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Reviewed by C. J. Singh (Berkeley, CA)
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GRAPHIC NOVEL MANUAL for ENNEAGRAM NOVICES

The wonderful cartoon-illustrations and the concision of its text make the book fun to read. For those who feel unease at the "made easy" title, suspecting it to mean simplistic, there are several ponderous books on the enneagram.

"The Enneagram (pronounced ANY-a-gram) system is represented by a circle containing a nine-pointed starlike shape" (page 2). It introduces the 9 main types of people. Actually, once you count the subtypes and the connections between the nine points, this system presents 27 types.

One, The Perfectionist;
Two, The Helper;
Three, The Achiever;
Four, The Romantic;
Five, The Observer;
Six, The Questioner;
Seven, The Adventurer;
Eight, The Asserter;
Nine, The Peacemaker;

The description of each main type begins with a 20-item "Personality Inventory" to help you determine your type. Next, each type's positive and negative adjectives are listed, followed by several brief sections such as "How to Get Along With Me"; "Relationships"; "What I Like About Being this Type"; "What's Hard About Being this Type"; and detailed "Practical Suggestions and Exercises for this Type."

The Enneagram tells me that I'm Type Four, with wings, that is, incorporating some of the traits of the neighboring Types Three and Five. "Type Fours at their best are: warm, compassionate, introspective, expressive, creative, intuitive, supportive, refined" (p 53). Fours at their worst are...? My strong wing to Type Three, the Achiever, is fluttering EVEN STRONGER, so I'm not telling.

This compact book even includes a 20-page chapter "How the Enneagram and the Jungian Types Fit Together." Based on the Jungian Types, the Meyer-Briggs Type Indicator comprises 16 types: combinations of Extrovert/Introvert; Sensing/iNtuitive; Thinking/Feeling; Judging/Perceiving. I am an ENFP -- Extrovert, intuitive, Feeling,Perceiving type.

"Extroverted Fours are sociable and expressive (sometimes flamboyant). They are likely to have more developed Three wing. iNtuitive Fours are insightful, idealistic, and often more interested in the world of imagination than in everyday reality. Fours prefer Feeling. They are emotionally sensitive, empathic, and warm. Perceiving Fours are more impulsive, indecisive, and adaptable" (p 144).

I disagree with the book's ascription of the Enneagram origins to Sufi sources. The psychologcal typology is derived from the ancient teachings of Hindu and Buddhist Psychology. In early 20th century, George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (of Greek-Armenian heritage) travelled to India, studied there for many years, and brought this knowledge to Russia and France in the 1920s. In the 1960s, Gurdjieff's followers took his teachings to the Americas. The Enneagram design itself is of India-origin: the "Mandala" (circle) and "Sri Yantra" (triangles and lines) shown as enclosed in a mandala of nine pointed-leaves. Even the name Ennea- is derived from the Indo-European root for nine, the earlier Sanskrit "nava" and later the Greek "ennea." If you have been told that numerals are of Arabic origin, please google the article by "Professor Ian Pearce, St. Andrews University, Indian Math History."

GRAPHIC-NOVEL MANUAL for ENNEAGRAM NOVICES.

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The Enneagram Made Easy: Discover the 9 Types of People