Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types

"Answer the questions honestly!! Quiz your friends too! This is a great book to help you understand how you deal with life and those around you and how to do it better. Really informative and accurate if you are honest in looking at the pros and cons of your personality. I've tried the test on 5 people already. All were 100% accurate."
~ Written on 2008-08-19

"I am using this book as the basis for a personality experiment for my dissertation. So far, EVERYONE who has taken the questionnaire has been amazed at how accurately the personality descriptions have fitted them. I know there must be more than 16 different types of people in the world, some may argue that it oversimplifies the issue, but I feel it has provided the people I tested with useful insights about their character, which might help them to understand their behaviour."
~ Written on 2000-05-03

"Well, okay, I didn't exactly read the entire book; I just came across it (a friend had it and was raving about it) and I've read about a third of the book. I'd agree with some other reviewer, who said that the book asks you about adjectives (ten times each, just in case you don't know the definition of an adjective) and then tells you what adjectives you chose. Yes, this is an oversimplification, but not by much... Those things that are not "by definition" true in the descriptions (there are some), are often not very well justified (instead the authors go about rephrasing the same things).



However, the book was at least quite entertaining (more so than those silly "tests" in, um, Cosmo and such mags, I guess --- hopefully the authors have nothing to do with those...? ;-) and although not extremely profound (in the sense I described above), was not all that uninteresting.



I'm also a bit lenient in my rating, since I haven't read it entirely. Oh, in case you're wondering... I'm an INTP according to the book..."
~ Written on 1999-08-02

"I first read this book after I had already familiarized myself with Isabel Briggs Myers' work. The constructs that Keirsey invented -- most notably, the temperament groups SP, NF, NT and SJ -- are a very helpful expansion of the MBTI theoretical base. I believe Keirsey's portrait of an ISTP is the finest summary I have ever read for that type. It fits my brother to a "T". I identify most strongly with the ISFP, and Keirsey's characterization of that type is surely the most flattering ever penned. Though some will not agree with Keirsey's speculations about the temperaments of long-dead historical figures, there is much to admire about this volume. I did feel that the book is quite verbose, and needed stronger editing, but this complaint didn't detract from my enjoyment of Please Understand Me. This book will help you figure out so many people in your life. Read it!"
~ Written on 1999-07-30

"Kiersey & Bates cover an enormous amount of ground - looking at Type application at work, with partners and with children. It does not seek to give black and white answers. Rather, it offers help to think about our own situations. The only word of caution for non-US readers is to remember that it is written in US English and accept some of the examples as coming from that culture."
~ Written on 1999-06-30