relates it back to his own experiences make the book interesting and entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Decent presentation
Review: This book is a general overview of Leman's beliefs about birth order, personality development, and family relationships. It is organized into 5 parts: introduction, first-borns, later-borns, marriage and birth order, and parenting and birth order. At the end of the book are end-note references and a short list of other works by Dr. Leman, as well as his contact information if you would like to schedule him for a speaking engagement.

Leman summarizes his own and others' work on birth order and personality development. He claims that first-borns and only children tend to be well-organized and reliable perfectionists, middle-borns loyal and independent mediators, and last-borns charming and manipulative people persons, and that these characteristics can be traced directly to the family dynamics resulting from the addition of each individual child to the family. He notes that while many readers or attendees to his seminars may be reluctant to go along with these generalizations, he observes that specific birth orders tend to be over-represented in certain professions, such as first-borns as academic architects and last-borns as used car sales people. He notes that first-borns tend to seek professional counseling more often than others because they are such stressed-out perfectionists, and that middle-borns tend to grow up to be relatively well-adjusted (perhaps because they had ample opportunities to learn to deal with unfairness as youngsters). In each of his descriptive chapters, he offers self-help advice for a happier approach to daily life. He also suggests which birth-order pairs are likely to result in better marital relations, and he provides parenting advice for children specific to their birth orders (drawing heavily from and strongly promoting another of his books entitled Making Your Children Mind So You Don't Lose Yours).

Leman's style of writing in this book is very informal and anecdotal. He doesn't present or acknowledge any specific research findings concerning birth orders and personality. He also gives no consideration to other factors affecting personality development such as genetics or family environmental factors beyond birth order. At the end of many chapters, he brings in a spiritual dimension, but these passages often come across as pasted on, since they are not well integrated with the rest of the text. Despite these flaws, the book is still somewhat informative, and it can provide the general reader a basic understanding of the theory of birth order and its affect on personality development.

Rating:
Summary: Decent presentation
Review: This book is a general overview of Leman's beliefs about birth order, personality development, and family relationships. It is organized into 5 parts: introduction, first-borns, later-borns, marriage and birth order, and parenting and birth order. At the end of the book are end-note references and a short list of other works by Dr. Leman, as well as his contact information if you would like to schedule him for a speaking engagement.

Leman summarizes his own and others' work on birth order and personality development. He claims that first-borns and only children tend to be well-organized and reliable perfectionists, middle-borns loyal and independent mediators, and last-borns charming and manipulative people persons, and that these characteristics can be traced directly to the family dynamics resulting from the addition of each individual child to the family. He notes that while many readers or attendees to his seminars may be reluctant to go along with these generalizations, he observes that specific birth orders tend to be over-represented in certain professions, such as first-borns as academic architects and last-borns as used car sales people. He notes that first-borns tend to seek professional counseling more often than others because they are such stressed-out perfectionists, and that middle-borns tend to grow up to be relatively well-adjusted (perhaps because they had ample opportunities to learn to deal with unfairness as youngsters). In each of his descriptive chapters, he offers self-help advice for a happier approach to daily life. He also suggests which birth-order pairs are likely to result in better marital relations, and he provides parenting advice for children specific to their birth orders (drawing heavily from and strongly promoting another of his books entitled Making Your Children Mind So You Don't Lose Yours).

Leman's style of writing in this book is very informal and anecdotal. He doesn't present or acknowledge any specific research findings concerning birth orders and personality. He also gives no consideration to other factors affecting personality development such as genetics or family environmental factors beyond birth order. At the end of many chapters, he brings in a spiritual dimension, but these passages often come across as pasted on, since they are not well integrated with the rest of the text. Despite these flaws, the book is still somewhat informative, and it can provide the general reader a basic understanding of the theory of birth order and its affect on personality development.