Birth Order Book, The: Why You Are the Way You Are (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: functional first born, compliant first born, discouraged perfectionists, The Birth Order Book, North Park, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Dr. Leman's ever popular book on birth order is ready for a new generation of readers. With insight and wit, Dr. Leman offers readers a fascinating and often funny look at how birth order affects personality, marriage and relationships, parenting style, career, and children. Whether at home or on the job, birth order powerfully influences the way people interact with others. This is a great book for anyone who wants to learn more about how they react to their world. Dr. Leman even shows readers how to overcome ingrained tendencies they never thought they'd be rid of, all by focusing on their birth order.

From the Publisher

Your birth order -- whether you were born first (or are an only child,) or second, in your family -- powerfully influences what kind of person you are, who you marry, the job you choose. Now you can discover: How to pick out the first born in any group. Why the baby in the family gets away with everything. How to help middle children feel less squeezed and more loved. Ways to overcome your worst inborn tendencies. Which career suits you best. How to make the perfect marriage match and much, much more... You've seen him on television and heard him on the radio. Now internationally known psychologist Kevin Leman reveals an exciting new way to better understand yourself and those you love.

"Forget astrology. The fresh, new karmic aid for picking friends and lovers is birth order... a funny, and sometimes not so funny, look at the effect siblings, or the lack of them, have in shaping a person." -- Chicago Sun-Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Revell; 2nd edition (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080075977X
• ISBN-13: 978-0800759773
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #65,558 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent presentation, May 11, 2004

By	Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Birth Order Book (Paperback)

This book is a general overview of Leman's beliefs about birth order, personality development, and family relationships. It is organized into 5 parts: introduction, first-borns, later-borns, marriage and birth order, and parenting and birth order. At the end of the book are end-note references and a short list of other works by Dr. Leman, as well as his contact information if you would like to schedule him for a speaking engagement.

Leman summarizes his own and others' work on birth order and personality development. He claims that first-borns and only children tend to be well-organized and reliable perfectionists, middle-borns loyal and independent mediators, and last-borns charming and manipulative people persons, and that these characteristics can be traced directly to the family dynamics resulting from the addition of each individual child to the family. He notes that while many readers or attendees to his seminars may be reluctant to go along with these generalizations, he observes that specific birth orders tend to be over-represented in certain professions, such as first-borns as academic architects and last-borns as used car sales people. He notes that first-borns tend to seek professional counseling more often than others because they are such stressed-out perfectionists, and that middle-borns tend to grow up to be relatively well-adjusted (perhaps because they had ample opportunities to learn to deal with unfairness as youngsters). In each of his descriptive chapters, he offers self-help advice for a happier approach to daily life. He also suggests which birth-order pairs are likely to result in better marital relations, and he provides parenting advice for children specific to their birth orders (drawing heavily from and strongly promoting another of his books entitled Making Your Children Mind So You Don't Lose Yours).

Leman's style of writing in this book is very informal and anecdotal. He doesn't present or acknowledge any specific research findings concerning birth orders and personality. He also gives no consideration to other factors affecting personality development such as genetics or family environmental factors beyond birth order. At the end of many chapters, he brings in a spiritual dimension, but these passages often come across as pasted on, since they are not well integrated with the rest of the text. Despite these flaws, the book is still somewhat informative, and it can provide the general reader a basic understanding of the theory of birth order and its affect on personality development.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Know Who You Know Better and How To Get Along With Others..., February 8, 2006

By	L. Mullins "StylishGirl" (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read this book when I was in college studying to be a teacher and once I was in the classroom with children, I was amazed at how I could figure out the birth order of each child in my classroom within the first week. Years later, I find myself working in Corporate America and the same holds true. No matter our age, gender or race... our birth order truly sets us with a pattern of characteristics that follow us through life and can assist everyone in how to work better with others if you have this knowledge. I think it should be a required reading for anyone in management or customer service as well as anyone who works with children or has even one child. Knowledge is power and better understanding our fellow man is a step towards peace. Give it a try!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I have a clearer outlook on my 3 boys and my own personality, August 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Birth Order Book (Paperback)

I love this book. I felt like such a failure in the kiddos department, I have 3 boys and I thought the way they were and their personalities were so different and strange, I was sure they were just my failures. I read this book and it was all put into perspective. These personality differences were actually just typical for their birth order and for that matter my personality and hang ups were typical for my birth order. It just all made so much more sense after reading this book and since I have read this book, I have bought 3 other copies and given them to friends. I recommend this book all of the time.