The Enneagram (by Helen Palmer)

(Amazon UK link)

I have been interested in personality typing and growth for a couple of decades now, particularly in relation to the Myers-Briggs system. So I was interested to learn, perhaps seven or eight years ago, of a different system called the Enneagram. This divides people into nine broad categories rather than sixteen. It bases the divisions on our major failings/besetting sins, and the ways we develop in childhood. After discussing the topic online I read several books, which were of varying usefulness; eventually, after two or three recommendations, I decided to buy the book by Helen Palmer.

I've been reading 'The Enneagram' (subtitled: "Understanding Yourself and Others in Your Life"), off and on, for about a year now. It's not that it's dull, or even overly academic, but in places it's quite heavy going. I can certainly recognise some of the people I know in some of the Enneagram descriptions, and was quite struck when - eventually - I reached the chapter about point Nine, the one I most relate to. There was much in it that I could recognise.

It's a good, solid book, well-written with clear explanations and some examples of how the different types function in everyday life. However, I'm not sure that I learned anything new about the Enneagram. There are no dramatic insights; nothing that I hadn't already read in at least one of the other books I'd previously read on the topic. That, perhaps, is why I kept putting the book down, often for weeks at a time. I had to be in the right mood to read something that was, basically, a summary of what I already knew.

I would nevertheless recommend this book to anyone new to the Enneagram. It has a useful introduction to the system, with fairly clear explanations about how it develops and how it can be used. But, expecting something brilliantly new and inspiring, from the recommendations I was given, I have to admit to mild disappointment that it didn't strike me as particularly special.

For the most useful Enneagram introduction I've come across - including checklists for each type - I'd recommend Riso and Hudson's The Wisdom of the Enneagram; for more advanced aspects of the system, from a strongly Christian perspective, I'd suggest 'Head versus Heart and our Gut Reactions' by Michael Hampson.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 6th June 2011