The Enneagram Spectrum of Personality Styles: An Introductory Guide

by Jerome Wagner

This is the best introductory book you will find on the Enneagram. Wagner's guide is a clear and concise introduction to the Enneagram, useful for personal exploration and as a teaching id for workshop presenters and counselors. This comprehensive book with charts, exercises, and bullet descriptions, yields an experiential understanding of basic Enneagram principles such as authentic values and their personality substitutes, resourceful and non-resourceful cognitive, emotional, and behavioral schemas and how they shift under stressful and flow condtions, developmental influences, and the three centers of sorting and deciding. Learn about the defense mechanisms, principles and paradigms, virtues, passions, and both healthy and maladaptive instincts of each of the nine Enneagram personality types. For centuries -- and now in the light of leading edge psychology -- the Enneagram has helped people to recognize their predispositions, motives, and talents. Its insights provide valuable information for those in communication, business, human resources, therapy, and personal growth. This book helps you to explore the nine different "hues" of the Enneagram, discover your own type, and understand the behaviors and attitudes that are uniquely yours. It is considered the most concise and easy to use introductory guide available.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Julie L]

I've read several enneagram books and consider myself fairly well-versed in the system (without being an expert).

I found the first section of the book, where you are asked 20-odd questions about yourself and how you view/cope with the world to be extremely insightful and helpful. This section is the real value of this book and I know I will revisit this section often.

The actual synopses of each type was short, compared to other books (,like the wisdom of the enneagram), but the content therein was helpful, thought-provoking And on point (for the 3 types I read in full, anyway).

In a sense, while it is an introductory enneagram text, I found it valuable as a more robust examination of the system.

[Amber Gregory]

This book is extremely helpful when trying to understand yourself or others. I would recommend reading this if you’re already familiar with the enneagram, since it is not an in depth analysis. The short bulleted lists and diagram really help in remembering each type and their characteristics. As a type 2, I’ve found this book extremely helpful in understanding others to better serve them. So glad I’ve read this!

[Pat]

Great Basic Enneagram Work

This is a great look into the nine Enneagram styles. The exercises are both fun and enlightening. To then read about the types and styles, and see yourself is enlightening.

[juliana]

A great book! It really gave clarity on understanding the enneagram!

[Edward Hodge]

A great tool for those who are teaching or facilitating Enneagram training. More of a synopsis than an introduction. Includes short descriptions of the subtypes also.

[db]

Really enjoyed this book. It was useful for understanding people.

[Beth]

Comprehensive exploration of the Enneagram.

[Allen Jr.]

Wagner's book is an excellent start to one's journey of using the enneagram for self-awareness and personal growth. Having read a number of other authors, and often felt intimidated by the complexity and number of nuances that they present, Wagner's book stands out as a highly approachable--and accurate--first exposure to this system of understanding personality and life. Although some of his terms are a bit psychological-sounding, they are always well-explained, simply portrayed through a series of graphics, and serve as a great launching point for examining each of the 9 types.

This book is strong on presenting a number of exercises/questions throughout the introduction which help a reader explore basic enneagram concepts in their own life, and facilitate the accurate identification of one's type. While other books present questions for development once a reader knows their type, this book has done the best job I've seen of presenting preliminary material to help facilitate the journey of acknowledging one's type.

I have been looking for a good introductory book on the enneagram that I could recommend to others. I believe I have finally found it.

[Deanna Maddox]

Packed full of insight into the Enneagram method. Good reference book to keep on hand.