The Essential Enneagram: The Definitive Personality Test and Self-Discovery Guide

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.

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.

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.

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!

The Stanford Enneagram Discovery Inventory and Guide is a great book. Actually, it is more of a workbook than another extensive text of Enneagram knowledge. Before discovering this workbook I had been exposed to the Enneagram through a multi-week course and several extensive texts on the topic. I had read or heard lots of Enneagram details which never coalesced into an understanding of how to use Enneagram knowledge in my life. This workbook is helping me become aware of some of the systematic aspects of my habits. I am a 9 type and am becoming aware of my habit of putting other's agendas and priorities above the agenda and priorities that are best for my well being -- I developed this succinct understanding with 20 minutes study of this workbook. If you are a student of the Enneagram, this book will surely add somethig valuable to your understanding or use of the Enneagram model. If you are not a student of the Enneagram - check it out, its a good system for understaning yourself and others....