The Complete Enneagram by Beatrice Chestnut

About the Book:

Beatrice Chestnut’s The Complete Enneagram has become a modern classic for anyone seeking to understand themselves and others. In this renewed edition, Chestnut offers her signature depth and clarity as she explores all nine Enneagram types and their 27 subtypes―revealing how our core patterns shape behavior, relationships, and growth.

Featuring a new introduction by the author, this edition invites readers into Chestnut’s latest thinking after more than a decade of teaching and global Enneagram work. She offers new context, fresh insight, and guidance for using the Enneagram as a tool for awareness and transformation in today’s world.

Comprehensive, compassionate, and endlessly illuminating, The Complete Enneagram remains the definitive guide to unlocking the patterns that keep us stuck―and the paths that set us free.

My Review:

I didn't even try to read this entire book. I have read several on the enneagram so was only interested in my own type. I was most impressed with the introductory section. The origin of this concept of personality descriptions was foggy for me. Other authors seemed to be unsure of where the idea came from. I liked what Chestnut had to say. I did not read the whole book, rather concentrating on my personality. It is a great resource for anyone wanting to understand personality types, however, and how to grow in the good areas and deal with the dark ones.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author:

Beatrice Chestnut grew up in Palo Alto, California, went to college in Los Angeles, and attended graduate school in Chicago and San Francisco. A licensed psychotherapist, coach, and business consultant based in San Francisco, she has graduate degrees in communication and clinical psychology. Her PhD dissertation describes how Reagan and Bush got away with their Iran-Contra crimes in the 1980s by managing public opinion (and Congress) through the story they created for a lazy press corps. She has taught at Northwestern University and facilitated interpersonal learning groups at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and University of San Francisco’s School of Law. She has been studying and working with the Enneagam for 23 years. She was certified to teach the Enneagram in 1997 through the Helen Palmer/David Daniels Enneagram Professional Training Program. She served as president of the International Enneagram Association in 2006 and 2007 and was founding co-editor of the IEA’s Enneagram Journal in 2008.

St Martin's Essentials, 544 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent review.

(My star ratings: 5-An exceptional book, 4-Better than average, relevant and liked by me, 3-It is average, 2-It is below average and not liked by me, 1-It is practically unreadable.)