[MBTI General] My Fellow NFers, What Personality Books Do You Read?

[TopherRed]

Hey guys, tried posting this in the general forum, but nodody but Brainheart gave me any suggestions.

So what Myers-Briggs (MBTI) related books have you read/would like to read/would recommend?

Ennegram? I don't understand a thing about it, but I'd love to learn more...

Socionics? I've heard some screwy things, but I want to compare and contrast with MBTI...

Colors?...(no, not that one dude)

Other?

Any suggestions will probably be purchased by me and added to my library...so please, share. I am eager for knowledge.

 

[Clonester]

I bought and read Keirsey's Please Understand Me II. But most of the MBTI information I get is from the Internet.

It's a very good book, and it deals with the actions and outlook of the four general types (SJ, SP, NF & NT) quite thoroughly. From how they view the future, to what brings them comfort, to how they act while dating.

 

[BlackCat]

Please Understand Me II was ALRIGHT. His SP descriptions are pretty much garbage, the entire ISFP profile is just basically about how they are artists... and I'm not an artist... so yeah. The first few paragraphs in each type profile that tell about mannerisms and views that they hold along with the temperament stuff is good, but the type profiles just don't seem good. They don't actually describe how the types think.

Lenore Thompson's book personality type is alright as well. She describes the types decently and she believes that you need to do work on the secondary function, and generally tells you how to do that. I personally found it useful for understanding how the dominant functions manifest themselves in people. Some of her stuff is great, other stuff is totally off. But for ISFP I had to get help from one of my friends on here to actually understand what she was explaining for me to do. Her book is sorta fishy...

If you want good type descriptions and function descriptions etc go to this website- it's all here. Best-Fit Type : Exploring the Multiple Models of Personality Type It also includes what the types are like on a team, common type confusions, and just very good descriptions of profiles and functions. The profiles are short and sweet, and very to the point and very informative. They are based on interviews from people of that type. For me personally the ISFP profile is ridiculously accurate, pretty much spot on, and the ISFP on a team page is also very scary accurate.

As for enneagram the book that I have is this one- Amazon.com: The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types (9780553378207): Don Richard Riso, Russ Hudson: Books it's a good book.

As for socionics, there are books but I've never seen one before.

 

[Charmed Justice]

Please Understand Mes
Just Your Type
Deep Type
Was That Really Me?

 

[Happyman]

I bought and read Keirsey's Please Understand Me II. But most of the MBTI information I get is from the Internet.

I could have written that. I don't really like this book, though. I think there are many, really good materials on the Internet.

The other book I've read (and this one is actually very good) : 'Who is who? Personality Types for Managers' Michal Čakrt.
(Unfortunately I'm afraid this recommendation is useless for 98% of people here since I've read it in Polish and it's a translation from Czech)

Also I cannot believe I'm saying this, but writings of Solitary Walker are worth reading, really interesting. (I copy it to word and make my own paragraphs!!! )

 

[Scott N Denver]

I own like 8-10 or more [and yes I've read each of them]. I'll post their titles later, gotta do some other stuff first.

 

[TopherRed]

Blackcat, I agree about Lenore...at the very most, it's fraud, and at the very least, she poorly organized and explained her ideas. I'm going with the ladder because the type descriptions seem to be really good. Hey guys, thanks for your suggestions, keep em comin.

 

[The Outsider]

None.

 

[Ingrid in grids]

Gifts Differing by Isabel Briggs Myers/Peter B. Myers. It was the first one I ever read and probably still my favourite.

 

[speculative]

For MBTI, I like the David Keirsey books.

For Enneagram, I like the Riso & Hudson books. The Wisdom of the Enneagram is probably my favorite, but Understanding the Enneagram is also very good. I haven't read their main text (forget what it's called but it's an orange book) for awhile now, but it mainly introduced the E-types.

 

[brainheart]

Blackcat, I agree about Lenore...at the very most, it's fraud, and at the very least, she poorly organized and explained her ideas. I'm going with the ladder because the type descriptions seem to be really good. Hey guys, thanks for your suggestions, keep em comin.

I agree to an extent as well about lenore. And sometimes when I read it I just wanted to throttle her when she brought out another Star Trek example. I mean, Jesus, talk about an obsessive trekkie. But I do like the detailed descriptions of the functions.

Although I think Understanding yourself and others: an introduction to the personality type code by Linda Berens and Dario Nardi might be better at explaining the functions and how they are displayed in all of the types. (And it's shorter.) But if you read it I would recommend avoiding the goofy exercises and just reading the descriptions of the types.

Yeah, bestfit is a good website, although I think I like the descriptions at geocities/lifexplore the best.

Forgot to add: I like how Lenore addresses self-improvement, although basically you could say for introverts you should get out of your head more and extroverts you should do more self-examination and pretty much cover it. Also, I didn't like Keirsey all that much. He makes all NFs seem like Mother Theresa, all SPs like Picasso or Paris Hilton, all NTs like robots, and all SJs like the biggest fuddy-duddy ever. That's something I like about the dominant function description a la Lenore vs temperament a la Keirsey. The type descriptions seem more real and less like caricatures.

 

[Fidelia]

I came across a book on the internet I would have liked to order that correlated different types to athletic ability. It would have been interesting to see what they had to say...

PUM I and II
Everything on the subject on the internet.

I'm glad this thread is here though because I've wondered about checking out other stuff. Wonka sent me a nice list the other day.

 

[Scott N Denver]

Tieger and Barron-Tieger: Do what you Are [jobs], Speedreading people [quick IDing], Just Your Type [couples], Nurture By Nature [kids]
Janet Penley: Motherstyles
Renee Barron: What Type Am I?
Donna Dunning: Your Type of Career
Isabel Briggs Myers: Gifts Differing
Lenore Thomson: Personality Type
Brent Massey: Where in the World do I belong [countries]
Kroeger and Theusen: Type Talk, Type Talk at Work, HOw to Love Your Lover [or whatever their relationship one is, [maybe another one of theirs as well???]
Hirsh & Kumerow: Lifetypes, Worktypes

 

[Scott N Denver]

Gordon Lawrence: People Types and Tiger Stripes [note: this is the only book ont he list that I have NOT actually read]

I think thats all of them, but there very well may be more