Discovering Your Personality Type: The New Enneagram Questionnaire [Paperback]

Don Richard Riso (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0395710928 | ISBN-13: 978-0395710920 | Publication Date: December 19, 1994 | Edition: Revised

Discovering Your Personality Type is the best general introduction to using the Enneagram. This book contains the most accurate Enneagram questionnaire ever developed, identifying basic personality types to yield a complete psychological profile.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Don Richard Riso, M.A. is the foremost writer and developer of the Enneagram in the world today. The most-published and best-selling author in the field, he is an internatioinally recognized authority on the subject. He is the president of Enneagram Personality Types, Inc., and founder of The Enneagram Institute. He has been teaching the Enneagram for more than twenty years, pioneering a revolutionary new approach to ego psychology through his 1977 discovery of the Levels of Development. His four best-selling books are available in British, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and French editions. Mr. Riso was a Jesuit for thirteen years, holds degrees in English and philosophy, was elected to the Jesuit Honor Society, Alpha Sigma Nu, and was a Ford Foundation Fellow at Stanford University in communications (social psychology).

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; Revised edition (December 19, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395710928
• ISBN-13: 978-0395710920
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #576,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good starting point to figure out what type you are, January 19, 2002

By 

Carol C. "ccjello" (Kansas City, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Discovering Your Personality Type: The New Enneagram Questionnaire (Paperback)

The enneagram is a personality typing system; individuals fall into one of nine personality types (reformer, helper, motivator, artist, thinker, loyalist, generalist, leader or peacemaker). Individuals can predict & analyze their thoughts & behavior based on their personality type. When I first learned about enneagram, I thought it was some kind of hocus-pocus new-agey alternative fluff, but the typing system has a strong historical grounding and it makes so much sense.

This book is helpful if you're new to the concept of enneagram, or if you're familiar with the enneagram but want to discovery or confirm your type. I would not recommend it if you know your enneagram personality type already and are interested in learning about the type . The book provides a simple 144-question survey somewhat remniscent of those interest tests we all took in high school (would you prefer to play tennis or keep score in a tennis match? conduct research in a lab or sell books?). Each question gives two choices; you must choose one -- sometimes it is tough, but the forced choice leads to an answer.
The book is most useful as a typing and diagnostic tool. The descriptions of the nine different personality types are short, barely enough to scratch the surface. Once you know your type, you'll probably want to consult one of Riso's other works to learn more about what the type means.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful at determining personality type, February 3, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Discovering Your Personality Type: The New Enneagram Questionnaire (Paperback)

This test will either tell you what your type is, or help you narrow it down to a choice of two. You can also take the test answering as you think an acquaintance would answer, giving a strong clue to that person's type. I only came across one case where the test wasn't helpful, where an individual scored evenly for almost every type. In my case, a different enneagram test pointed to an incorrect type, but this test pointed correctly at my type. And that's the purpose of the book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Valuable insight., June 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Discovering Your Personality Type: The New Enneagram Questionnaire (Paperback)

I must say that I disagree with the earlier negative review. I was turned on to the Enneagram and Mr. Riso's work by a friend and have been a supporter ever since. This is not about a cult religion or an alternative belief system. It is about seeing the whole picture of yourself, positives and negatives. The Enneagram test enabled me to see the things about myself that I didn't want to see and the things that friends and family may not want to tell you personally. An invaluable tool for self discovery. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was that the personality type descriptions tend to be a little short. (A problem remedied by Mr. Riso's book "Personality Types"). For those looking for a quicker read, I highly recommend this book. If a more insightful description of your personality type is what you are looking for, try Mr. Riso's book "Personality Types".