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595 reviews for:
Reading People: How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything
Anne Bogel
3.78 AVERAGE
595 reviews for:
Reading People: How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything
Anne Bogel
3.78 AVERAGE
3.5-3.75 stars. A quick read (and sometimes skim) through chapters on some of the most interesting personality tests and types. I love taking the tests and finding myself in the results, but I don’t know that I’ll ever take them as seriously as Anne does! Great resource list and references included here for people who want to dive deeper.
I have been a fan of the Modern Mrs. Darcy website and the What Should I Read Next? podcast, so I was very interested in this book by Anne Bogel. In this book, she gives an overview of many of the more popular personality typing systems (Introvert/Extrovert, High Sensitivity, The 5 Love Languages, The Four Temperaments, Myers-Briggs, MBTI Cognitive Functions, Strengths-Finder and the Enneagram). The book outlines the framework for each system, some overall description and discussion of nuances. References are given for further explanation and exploration. I pre-ordered this book, but was out of town when the book arrived, so I took advantage of one of the pre-order bonus items, the audio book. The audio version is great as a first pass, but you will really need to physically have the book for understanding the details. I anticipate re-reading particular portions of the book to further grasp detail and concept. I highly recommend this book!
This was an interesting look at different ways to conceive of personality types; some I had familiarity with and others this was my first exposure. Bogel's tone is delightfully accessible, and she's a clear reader, so many of her examples were (relatively) well-known literary figures, which was fun. I actually would've liked more examples, personal or literary; at times, we didn't get as much into the application or details beyond broad overviews of the typing process.
I'm a big fan/geek/whatever you want to call it over personality frameworks like Myers-Briggs, etc. So I was mildly curious about Bogel's book discussing several different frameworks and how she has learned to use them in her life and relationships through the years. Bogel is quick to point out that she isn't an expert in these frameworks or in personality typing but just an enthusiast who has studied them for a number of years. Honestly, I'm not sure how this ended up in a book deal for her. I know a number of people who are also personality-type enthusiasts and nobody has published a book about it. *shrug* This isn't a criticism of Bogel, I am an avid listener of her podcast "What should I read next?" and enjoy her knowledge on books and reading. But I'm baffled as to how she pitched this idea and got it picked up as an entire book.
Bogel spends the chapters of this book outlining the defining characteristics of several kinds of personality frameworks and weaves in examples from her own life about how they have helped her. She also leans on examples given by friends, family, and other authors. She draws some comparisons to various literary characters (of course) for examples of them as well. I suppose what Bogel offers in her book is a lay person's overview instead of explanations of the frameworks potentially getting bogged down by academic speak, etc. I found myself "skimming" the book instead of reading it...and I was reading it via audio! So basically that means I kept finding my attention drifting off while listening to it and then having to shake my head, literally and figuratively, to get my attention back to the book. Her chapters on Myers-Briggs I found the most interesting but I do not recommend reading those chapters, or maybe the book in its entirety, via audiobook. The information she shares, if it catches your interest, is best read in print, or else you risk forgetting it completely. That said, I don't think I would have enjoyed the book any more if I had read it in print - I'm guessing I would have skimmed it just as much and/or abandoned it all together had I read it in print.
Bogel spends the chapters of this book outlining the defining characteristics of several kinds of personality frameworks and weaves in examples from her own life about how they have helped her. She also leans on examples given by friends, family, and other authors. She draws some comparisons to various literary characters (of course) for examples of them as well. I suppose what Bogel offers in her book is a lay person's overview instead of explanations of the frameworks potentially getting bogged down by academic speak, etc. I found myself "skimming" the book instead of reading it...and I was reading it via audio! So basically that means I kept finding my attention drifting off while listening to it and then having to shake my head, literally and figuratively, to get my attention back to the book. Her chapters on Myers-Briggs I found the most interesting but I do not recommend reading those chapters, or maybe the book in its entirety, via audiobook. The information she shares, if it catches your interest, is best read in print, or else you risk forgetting it completely. That said, I don't think I would have enjoyed the book any more if I had read it in print - I'm guessing I would have skimmed it just as much and/or abandoned it all together had I read it in print.
A very engaging, smart read. It was a simple teasing introduction to personality typing, and I can't wait to read more. The chapter on HSP was the shining star for me.
I enjoyed this, but towards the end it got to be too much. My brain overloaded even though I was very interested in the topic. I do like learning about personality types and how they affect so many parts of our lives.
Synopsis
Reading People: How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything grew out of Anne’s love for personality frameworks. Reading People is a primer for several of the more common personality frameworks with easy to understand applications and examples for how to recognize the personalities in yourself and others.
The personality frameworks explored by Anne are
• Introversion / Extroversion
• High Sensitivity
• Chapman’s Five Love Languages
• Keirsey’s Temperaments
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
• MBTI Cognitive Functions
• Clifton StrengthsFinder
• Enneagram
Personality Minefield
Personality is always a bit of a tricky subject for me. I’ve jokingly said that in personality quizzes, I always get the “worst” personality. Case in point: in the “Which Harry Potter Character Shares Your Myers-Briggs” quizzes, I’m invariably either Draco Malfoy or Voldemort. That kind of assessment doesn’t exactly make the heart sing or swell with pride at being an INTJ.
Even outside of Myers-Briggs, I’ve never had the personality that drew people to me. I have been called every variation of cold, unwelcoming, and intimidating (ironic given my five-foot-nothing stature). There’s obviously some gender bias here, since many of the things that make up my personality are sometimes viewed as problematic specifically because I am a woman who comes across as “cold” as opposed to a man who comes across as “analytical.” While I can’t find exact statistics, a quick search indicates that the INTJ is accepted as the least-common personality in women, with the associated personality traits direct opposites of the traits stereotypically seen as “feminine.” People who know me don’t describe me this way (…I don’t think) but this is apparently the first impression I give off, particularly in a public/crowded setting.
Over the years, I’ve come to terms with the benefits of my personality but it’s never been something I loved. This baggage and background is the minefield into which I waded with Reading People in hand.
What Reading People Is and Is Not
Reading People takes seven of the more popular/widely known personality frameworks, gives a basic overview of each, provides enough information to give you an idea of where you fall within that personality spectrum, and then provides resources to read more. The book is not an exhaustive resource on the major personality frameworks nor does it try to be.
Because of this structure, I can see the book have two main uses—the first is to give enough of an overview of each framework to make the reader pause during times of conflict and stress to consider whether the issue isn’t a misunderstanding based on personality. The book gives enough of a very quick overview of each different personality within each spectrum to give the reader a sense of the ways that each personality is different, with an emphasis that different doesn’t mean bad.
The other way this book can come in handy is to give enough of a taste of a particular personality framework to make you want to know more. This is particularly useful since several of the indicators do cost money to take “official tests”—like Enneagram, StrengthsFinder, and (to an extent) the Myers-Briggs (MBTI). If one particular framework resonates, you know it’s worth spending money to find more. Anne is also pretty meticulous about citing her sources and providing a Recommended Resources section for books to read on each type, providing an excellent starting point for further reading on particular frameworks.
Themes
If you take nothing else from Reading People, Anne is going to make darn sure that you know your personality is not a bad thing or a liability. It is perhaps the grand, overarching theme that each personality has strengths they bring to the table and that workplaces and societies don’t function without each type.
Ironically, what convinced me that Anne believed this the most was not her clear, concise writing or her insistence that this was the case, but the example Anne gave early on in when she discusses the pitfalls of having your personality defined by your aspirations rather than your reality. In particular, Anne pegged herself incorrectly for any years as an INTJ because this is what she aspired to be. Well if that doesn’t just flip the typical view of my Voldemort-personality on its head, I’m not sure what does.
Anne’s emphasis throughout the book is recognizing that personality is not a “grade”—there are not personalities that are better or worse than others, though certain personalities may find they are better suited to certain tasks than others. Moreover, personality is not the be-all-end-all. Personality doesn’t dictate character or your destiny—as people we are still in control and ultimately responsible for our kindness, how we treat people, and the choices we make in life. Personality is the “lens” of the camera but isn’t the camera or even the picture that results.
Christian Triggers
I am not in a place where I have any interest in reading “Christian books” right now. This presented a bit of a conundrum for me since I am a big fan of Anne’s blog and podcast and wanted an opportunity to see an ARC of Reading People. Anne doesn’t hide her own faith, though she also doesn’t mention it terribly often in these media. She’s highly recommended books like This Is How It Always Is about a family with a transgender child—books that would generally not fit the stereotypical mold of someone whose book is published by Baker Books, a division of the Baker Publishing Group that seeks to “publish high-quality writings that represent historic Christianity and serve the diverse interests and concerns of evangelical readers.”
Reading People manages to avoid most of the things that made me trepidatious about this book. If you are a person of (Christian) faith, the book has parts that will resonate with you, as Anne applies some of the frameworks to her prayer and faith life. There are several Bible verses quoted, along with quotes from C.S. Lewis (though most of those are not explicitly Christian)—these are easy to skip over and keep going. If you’re looking to avoid these references, there are never more than a sentence or two to skip before you can get back into the body of the book, without having missed anything. Reading People still stands entirely on its own. There is nothing that the reader misses by skipping these.
That said, if you’re in a place where you have no interest in even seeing references to Christian faith, this isn’t the book for you. Two of the personality frameworks—the Five Love Languages and the Enneagram—are explicitly rooted in the Christian faith. While they have applications outside faith and don’t require any particular faith to use or apply them, there is no getting around these roots. Several of Anne’s examples for how she learned to recognize different personalities and apply the lessons of the book also come from church examples because that’s where she was spending her time at the time she had some these personality insights.
From my interactions with Anne in Book Club as well as the launch group for this book, I feel pretty confident in asserting that Anne’s goal was to make this book welcoming for all readers, even those who don’t identify as Christian. Ultimately, I think so long as you are not in a place where Christian references are highly-triggering, this is a well-written, highly-readable book that is a great introduction to personality frameworks that will still resonate with most readers interested in the topic.
Summary
Anne’s writing style is clear and straightforward and the book is well-organized. As an introduction to personality frameworks, Reading People is a good introductory book that gives you enough of a taste to let you know where you might want to find more. Some sections are easier to read than others, though that tends to be a function of the test—the Five Love Languages are conceptually simpler than something like the MBTI Cognitive Types or the Enneagram.
Because of the way the book is structured, this book is better read in pieces—one or two chapters at a time, rather than a book you speed through. If you’re looking for an in-depth discussion of the personality frameworks or your particular personality, Reading People is going to be too shallow a dive. You would be better suited to consulting Anne’s Recommended Resources to find books with more depth into a particular framework.
Overall, I recommend Reading People for those generally interested in learning more about what makes themselves and others tick or looking for a place to start in getting to know themselves better. Reading People is a safe place to start, even for us Voldemort-types.
Notes
Published: September 19, 2017 by Baker Books Preorder available on Reading People Book and Amazon
Author: Anne Bogel ("Modern Mrs. Darcy")
Date read: August 4, 2017
Rating: 3 3/4 Stars
Thank you to Baker Books, Anne Bogel, and Netgalley for sending me an advance reader copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.
Enjoyed this review? Check out more at http://LisaAnnReads.wpengine.com
Reading People: How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything grew out of Anne’s love for personality frameworks. Reading People is a primer for several of the more common personality frameworks with easy to understand applications and examples for how to recognize the personalities in yourself and others.
The personality frameworks explored by Anne are
• Introversion / Extroversion
• High Sensitivity
• Chapman’s Five Love Languages
• Keirsey’s Temperaments
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
• MBTI Cognitive Functions
• Clifton StrengthsFinder
• Enneagram
Personality Minefield
Personality is always a bit of a tricky subject for me. I’ve jokingly said that in personality quizzes, I always get the “worst” personality. Case in point: in the “Which Harry Potter Character Shares Your Myers-Briggs” quizzes, I’m invariably either Draco Malfoy or Voldemort. That kind of assessment doesn’t exactly make the heart sing or swell with pride at being an INTJ.
Even outside of Myers-Briggs, I’ve never had the personality that drew people to me. I have been called every variation of cold, unwelcoming, and intimidating (ironic given my five-foot-nothing stature). There’s obviously some gender bias here, since many of the things that make up my personality are sometimes viewed as problematic specifically because I am a woman who comes across as “cold” as opposed to a man who comes across as “analytical.” While I can’t find exact statistics, a quick search indicates that the INTJ is accepted as the least-common personality in women, with the associated personality traits direct opposites of the traits stereotypically seen as “feminine.” People who know me don’t describe me this way (…I don’t think) but this is apparently the first impression I give off, particularly in a public/crowded setting.
Over the years, I’ve come to terms with the benefits of my personality but it’s never been something I loved. This baggage and background is the minefield into which I waded with Reading People in hand.
What Reading People Is and Is Not
Reading People takes seven of the more popular/widely known personality frameworks, gives a basic overview of each, provides enough information to give you an idea of where you fall within that personality spectrum, and then provides resources to read more. The book is not an exhaustive resource on the major personality frameworks nor does it try to be.
Because of this structure, I can see the book have two main uses—the first is to give enough of an overview of each framework to make the reader pause during times of conflict and stress to consider whether the issue isn’t a misunderstanding based on personality. The book gives enough of a very quick overview of each different personality within each spectrum to give the reader a sense of the ways that each personality is different, with an emphasis that different doesn’t mean bad.
The other way this book can come in handy is to give enough of a taste of a particular personality framework to make you want to know more. This is particularly useful since several of the indicators do cost money to take “official tests”—like Enneagram, StrengthsFinder, and (to an extent) the Myers-Briggs (MBTI). If one particular framework resonates, you know it’s worth spending money to find more. Anne is also pretty meticulous about citing her sources and providing a Recommended Resources section for books to read on each type, providing an excellent starting point for further reading on particular frameworks.
Themes
If you take nothing else from Reading People, Anne is going to make darn sure that you know your personality is not a bad thing or a liability. It is perhaps the grand, overarching theme that each personality has strengths they bring to the table and that workplaces and societies don’t function without each type.
Ironically, what convinced me that Anne believed this the most was not her clear, concise writing or her insistence that this was the case, but the example Anne gave early on in when she discusses the pitfalls of having your personality defined by your aspirations rather than your reality. In particular, Anne pegged herself incorrectly for any years as an INTJ because this is what she aspired to be. Well if that doesn’t just flip the typical view of my Voldemort-personality on its head, I’m not sure what does.
Anne’s emphasis throughout the book is recognizing that personality is not a “grade”—there are not personalities that are better or worse than others, though certain personalities may find they are better suited to certain tasks than others. Moreover, personality is not the be-all-end-all. Personality doesn’t dictate character or your destiny—as people we are still in control and ultimately responsible for our kindness, how we treat people, and the choices we make in life. Personality is the “lens” of the camera but isn’t the camera or even the picture that results.
Christian Triggers
I am not in a place where I have any interest in reading “Christian books” right now. This presented a bit of a conundrum for me since I am a big fan of Anne’s blog and podcast and wanted an opportunity to see an ARC of Reading People. Anne doesn’t hide her own faith, though she also doesn’t mention it terribly often in these media. She’s highly recommended books like This Is How It Always Is about a family with a transgender child—books that would generally not fit the stereotypical mold of someone whose book is published by Baker Books, a division of the Baker Publishing Group that seeks to “publish high-quality writings that represent historic Christianity and serve the diverse interests and concerns of evangelical readers.”
Reading People manages to avoid most of the things that made me trepidatious about this book. If you are a person of (Christian) faith, the book has parts that will resonate with you, as Anne applies some of the frameworks to her prayer and faith life. There are several Bible verses quoted, along with quotes from C.S. Lewis (though most of those are not explicitly Christian)—these are easy to skip over and keep going. If you’re looking to avoid these references, there are never more than a sentence or two to skip before you can get back into the body of the book, without having missed anything. Reading People still stands entirely on its own. There is nothing that the reader misses by skipping these.
That said, if you’re in a place where you have no interest in even seeing references to Christian faith, this isn’t the book for you. Two of the personality frameworks—the Five Love Languages and the Enneagram—are explicitly rooted in the Christian faith. While they have applications outside faith and don’t require any particular faith to use or apply them, there is no getting around these roots. Several of Anne’s examples for how she learned to recognize different personalities and apply the lessons of the book also come from church examples because that’s where she was spending her time at the time she had some these personality insights.
From my interactions with Anne in Book Club as well as the launch group for this book, I feel pretty confident in asserting that Anne’s goal was to make this book welcoming for all readers, even those who don’t identify as Christian. Ultimately, I think so long as you are not in a place where Christian references are highly-triggering, this is a well-written, highly-readable book that is a great introduction to personality frameworks that will still resonate with most readers interested in the topic.
Summary
Anne’s writing style is clear and straightforward and the book is well-organized. As an introduction to personality frameworks, Reading People is a good introductory book that gives you enough of a taste to let you know where you might want to find more. Some sections are easier to read than others, though that tends to be a function of the test—the Five Love Languages are conceptually simpler than something like the MBTI Cognitive Types or the Enneagram.
Because of the way the book is structured, this book is better read in pieces—one or two chapters at a time, rather than a book you speed through. If you’re looking for an in-depth discussion of the personality frameworks or your particular personality, Reading People is going to be too shallow a dive. You would be better suited to consulting Anne’s Recommended Resources to find books with more depth into a particular framework.
Overall, I recommend Reading People for those generally interested in learning more about what makes themselves and others tick or looking for a place to start in getting to know themselves better. Reading People is a safe place to start, even for us Voldemort-types.
Notes
Published: September 19, 2017 by Baker Books Preorder available on Reading People Book and Amazon
Author: Anne Bogel ("Modern Mrs. Darcy")
Date read: August 4, 2017
Rating: 3 3/4 Stars
Thank you to Baker Books, Anne Bogel, and Netgalley for sending me an advance reader copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.
Enjoyed this review? Check out more at http://LisaAnnReads.wpengine.com
Really interesting especially as someone who is like borderline into the personality stuff.
It's not overwhelming and really best served as listened to in small bursts or read a chapter a day honestly.
It's not overwhelming and really best served as listened to in small bursts or read a chapter a day honestly.
Personality, what makes you who you are, the good the bad and ugly- what one learns about oneself can help one lead a different,better life. Those are some of the things I learned from reading this book. A lot of info, at times, a little too much for my brain to handle:(my one big negative with the book- crammed too much in and sometimes I felt left a little hanging): Myers Briggs Type Indicator,Keirsey’s Temperaments
, Clifton strengths finder, Enneagram, and Five love languages too name a few.
Although overwhelmed at times with all the info and different ways to further figure out who I am and others I love... I did underline many great life quotes I read throughout the book and that outweighs the negative of personality test overload.
, Clifton strengths finder, Enneagram, and Five love languages too name a few.
Although overwhelmed at times with all the info and different ways to further figure out who I am and others I love... I did underline many great life quotes I read throughout the book and that outweighs the negative of personality test overload.
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced