One of the most used books in our house.

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Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types has been used so much in our house the pages are falling out.

The following quote is from our new book The Seven Pillars of The Frugal Prosumer. You can order it from our web site.

Understanding personality types is a powerful tool to knowing yourself and others. It helps us understand:
  • Who we will be attracted to and why.
  • Who will be our best marriage partner and why.
  • How to communicate to be understood and to understand others.
  • How our children are wired and discovering the best way to raise them.
  • What kind of job suits us best, our leadership style, and how to get along with coworkers and others.
  • Our own preferred learning and teaching style.
  • How to counsel and help others better.
Over the centuries, the four personality types have been included in the writings of Greek mythology (around 800 BC), Plato in The Republic (around 380 BC), Aristotle (around 350 BC), the roman physician Galen (around 200AD), Paracelsus around (1550 AD), plus many more through out the centuries. If you are familiar with personality types you can readily see that the four Gospels in the Bible are written to and possibly by the four personality types. Today it is used by businesses, counselors, and organizations all over the world. The names they use may differ, but the basics are the same.

The MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) is based on four main categories and these categories have four sub categories making 16 types in all. The MBTI, one of the most useful and widely used is the basis for Kirsey and Bates’ books, Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types and the expanded version Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence. There are hundreds of books and web sites that will help you learn these 16 basic personality types, in a few hours. But mastering all the ins and outs of the practical applications of the personality types could take a lifetime.

If you understand the concepts of personality types, you will find this to be a very powerful prosumer tool. You will be less dependent on professional help. I personally believe that without understanding personality types one is greatly handicapped. Many people already have a good understanding of personality types without studying them. Putting names to what they already know makes this even more useful.



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