I took an Enneagram test a few months ago and it only made me more confused about the Enneagram and my number. It gave me a 5-way tie between 1, 5, 6, 8, and 9. So, that was clear as mud. I was informed by many of you that discerning my Enneagram number was more of a journey, not an actual destination. Jerry recommended reading this book and I definitely recommend it. I loved the Christian perspective, and I thought it was playful, interesting, informative, enlightening, and empowering. I found it easily digestible, and broken down nicely. The book offers a biblical and spiritual perspective, but my favorite parts were probably the real life examples of each type. What did I discover you might be asking yourself? Well, no surprise to probably anyone but me, I am a 5. Type 5's are head people. We are also apparently hoarders which really explains my book problem. We tend to be introverts who seclude themselves behind a high fortress, closed-off to all but a selective few. Type 5's often wear face pants (aka glasses). Aquinas, Descartes, Heidegger, Greta Garbo are typical 5's. We need to retreat into our shells in order to refuel after being subjected to the outside world. We hunger for knowledge, but our root sin is avarice. We tend to hoard our intellectual and material possessions. We embrace emotional stinginess to our detriment. The 5 spirit animals are the owl, fox, and hamster. Our country is Great Britain. Our biblical patrons are Mary, Thomas, and Zacchaeus. If you are interested in the Enneagram, I definitely recommend this book. I'm not super fixated on "types" but I do find it interesting and helpful, and I think anything that contributes to a greater self-awareness is a good thing.

How fascinating!!! Love personality stuff.

While this book had a lot of good information, the mislabeling this as A Christian Perspective took too much from my respect.
This is a Roman Catholic Perspective, not a Christian one.

The first section was mostly a history of the enneagram from the Christian perspective. The second section goes through the nine types; however, I found this section to be frustrating. Much of the text was "2s will act this way...4s will do this...8s had this traumatic childhood" and I simply don't think those statements will be true for every 2, 4, 8, etc. (I in fact could not entirely relate to any of the numbers.) And then a lot of times the author types people from the Bible, which really bothered me. Supposedly the enneagram is based on the motivations of a person, not their actions. How would we know the motivations of anyone from the Bible? Except in rare cases (psalms, proverbs, etc.), all we know is what people said and did. We do not know their thoughts.

Overall, this book was ok. I don't feel that I learned a ton. I did enjoy having my thoughts brought back to Jesus throughout the book.

A bit too much like astrology for my taste, but apparently helpful for some.

I read several other books on the Enneagram and found this to be the best, especially if you want a Christian perspective on it. But even without that, I found the descriptions of the 9 personality types to be clearest and I was able to find myself pretty easily, even though I have characteristics in others of the personality types. I love the constructive emphasis in this book that your strength is your weakness and it allows you to understand both yourself and others much better. It helped me to understand part of why I am why I am and to accept it that way and not try to change it because others are not like that. There were a few places where some of those little things were a revelation, and now they all seem to fit into a better whole.

Of course there aren't just 9 types of people in the world and each characteristic of a type doesn't describe each person, but it is a broad brush. This book did the best job I have seen of showing the nuances of variations on the themes and movement toward other types that is part of the process of personal growth.

By the way, it's also a great source for writers who are creating characters to build more depth around who they are and their inner motivations and conflicts.

Good overview of all the types, with a bit of faith perspective, not too much.

I would give the 3.5 stars. If you are interested in diving deeper into the Enneagram or Enneagram sub-types, there is some really helpful nuggets. However, the first section of the book and the very end are super dry and difficult to get through. While that’s the case, I’d still say this is worth reading for all the helpful parts in between. I will also share that I listened to this book on Spotify, and would really have loved the book for the simple fact that there are figures for different types and subtypes at which I couldn’t look but were referenced numerous times.

This book found me at the right time. It helped me to consider my tendencies and who I am and how I can be. It helped me identify myself and consider ways to grow.