This is one of the "odd" little books residing in my self-awareness library. Yes, I do own this book. Don Riso is well known as one of the world's foremost experts on the Enneagram and he has written some of my most used books on the topic, but this slim volume (130 pages in mass-market paperback size)is quite a departure from his normal style. Gone are the deep psychological analyses of personality types and their behavioral patterns-- replaced by a set of 25 single-sentence statements (16 "Releases" and 9 "Affirmations") for each of the nine Enneagram types. There's also a final section with "general" affirmations relevant to all types.
And that's about it, folks.
So who would really benefit from this book? Well, if you're looking to learn about the Enneagram, this is NOT a good book. Get yourself Riso & Hudson's "Personality Types," instead. However, if you're already a student or fan of the Enneagram-- and are interested in some self-exploration/self-improvement in addition to learning-- this would probably be of interest, as it is a nice companion to more "scholarly" texts. If you're someone who enjoys daily affirmations as motivation-- and you do KNOW your Enneagram type, but *don't* care about the system, otherwise-- this might also be a good book for you, since the affirmations are accurately matched to your particular personality type and will seem remarkable "relevant."
Essentially, this is not much of an "Enneagram book," rather, it is a somewhat lightweight "self-help book." The real question you have to ask yourself is whether or not you're willing to pay "the price of admission" to get 25 "motivational insights," well matched to your particular personality.
Final thoughts: Recommended (8 out of 10 possible bookmarks), but only for the SPECIFIC audience outlined above. Otherwise-- to paraphrase Obi-Wan-- "This is NOT the book you're looking for."
