Customer Reviews

The Real You: Become the Person You Were Meant to Be

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't usually read self-knowledge/self-help books, and even more rarely finish them. The genre tends to suffer from poor writing, overuse of jargon, academic axe-grinding, and the smug tendency of the authors to try and jam you into their pet, pigeon-holed theories. (I wonder how many of those authors are first-borns, and if that's part of the problem for this last-born son?) I found "The Real You" to be mercifully free of all the flaws listed above, as well as a highly illuminating and pleasurable read. In fact, I not only finished "The Real You", I read it twice! (And so did two of the people I subsequently gave it to!) Dr. Leman presents four different methods of looking into your personality, and manages to do so without being either superficial or unwieldy. His acknowledged specialty is birth order, but the other sections are excellent too; the birth order part is also remarkably handy for starting party conversations that aren't banal. More importantly, this book may enable you to have some of the conversations you've never gotten around to with your loved ones. In summary, if you were to read only one self-knowledge book in a decade, I'd recommend "The Real You."

The book provides a good basis for thinking about who you are and what you are looking for in life. Starting with personality theory, the author talks about the core personality traits of the 4 main personalities choleric, sanguine, melancholy, phlegmatic. Then moving to birth order, he talks about how we are influenced by our family, specifically the ways we learn to get attention. Then discussing childhood memories, he makes the point that our earliest memories are the story of who we are that has the most meaning to us - memories that we've subconsciouslly selected, perhaps even editted, that represent us and how we relate to the world. Lastly, Leman discusses love languages - how to understand what makes you feel loved, and how to let the people you love know you love them, in a way that means the most to them. So once you understand yourself, and know the kind of person to look for in a mate, you can keep the person you find!

This is a pretty good book. There are gaps, details that get missed, and some of the subjects he talks about really just give you enough information to get the gist of it, without too much detail. There are lots of examples to explain more what he means, but I found myself with a lot of questions. Yet, I would still recommend the book, and rated it 4 stars, because it covers the ideas it does present in a clear, understandable, readable way. The different parts of the book blend together well, and I found myself with a much stronger idea of who I am after reading this book and thinking about what it had to say.

I found this book in the mark down bin at the local books store and am so glad I brought it home. Dr. Leman touches on how birth order, early childhood memories and even your parents' style of parenting affects the development of your personality. This book provides lots of insight on things I never even thought about before. Also, his writing style is a pleasure to read, as he uses personal anecdotes to illustrate his points.

If you are already familiar with the basic four personality types, birth order, the affect of childhood memories and love languages then this book will BORE you. However, if you are not familiar with these areas, this is a nice, INTRODUCTORY book, hence two stars instead of one. If you like reading books with lots of stories then this would be a good book for you because his points are supported by lots of stories. Personally for me, I didn't get out of it what I was looking for.

This book is amazing.

While there are some things that have been discussed in other books, the reiteration is not boring...I actually didn't even skip over any of it, because of the wonderful stories Dr. Leman uses to illustrate his points. Typically, if I've read a book before (I'm re-reading it now), I skip the boring parts. THERE ARE NO BORING PARTS!!

Dr. Leman is by far my favorite Christian author. I own more books by him than any other author. His wonderful sense of humor and his ability to explain things in a way that everyone can understand are just two ways that he has reached me. I absolutely love this author. :)

I think I've liked everything Dr. Leman has written and this is no exception. It's an overview of the studies of personality types, birth order, childhood memories and love languages. It will help you to better understand yourself and others in your life.

The information in this book can basically be found in the author's other books. This book is an "overlapping" book. Save your money and go with his other prominent books.