Understanding Yourself and Others: An Introduction to Temperament 2.0 (by Linda Berens)

I first learned about the Myers-Briggs theory of personality type (sixteen of them) in about 1993, and found it fascinating. One of the books I read on the topic was 'Please Understand Me' by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates. They proposed that there are actually four broad strands of personality, which they call 'temperament'.

I thought the book interesting, but a bit stereotyped. Having said that, the section on children and temperament was extremely good. It helped us to pinpoint the temperament of one of our sons instantly. That section of the book could have been written with our in mind!

Years later, I joined a discussion group for temperament theory, and eventually read David Keirsey's second book, Please Understand Me II'. It was a lot more helpful. As I learned more, however, I felt there had to be a closer correlation with Myers-Briggs theory than Keirsey wanted to admit - and that's exactly what Linda Berens believes.

So I bought some of her books. Unfortunately, they were only available new in the USA. But with the US dollar being so weak, the postage to Europe was not too expensive from Amazon or other American sites.

'Introduction to Temperament' has a really well-written introduction to Keirseyan temperament theory. There are tables, cartoon-style graphics and clear explanations, which make it much simpler to grasp than Keirsey's book. On the other hand, inevitably, there isn't as much depth to the theories since it's a relatively short booklet.

All in all, I thought this a superb overview. I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to know more about this topic, although it would be good to read Keirsey's book afterwards, to gain a greater depth of understanding.