Reviews
The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Suzanne Stabile, Ian Morgan Cron
_kendab's review against another edition
2.0
This was fine but with heavy religious over and undertones. I should have just read a blog post.
nerdyrev's review against another edition
5.0
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.
leahegood's review against another edition
3.0
Pros
This book is a great jumping-off point for learning more about the Enneagram personality typing system. It's full of good information and lends a lot of clarity to the online quizzes and Instagram posts.
Cons
I was excited to read a personality type book described as coming from an evangelical Christian perspective. Unfortunately for me, the authors come from a more liberal perspective than myself, both religiously and politically. This made the Christian perspective more distracting that enhancing for me.
Conclusion
I think I would have enjoyed this book more as a paperback instead of audio book. I found myself wishing I could skim in places and linger in others ... both of which were impossible as I listed in the car or while working.
If you want to learn more about the Enneagram, this books is a good resource, even though it was not a favorite read of mine.
This book is a great jumping-off point for learning more about the Enneagram personality typing system. It's full of good information and lends a lot of clarity to the online quizzes and Instagram posts.
Cons
I was excited to read a personality type book described as coming from an evangelical Christian perspective. Unfortunately for me, the authors come from a more liberal perspective than myself, both religiously and politically. This made the Christian perspective more distracting that enhancing for me.
Conclusion
I think I would have enjoyed this book more as a paperback instead of audio book. I found myself wishing I could skim in places and linger in others ... both of which were impossible as I listed in the car or while working.
If you want to learn more about the Enneagram, this books is a good resource, even though it was not a favorite read of mine.
lissajean7's review against another edition
5.0
I'm a sucker for any kind of personality-typing thing, so this was an interesting read. I liked it enough that I'm going to look into it further. I'm going to re-read my section in a bit. I really liked how the author focused heavily on knowing yourself so you can make better choices and relate with others well.
christabowen10's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
4.5
chelsearednecksrising's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
vickysimpson's review against another edition
4.0
A great primer for those interested in discovering how the Enneagram works.
bickleyhouse's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
4.0
This is my first real foray into the subject of enneagrams. I've heard of them, and then when a friend and I had a discussion about them, she recommended this book. I found it at the library where I work, and checked it out.
I learned quite a bit from this book. Not enough, though, so I have to keep researching the topic.
Ian Morgan Cron is, I believe, an Episcopal priest, and this book, along with the second that he wrote (which I am currently reading), called The Story of You, is written from a "Christian" perspective. His first encounter with the enneagram was in a book by Fr Richard Rohr. Unfortunately for him, he was currently in a class with a professor who compared enneagrams to witchcraft. I think there are still a number of people today who feel that way.
Cron became much more familiar with them, later, and even teaches on the subject, now. His co-author in this book is involved in a Dallas-based ministry that also teaches on the enneagram.
Cron's writing makes this book fun. It's easy to read, very accessible, and he keeps it interesting. It doesn't read like a textbook, but more like a memoir with explanations in it. The book is presented in twelve chapters, nine of them being one each about the numbers in the enneagram. But they aren't in numerical order. Well, they are, actually, but he doesn't start with one. He starts with eight. Because eight, nine, and one are part of the Anger or Gut Triad. Two, three, and four are the Feeling or Heart Triad, and five, six, and seven are in the Fear or Head Triad. And that is how the book is laid out.
Each chapter shows both strengths and weaknesses of each number. We get the characteristics of the healthy four, the average four, and the unhealthy four. We get the "deadly sin" of each of the numbers. We get the language that each number speaks. Then there is this bit of "wings." I'm still working grasping this concept. It seem that, since this is presented in a circle, each number has two other numbers on either side of it, being "wings." So I, being most probably a four, would either have three or five as my "wing."
I'm almost certain that I am a four with a five wing. But I'm still sussing that out.
Then there are "stress" and "security" arrows. For each number, one arrow leads away from it to a secondary number, and one arrow leads toward it from another secondary number. The arrow leading away is the stress number and the arrow leading toward is the security number. So, as a four, if I am stressed, I will take on the unhealthy characteristics of the two. When I feel secure, I will take on the healthy characteristics of the one.
He writes, also, about how each number looks as a child, how each one looks in relationships, and how each one looks on the job at work. Each chapter ends with a discussion on spiritual formation, which I really like, and then has suggestions for the path to transformation for each number.
One thing I didn't like about the book was that the presentation of the chapters wasn't totally consistent. There were subheadings in some chapters but not in others. The language each number speaks wasn't so easily found in every chapter.
But overall, this was a fun book to read, was never boring, and was full of stories used to illustrate the concepts therein.
The key, here, though, is to not use this concept as an excuse for the way we act, and leave it at that. This is supposed to be a means of transformation, not of vindication. In other words, I'm supposed to take my "four-ness" and transform it into the healthiest version of myself that I can manage. It is also good to recognize that this is "psuedo-science," at best. I have that on the authority of two psychology people.
I'm really looking forward to learning more from the second book.
I learned quite a bit from this book. Not enough, though, so I have to keep researching the topic.
Ian Morgan Cron is, I believe, an Episcopal priest, and this book, along with the second that he wrote (which I am currently reading), called The Story of You, is written from a "Christian" perspective. His first encounter with the enneagram was in a book by Fr Richard Rohr. Unfortunately for him, he was currently in a class with a professor who compared enneagrams to witchcraft. I think there are still a number of people today who feel that way.
Cron became much more familiar with them, later, and even teaches on the subject, now. His co-author in this book is involved in a Dallas-based ministry that also teaches on the enneagram.
Cron's writing makes this book fun. It's easy to read, very accessible, and he keeps it interesting. It doesn't read like a textbook, but more like a memoir with explanations in it. The book is presented in twelve chapters, nine of them being one each about the numbers in the enneagram. But they aren't in numerical order. Well, they are, actually, but he doesn't start with one. He starts with eight. Because eight, nine, and one are part of the Anger or Gut Triad. Two, three, and four are the Feeling or Heart Triad, and five, six, and seven are in the Fear or Head Triad. And that is how the book is laid out.
Each chapter shows both strengths and weaknesses of each number. We get the characteristics of the healthy four, the average four, and the unhealthy four. We get the "deadly sin" of each of the numbers. We get the language that each number speaks. Then there is this bit of "wings." I'm still working grasping this concept. It seem that, since this is presented in a circle, each number has two other numbers on either side of it, being "wings." So I, being most probably a four, would either have three or five as my "wing."
I'm almost certain that I am a four with a five wing. But I'm still sussing that out.
Then there are "stress" and "security" arrows. For each number, one arrow leads away from it to a secondary number, and one arrow leads toward it from another secondary number. The arrow leading away is the stress number and the arrow leading toward is the security number. So, as a four, if I am stressed, I will take on the unhealthy characteristics of the two. When I feel secure, I will take on the healthy characteristics of the one.
He writes, also, about how each number looks as a child, how each one looks in relationships, and how each one looks on the job at work. Each chapter ends with a discussion on spiritual formation, which I really like, and then has suggestions for the path to transformation for each number.
One thing I didn't like about the book was that the presentation of the chapters wasn't totally consistent. There were subheadings in some chapters but not in others. The language each number speaks wasn't so easily found in every chapter.
But overall, this was a fun book to read, was never boring, and was full of stories used to illustrate the concepts therein.
The key, here, though, is to not use this concept as an excuse for the way we act, and leave it at that. This is supposed to be a means of transformation, not of vindication. In other words, I'm supposed to take my "four-ness" and transform it into the healthiest version of myself that I can manage. It is also good to recognize that this is "psuedo-science," at best. I have that on the authority of two psychology people.
I'm really looking forward to learning more from the second book.