The Four Temperaments: A Fun and Practical Guide to Understanding Yourself and the People in Your Life [Paperback]

Renee Baron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 19, 2004

Unlock the Secrets of Your Temperament Type

Do you love surprises and the unexpected?
Are you a stickler for accuracy and details?
Are you curious and innovative with a rich imagination?
Do you like relating through mental challenges, or games of chess and bridge?
Are you good at conflict resolution?

Top-selling author and educator Renee Baron asks you these questions and many more, while presenting a fun and accessible explanation of the oldest theory of personality types.

Are you:
*A Security Seeker, valuing traditions and customs, and marked by the need to be responsible and dependable?
*An Experience Seeker, valuing freedom, action, and excitement, and known for spontaneity and trusting impulses?
*A Knowledge Seeker, valuing the power of the mind, and striving to understand the world?
*An Ideal Seeker, valuing authenticity, using insight and emotional sensitivity to help others and find true intimacy?

With quizzes and colorful examples, this book will give you insights into the special talents and challenges of each type. Whether you're just discovering this system, as well as those who use the Enneagram and Myers-Briggs, this fun and practical book will entertain, instruct, and inspire.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Renee Baron has taught thousands of people about the Four Temperaments through seminars and workshops. A therapist and counselor with 25 years of experience, she is the author of three successful books on personality, The Enneagram Made Easy, Are You My Type, Am I Yours? (both with Elizabeth Wagele), and What Type Am I?. She lives in Berkeley, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (April 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312315783
• ISBN-13: 978-0312315788
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #899,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Renee Baron, a writer and therapist, uses the Enneagram and the Myers-Briggs in her consulting practice. She is the author of The Enneagram Made Easy (Harper), Are You My Type? Am I Yours (Harper), What Type Am I? (Penguin), and her latest book Opposites Attract (Harper). She lives in Sonoma, CA. . .

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We Can Get Along, August 3, 2005

By 

David W. Moreland "strongfeet" (Brooklyn, N.Y.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Four Temperaments: A Fun and Practical Guide to Understanding Yourself and the People in Your Life (Paperback)

Temperaments have been a favorite study of mine. Ms. Renee Baron's "The Four Temperaments" is a book I would highly recomment to anyone new or experienced with the topic of temperaments because she goes right to the core of what you're more or less looking for without including all the New Age junk science, such as attempting to corelate temperaments and astrology. I've always identified myself as phlegmatic or an Ideal Seeker, the term Ms. Baron uses. And wonder upon wonder, she amazes me at the insightful, time tested truths of the temperaments as, line by line, I exclaim, "That's me!" "That's how I relate!" "That's how I feel, I am!" This has become my favorite for giving to friends as well. Its simple, fun, accurate and less complicated than a full fledge, complicate study of the make up of the temperaments, providing thoughtful information and workable advice on how best we, people of one temperament or another can get along, be supportive of and nonjudgmental towards other human beings ... of another or similar temperament. This has been the most eye awakening study of my life. Ms. Baron, had I known it then, would have saved me lots of time and trouble searching for needles in haystacks.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Temperament Book, December 15, 2007

By 

David Henry (El Paso, Tx USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Four Temperaments: A Fun and Practical Guide to Understanding Yourself and the People in Your Life (Paperback)

Like Renee Baron, I came to the study of temperaments through the Enneagram and then through the Myers-Briggs system. For my purposes as a college professor, I find Temperament studies to be far more helpful than the other two systems.
A number of excellent books exist on the temperaments, such as Keirsey's, Linda Beren's, and the True Colors books, but Renee Baron's book is the best I've studied. It is simple enough for beginners and detailed enough for professions. Ms Baron's categories include childhood patterns, relationship patterns and occupational patterns, each discussed with depth and thoroughness.
Overall, this is the best book on the subject.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars decent introduction to temperament; very elementary, March 21, 2009

By 

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

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Four Temperaments: A Fun and Practical Guide to Understanding Yourself and the People in Your Life (Paperback)

This book provides an introduction to temperament theory, describing the four temperaments, and for each temperament, how individuals of that temperament act and feel in relationships, as parents, as children, at work. For each temperament, Baron describes pet peeves, what others admire and find challenging, and -- what I like best -- a list of things persons of that temperament would never dream of doing. Throughout the book, Baron has included numerous quotes from famous people that illustrate the four temperaments superbly.

For a beginner just starting to learn about temperament, Baron's "fun and practical" treatment may be adequate. The presentation is simple, straight-forward, and easy to understand. She doesn't get bogged down in detail or academic explanations -- nor does she attempt to make a connection between Myers-Briggs types and temperaments. Aside from about six introductory pages at the beginning of the book, and a test to determine one's type, the entire book is essentially a compilation of lists, presented in bullet point format.

For anyone already familiar with Myers-Briggs type or temperament theory, this book may be too elementary. It is certainly easier to read than Kiersey's work, but it is also much less detailed. This book isn't quite up the high standards of Baron's other books on personality typing and the enneagram -- What Type Am I?: The Myers-Brigg Type Indication Made Easy, Are You My Type, Am I Yours? : Relationships Made Easy Through The Enneagram, and The Enneagram Made Easy: Discover the 9 Types of People , all of which are delightfully illustrated and more substantive.