I bought this book after attempting to read the megalithic, meandering "Psychological Types" by C.G. Jung (on which the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is based), and giving up. Of course, if you're interested in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), then reading "Gifts Differing," penned by Isabel Myers herself, means you're going straight to half of the source of this widely popular personality self-assessment.
It's a shame that I read this book after reading several different treatments of the MBTI, because I was expecting so much more depth and analysis from Myers, herself. But as I understand it, her aim was to make a test that people could take to ascertain which career or vocation would be suitable to their unique talents, from a Jungian cognitive theory perspective. So, keep this in mind as you read and understand that she was simply laying the groundwork to legitimize her self-assessment tool and demonstrate its usefulness.
This is easy to read, and if you aren't interested in delving deep within the theory of cognition and cognitive functions, then this will probably be a satisfying read for you. However, I found the definitions of cognitive functions limiting and too general, and at times I could not tell if Myers valued preferences more or functions more. In fact, there were several instances in which she makes the distinction between, for example, those with extraverted sensing and introverted sensing (cognitive functions), but then goes on to refer to merely those who scored higher on "sensing" (preference), as if there is no difference between the extraverted or introverted sensing type, and thus no difference between function and preference. As well, I found the pages and pages of tables showing how each of the 16 types scored on several different job categories to be pretty tedious, to the point that I skipped over this section.
But I did find the definitions of cognitive functions, however simplistic, clear and thought-provoking. Better than that, I think this book helped to clearly conclude for me which of the 16 types I most closely resemble, which is more than I can say for all of the type assessments out there online, including the "official" MBTI you can purchase.
So, all in all, I would say, if you're a fan of MBTI, then you need to read Myers' book.
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