NF

I'm new to learning about the enneagrams, and this seems like an ok place to start for beginners, but I wish it would have went a little deeper. I'm still not entirely sure which type I am. I think I'm a 1 wing 9, but I also kind of resonated with type 3. Like I said, not a bad place to start, but I'd definitely recommend finding something else to dive deeper. ( )

This is an excellent, down to Earth, not to heady approach to the Enneagram. It is the book I might hand to someone who wants to learn about it. It is helpful to know your number as you can skip right to that chapter, but a good overview for those just learning. Every enneagram teacher has different labels for the numbers, so be ready. ( )

Good book on the enneagram. ( )

If you’re interested in the Enneagram but it seems really overwhelming, what with the triads and the wings and all the different numbers, this is a great place to start. Ian Cron has a gentle and light-hearted voice as he goes thru each number in his own order, and then he sprinkles in more details as they’re needed, so they don’t feel terribly overwhelming. The triads and stress/security levels aren’t explained in a lot of depth, but it’s enough for a beginner, and there are lots of other books that will go deeper. The book is written from a Christian perspective and does talk a fair amount about God, but I felt it was much more in the context of “finding out who God made you to be,” God is peripheral rather than central.

Each number begins with a list of characteristics portrayed by the number, and then a story of an individual who portrays those characteristics. Cron describes the good, the bad, and the ugly about each number, how they likely were as children, what they would be like in a work environment, and in relationship. While Cron does cover the negative side of each number, he does so in an truthful and encouraging way, and each chapter ends with a list of actions to take in order to move toward health and integration.

There’s no test included to determine your number, but the lists in front of each chapter should serve as a fairly good indicator of which one fits you, and online tests abound, if you want to take one. The book is a good general overview of the Enneagram, it’s very accessible and quite enjoyable to read.

As an aside, the authors, Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile, actually put together a podcast as a lead up to the release of their book a couple years back. They would talk Enneagram stuff with lots of people at varying levels of study in Enneagram, and they covered all the different numbers. Many of the guests were well known to me from Christian media circles, and others were brand new, but the conversations reveal things about the numbers in a personal way that just reading a book cannot. Plus, Ian and Suzanne are just fun to listen to, and very engaging. The podcast is also called The Road Back to You, and if you want to learn even more about all things Enneagram, this is a good place to do it, tho it would be helpful to have at least a little knowledge of what they’re talking about when you start. ( )