Reading People: How Seeing the World through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything by Ann Bogel
Baker Books, 2017
For readers who long to dig deeper into what makes them uniquely them (and why that matters), blogger Anne Bogel has done the hard part by collecting, exploring, and explaining the most popular personality frameworks, such as Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder, Enneagram, and others. She explains the life-changing insights that can be gained from each and shares specific, practical, real-life applications across all facets of life.
Anne Bogel always presents thoughtful, helpful information in a no-nonsense way. Reading People is no different, although the title led me to expect insights other than what the book delivered. I hoped that the book would expound on how our reading choices are influenced by our personalities, but it is more generally about the personality system frameworks that Bogel—as a reader, writer, wife, and mother—has benefited from learning about.
Bogel wisely encourages us to identify ourselves with the personality traits and types that we are, not that we want to be.
“When it comes to understanding yourself and others, wishful thinking will get you nowhere. If personality information is going to help you, you’re going to have to get comfortable with the true self that lies deep within you.”
The same is true about good fiction. Well-written characters may believe they have certain traits—admirable or otherwise—even as the reader recognizes a different truth. A fictional character may adamantly defend their motives while a reader stacks evidence to the contrary.
Have you recognized a common theme in your reading choices? Why do you think certain topics and characters appeal to you?
(Want to know what I thought of Anne Bogel’s I’d Rather Be Reading? Click here to read my review.)
