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Average Customer Rating:

Deeply flawed

Customer Rating:

This is a deeply flawed book. I can't comment on how well it represents enneagram thinking, or whether as a result I have an accurate opinion. I can say that the author presents no empirical basis for the system, that the more detailed his descriptions of the nine personality types, the less any of them seemed to fit and that had I found a type that fit, the book would have been a poor guide to what to do with that knowledge or how it might be helpful. And that's without mentioning the author's stilted style and the irritating plot device of writing a book from the perspective of an inanimate object (imagine a book by the talking paperclip).

Clunky and Smug

Customer Rating:

I have been looking for a book about the Enneagram for a while, and I was delighted to discover this in the psychology section of my local bookshop. However I was really disappointed with the way the book was written, Parke writes as if he were the enneagram itself, I really didn't like this style at all: it would be like reading a cookery book spoken from the perspective of a quiche, or a gardening manual through the eyes of a pot plant. Thhe book is presented in a series of letters 'My dear reader', 'yours truly....E', and for someonje who is urging us to become more authentic it all felt a little bit phoney. The author obviously has a good understanding of the subject matter, and I would have preferred a lot more analysis rather than pages of his flowery style. Furthermore when he is writing his letters to the nine diffferent personality types, larges swathes of hammy writing are repeated with minor changes for each type. I felt a bit cheated, firstly because the book isn't that thick, and secondly because I had trouble digesting it the first time round, let alone the ninth! There is an extremely interesting book about this subject waiting to be written; this isn't it.

A gift to be shared

Customer Rating:

Simon Parke introduces us to Enneagram (E), sharing Es beginnings, travels, evolution and symbols. E in return shares what E understands of us...for it is the understanding of ourselves that is E's wish, an insight as to the drives that motivate us in life, not that we `know' enneagram. And in the attempt to allow and support us respectively and considerately to re-discover the selves within us that have outwitted childhood to negotiate our way into adulthood, Simon Parke leads us to explore, re-examine and reflect on the way into which we have become accustomed to being in the world. He treats us gently - with infinite love and respect, whilst also encouraging us and guiding us with clarity towards a new path - albeit a challenging path - to not to remain stuck with the strategies for living we developed and clung to as children, but to express ourselves through the essence that has always been ours. It is an amazing gift to find oneself reflected back to oneself so clearly and fully realise that we are not alone. One emerges from this book with hope and new possibilities. It has proved a real gift and one that needs to be shared openly.