• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Best Book On Typology

What is your favorite book on typology?

  • Please Understand Me

    Votes: 2 4.0%
  • Gifts Differing

    Votes: 3 6.0%
  • Personality Type An Owners Manual

    Votes: 15 30.0%
  • Type Talk

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Principles of Typology

    Votes: 2 4.0%
  • Psychological Types (Jung)

    Votes: 12 24.0%
  • Type Talk at Work

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Please Understand Me 2

    Votes: 7 14.0%
  • Beside Ourselves

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Introduction to Type and the Eight [8] Jungian Functions (MBTI) - Hartzler

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other - Please Specify

    Votes: 9 18.0%

  • Total voters
    50

Super Nova

New member
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
48
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
4w5
Until I read Thompson, I always thought Gifts Differing was the best. Anybody else a fan of this book?

The poll was a tough call for me because I like both Lenore Thomson's book *and* "Gifts Differing" equally well. This is just my personal opinion, but I also like the various books by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger.
 

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I find its highly technical presentation and language far more accessible to my own thought; like MLF I don't like the fluffy, pop culturey language that plagues most of these books, which tend to take on a "self-help" vibe. I prefer an analytical focus.

Not to mention, Thomson's book was just garbage. She had so many "This is a typical XXXX thing to do" followed with a specific instance that could apply to anybody. And I almost set the book on fire when, upon reading the description for INTP, she said [I'm paraphrasing here] INTPs have difficulty in school because it's an Extraverted Thinking institution and they don't like too much abstract reasoning. WTF!?!?!

Based on what you've said, it seems you'd like Solitary Walker's book (Principles of Typology). Have your read it?

I don't recall the reference to extraverted thinking or abstract reasoning but do think that Ns can be bored with the rote memorization at the grammar school level and are more enthusiastic about the conceptual orientation in college or more advanced high school courses. Grammer school - largely taught by S and College mostly taught by N creates bias towards one or the other type of student in some ways. Well - it resonated with me anyway.
 

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
The poll was a tough call for me because I like both Lenore Thomson's book *and* "Gifts Differing" equally well. This is just my personal opinion, but I also like the various books by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger.

It's close for me. Gifts differing for the elegant simplicity (I had to read it several times before I got it all). Lenore for the sheer insight, practicality and depth of analysis. A bit too creative maybe.
 

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
the one and only, Psychological Types by C. G. Jung. Almost every other typology book is based on his ideas and theories. I wouldn't waste my time on any other typology book. Every Tom Dick and Harry is making a book on typology by trying to capitalize on Jungs work by purporting to clarify or systematize his theories.

Forgive me but isn't this a bit like saying we should drive the Model T because Henry Ford was the one who is generally regarded as the father of mass production of automobiles. Those new cars are all just cheap derivations.

There has been progress in evolving the thinking and practical application which would appear to be a useful thing. It's like with a car. Seat belts, air bags, automatic ignition, stereos, ergonomic seating, more powerful/efficient engines, rust-proofing. Progress is a good thing.

I think Jung's book is incredible, groundbreaking, rich with ideas/information. It is also dense and wordy where it doesn't need to be. It's hard to get through.
 

surgery

New member
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
257
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
Four
I've read Personality Type, Gifts Differing and 8 Keys to Self-Leadership by Dario Nardi.

I voted for Thomson's book because it extensively defines the functions and explains how they effect behavior. Personally, I thought she did a good job of not generalizing behavior that is really just specific to the individual. Instead, she provided reasoning about how those common behaviors come about as a result of the functions interacting with each other.

Honestly, I had to read the INFP profile a couple of times over before it truly began to resonate with me. Once I did, however, it was surprisingly insightful in its explanation the effects of the tertiary and inferior functions. That being said, INFPs who are Nines on the enneagram may have an easier time relating directly to the descriptions, I think. One problem, I had, though, was the she wrote extensively about the importance of developing the auxiliary function, but her advice for doing so is very opened. But really, how could I expect a mathematical formula?

Nardi's book focuses exclusively on defining the functions using more technical language as well as providing many exercises for developing each one. So, in this respect, it's a helpful guide because the material is so concrete. Unfortunately, I became skeptical of his information when he started to take the "mystical" approach to introverted Intuition. Unfortunately, much of his writing directly opposes that of Thomson's. For example, he says that extraverted Feeling "requires us to be personal, compassionate and without hard boundaries" (123). On the other hand, she writes: "Ultimately, a exclusive reliance on Extraverted Feeling leads to anything but a reliance on emotion. Extraverted Feeling types ignore their immediate impressions and focus only on social obligations" (321).

Additionally, he recommends focusing development on the auxiliary, tertiary and inferior functions, while Thomson says to focus only on the auxiliary.
 

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I've read Personality Type, Gifts Differing and 8 Keys to Self-Leadership by Dario Nardi.

I voted for Thomson's book because it extensively defines the functions and explains how they effect behavior. Personally, I thought she did a good job of not generalizing behavior that is really just specific to the individual. Instead, she provided reasoning about how those common behaviors come about as a result of the functions interacting with each other.

Honestly, I had to read the INFP profile a couple of times over before it truly began to resonate with me. Once I did, however, it was surprisingly insightful in its explanation the effects of the tertiary and inferior functions. That being said, INFPs who are Nines on the enneagram may have an easier time relating directly to the descriptions, I think. One problem, I had, though, was the she wrote extensively about the importance of developing the auxiliary function, but her advice for doing so is very opened. But really, how could I expect a mathematical formula?

Nardi's book focuses exclusively on defining the functions using more technical language as well as providing many exercises for developing each one. So, in this respect, it's a helpful guide because the material is so concrete. Unfortunately, I became skeptical of his information when he started to take the "mystical" approach to introverted Intuition. Unfortunately, much of his writing directly opposes that of Thomson's. For example, he says that extraverted Feeling "requires us to be personal, compassionate and without hard boundaries" (123). On the other hand, she writes: "Ultimately, a exclusive reliance on Extraverted Feeling leads to anything but a reliance on emotion. Extraverted Feeling types ignore their immediate impressions and focus only on social obligations" (321).

Additionally, he recommends focusing development on the auxiliary, tertiary and inferior functions, while Thomson says to focus only on the auxiliary.

Would you say Nardi is good then? Haven't seen that one.
 

Eric B

ⒺⓉⒷ
Joined
Mar 29, 2008
Messages
3,621
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
548
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Nardi is more aligned with Berens and the approach of treating the eight function-attitudes as solid fixed units (where Lenore is more Junian in seeing four functions, two orientations. Or at least she has become more that way since writing the book). Nardi is the creator of the cognitive process test we have featured on here.

Jock; I'm looking for that reference about INTP's and Te education. I think I've seen it somewhere, but so far, not in the section on INTP's. In that section, p.312, it does mention INTP's difficulty defending their ideas in terms with extraverted Logic and that they aren't taslking abotu the same things that concern left-brain [Je] thinking types.
 

JocktheMotie

Habitual Fi LineStepper
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
8,491
Jock; I'm looking for that reference about INTP's and Te education. I think I've seen it somewhere, but so far, not in the section on INTP's. In that section, p.312, it does mention INTP's difficulty defending their ideas in terms with extraverted Logic and that they aren't taslking abotu the same things that concern left-brain [Je] thinking types.

I actually looked it up last night, but it was during her more general description of ITPs. I still think her version of Ti is more TiSe than it is TiNe. She defines it as instinctual, gut logic, but that's really not what I experience. I could be biased though.
 

JocktheMotie

Habitual Fi LineStepper
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
8,491
Based on what you've said, it seems you'd like Solitary Walker's book (Principles of Typology). Have your read it?

I don't recall the reference to extraverted thinking or abstract reasoning but do think that Ns can be bored with the rote memorization at the grammar school level and are more enthusiastic about the conceptual orientation in college or more advanced high school courses. Grammer school - largely taught by S and College mostly taught by N creates bias towards one or the other type of student in some ways. Well - it resonated with me anyway.

Yes, I've been thinking about buying it because I've heard good things. I just hate waiting for stuff to come in the mail!

The thing is, your explanation makes perfect sense. Lenore's did not. If anything, Ti is too abstract because it really doesn't seize on anything concrete about objects. Saying that ITPs have trouble with abstract thought is completely retarded. An ITP without good secondary function use completely loses touch with the world, and "abstracts" themselves into incoherence.

It was funny, because she wrote "ITPs won't explain it this way, but Ti is like blahblahblah." Well no shit we won't explain it that way, because it's absurd nonsense.
 

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
My current top 6 are probably:

Gifts Differing - Briggs Meyers
Personality Type - An Owners Manual - Thompson
Building Blocks of Personality Type - Haas and Hunziker
Functions of Type - Hartzler
Beside Ourselves - Quenk
Principles of Typology - Solitary Walker
 

Seymour

Vaguely Precise
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
Messages
1,579
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
My current top 6 are probably:

Gifts Differing - Briggs Meyers
Personality Type - An Owners Manual - Thompson
Building Blocks of Personality Type - Haas and Hunziker
Functions of Type - Hartzler
Beside Ourselves - Quenk
Principles of Typology - Solitary Walker

Good list! No Psychological Types? I admit it's a total slog, but there is some good stuff in there.

Why Beside Ourselves rather than the revised Was That Really Me? I've only read Was That Really Me? but was wondering if you preferred the original for some reason.
 

Moonstone3

New member
Joined
Jun 10, 2010
Messages
182
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
9, 5
Personality Type:An Owner's Manual gives very detailed descriptions for each type and breaks it down into dominant/secondary/etc.
Discovering Your Personality Type by Riso is also excellent. I have 2 copies, one for my friends, and one marked up for me. It's an extensive test book. Not much for descriptions, but very long and thorough testing. The ONLY test I completely trust.
 

Arclight

Permabanned
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Messages
3,177
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
6w5
I voted "other"

I really liked Survival Games Personalities Play.

It's full of an assortment of statistics and case studies from actual MBTI practitioners.

This book is about the dark side of personality temperament and the games the types will play when under emotional and mental stress.
There are no fluffy bunny INFPs , care giving ESFJs Or logical ISTP/INTPs in this book.. No Sir.

This book has taught me more about MBTI types than all other resources combined.

415N8WNXAJL._SL500_.jpg
 

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Good list! No Psychological Types? I admit it's a total slog, but there is some good stuff in there.

Why Beside Ourselves rather than the revised Was That Really Me? I've only read Was That Really Me? but was wondering if you preferred the original for some reason.

Well for some strange reason I have both. I cannot recall why. They are both pretty much the same.

On Psychological Types, I just think there is too much in there that's not of practical value. It's great for understanding the fundamental origins of the theory. I actually liked SW's book a lot more because it has the same basic content but is written is a more readable/understandable way.
 

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I voted "other"

I really liked Survival Games Personalities Play.

It's full of an assortment of statistics and case studies from actual MBTI practitioners.

This book is about the dark side of personality temperament and the games the types will play when under emotional and mental stress.
There are no fluffy bunny INFPs , care giving ESFJs Or logical ISTP/INTPs in this book.. No Sir.

This book has taught me more about MBTI types than all other resources combined.

415N8WNXAJL._SL500_.jpg

That's really good. It's not in my top six but I liked this one too.
 

ReadingRainbows

Cat Wench
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
1,885
MBTI Type
ENFJ
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I voted "other"

I really liked Survival Games Personalities Play.

It's full of an assortment of statistics and case studies from actual MBTI practitioners.

This book is about the dark side of personality temperament and the games the types will play when under emotional and mental stress.
There are no fluffy bunny INFPs , care giving ESFJs Or logical ISTP/INTPs in this book.. No Sir.

This book has taught me more about MBTI types than all other resources combined.

415N8WNXAJL._SL500_.jpg

Ditto. And I have Gifts Differing and Please Understand Me.
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
Staff member
Joined
Apr 18, 2010
Messages
27,230
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Until I read Thompson, I always thought Gifts Differing was the best. Anybody else a fan of this book?
I still like Gifts Differing best. I read Please Understand Me 2, a couple of the Barron & Tieger books, and Lenore Thompson before it. These were all interesting. Except for Thompson, they seemed to be saying many of the same things. With Thompson, I appreciated the connections to physiology, though I do not have enough background in neurology to evaluate her ideas here that well. Also, I am not sure I agree with her premises in the whole "type lasagna" paradigm, specifically how and why she orders the functions as she does.

When I finally read Gifts Differing, after all these others, it was like a breath of fresh air. It brought home the simple clarity of the system, as well as the original purposes and intent. This provided valuable context that is often missing from other books. The statistics presented, though dated, were helpful and illustrative. In practical terms, other books may be more immediately useful, but if I had to recommend just one type book to someone, it would be this one.
 

Mondo

Welcome to Sunnyside
Joined
Mar 1, 2008
Messages
1,992
MBTI Type
EsTP
Enneagram
6w7
I like Keirsey's "Please Understand Me 2", in terms of books, but I'm beginning to see the validity of the cognitive functions more- while he thinks they are stupid & invalid because they aren't observable.
 
Top