FORSKJELLIGE TROMMERE.. 

Nedenunder har jeg tatt med noen customer comments - det er nesten utelukkende bare positivt.
Men jeg har uthevet en som er en smule negativ fra Berkerly.  Personlig har jeg ikke lest boken ennå,
men det ovenstående gjorde et dypt inntrykk og understreker det sentrale i f.eks. Choice Theory. Mitt forhold til personlighetstester, som jeg har tatt noen av, er at de kan virke undertrykkende og begrensende  - vi plasserer folk i bokser:  "Slik er de...."  Det er mulig min negative holdning vil forandre seg når jeg har lest boken ----?
 
 

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Avg. Customer Rating:  ; Number of Reviews: 15
 

coryqpublic@hotmail.com from Somewhere in California , 11 August, 1999 
Not perfect, but highly valuable and interesting 
Overall, I think this is a wonderful book and I even think it should be introduced in schools. When you take the test and find out your personality type, you can then read about your type. For the most part, its quite accurate, although I was reading things that were supposedly about me that weren't necessarily true. However, I feel it would be safe to say that practically everybody fits in roughly into one category mostly. But what I think is more important than just learning about yourself, but learning about others. This book teaches you some things you may loathe in others but its not their fault, just their natural personality. Next time you run into someone who is demanding, or a neat freak, or is loud and rude, you will be more tolerant of them. I would've given this 5 stars, because I think they should've expanded on the sub-types (I'm an INFP) instead of going on at length about the main types. But other than that, excellent book! 

rdesjardin@aol.com from Orlando, FL , 30 July, 1999 
Great tool for understanding yourself and others! 
The title says it all. I read the section on my type (INFJ) and I felt that, finally, someone understood me and my motivations. Being an NF, I assumed that everyone was looking for self-actualization like I was. Now I know that they're not, at least not in the way I thought. Like others have said, the people around me are sick of hearing me go on and on about "SP this" and "NT that," but that doesn't stop me because I've found it an excellent shorthand way of explaining behaviors. I would like to see a book discussing the "darker side" of the temperaments--are certain temperaments prone to certain neuroses? I recommend PUMII highly. 
 
 

A reader from Boston, MA , 7 July, 1999 
Great voyage 
I really enjoyed the NT style writing in this new book. Dr. Keirsey has influenced me to learn more about myself and to explore the others. When I bought this book I also ordered a complimentary booklet called Understanding Yourself and Others an Introduction to Temperament. I found this to be a very helpful resource when learning about the temperaments. I have benefited so much from this information I hope everyone who comes in contact with this information have the same revelations as I did. 

agreenbank@webmd.net from Los Angeles , 8 June, 1999 
This book can change your life for the better! 
After reading Please Understand Me II, I found myself suspending harsh judgment toward others in favor of accepting and understanding why and how habits, behaviors, and preferences differ from mine. My ENTJ type is only 2% of the population and this book not only explains how this type fits in with all the others, but also how to apply this to both dating and leadership. Unlike arbitrary constructions like astrology, you can test and retest this science and find that it works over and over again! If you are concerned with putting people "in a box," keep in mind that the personality inventory accounts for preferences and motivation, not necessarily actions. I found this refreshing after studying a concrete business model that types people according to what they do behaviorally without considering their inherent motivations and preferences. I would highly recommend this to anyone who has ever tested as an intuitive "N", for anyone who wants to understand team dynamics in any environment, and for those of you who feel like your significant other just doesn't understand where you are coming from... 

A reader from Berkeley , 14 May, 1999 
interesting but not particularly useful 
I first took the temperament test in college and found I was INTJ, which is supposedly a rare occurence. While it was interesting to have an explanation and some quantitative data on how I function the way I do, it was not practical knowledge. I took the test again this year and am still in that marginal INTJ group. I find it really interesting that these researchers fall into the pitfall of speculating on temperaments of people dead before the first edition of this book came out, such as Ayn Rand. For something so meticulously researched and designed to suddenly jump into the realm of speculation and bad science makes me question the aim of this book and put it back on the shelf. I question the validity of the temperament compatibilities (which reads suspiciously like astrology), as well as the attempt by the authors to place temperaments into career pathways and interests. Some people may find this all very elucidating and helpful, but not many, and I can only see this book being important to clinical psychologists trying to help patients figure out who the heck they are and how. 

robgol@prodigy.net from seattle,wa , 1 May, 1999 
One of the most interesting books I have ever read! 
I was first intimidated by the length and outline of the book, so I read bits and pieces to get a feel for the subject matter.Then I jumped in and read it cover to cover. I learned so much about myself and my friends. My office workers are a little tired of hearing me talk about it, but I seem to be getting more into it. I committed myself to memorizing all of its details so I can inform others of it. My friends who like archetypal concepts are intrigued by what I told them about themselves and their relationships. Theirs a wealth of ideas to work with and I was able to sythesize another Jungian book I once learned years ago to add to my understanding of myself and others. 

A reader in Illinois from US , 18 April, 1999 
A very worthwhile read 
I found Please Understand Me to be very basic and not possessing the depth of the original Gifts Differing book. Please Understand Me II is a phenominal book. It provides much more in-depth coverage and insights than Please Understand Me. It contains a great deal of new and useful information on the application of MBTI to relationships and provides an outstanding conceptual framework for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each type. If you're already familiar with MBTI - this is a "don't miss" book!! As a consultant and manager of people, I've found the insights in the book to be invaluable. 

A reader from Houston, TX , 10 April, 1999 
the ULTIMATE theory of personality 
I wish that I could give Please Understand Me II much more than five stars in this forum because such a rating does not do justice to this astouding work. Vastly superior to the excellent first version, II expands upon the ongoing research into temperament psychology with the most cogent and cohesive structure that I've seen in any book in the field. In short, IT ROCKS!!! Keirsey's volume has given me invaluable insight into the workings of the people around me that most people take a lifetime to achieve. My friends and relatives are utterly sick of hearing me talk about this book, but I just can't keep myself from applying the things that I've learned from the book to everyday life. As for claims that the book is hard to understand, if you can pass 11th grade English you shouldn't have any trouble with PUMII. 

Brian Sorgatz, Composer Artisan ("ISFP") from Sacramento, California , 8 April, 1999 
Even Better than the Original 
Some people will tell you that PUMII is not as good as the original. Don't believe it! In this new edition, Keirsey wisely elaborates on the important distinctions between his theory and Jungian "elementalism." He also distinguishes important terms that are interchangeable in everyday speech (e.g., the SP's "excitement" vs. the NF's "enthusiasm"). His new book is considerably thicker than the earlier one, but it's worth it: complex ideas require space for clarification. Judgments of this kind are subjective, of course, but I also found Keirsey's description of my particular temperament to be more accurate in the sequel. 

Susan Martin from Irving, Texas , 9 March, 1999 
A very thought provoking book
The book did exactly what I had hoped. It opened a dialogue. No book is going to be able to show you a perfect match for your "temperament," but this was really close. It helps me understand why I do the things I do. I especially like "Different Drummer." 

A reader from Boston, MA , 12 February, 1999 
Complex, and Hard to Read 
I found the new version of Please Understand Me to be hard to read, written in a very academic language. What made this book very easy to understand was a companion title I purchased called Understanding Yourself and Others, An Introduction to Temperament, by Linda V. Berens, Ph.D.. This book simplified the ideas in Please Understand Me II, but did not lose the richness of the concepts. I recommend purchasing it with Please Understand Me II, it is only $4.95. 

A reader from Australia , 2 February, 1999 
Sequels are never as good as the original... 
David Keirsey's original Please Understand Me was probably the culprit which built up the high expectation I had had for Please Understand Me II. While I find the original book extremely enlightening, the "sequel" is unfortunately disappointing. I can only attribute the deterioration in quality to Keirsey's focusing on two traits out of the original four from Myers-Briggs in an attempt to explain categorical temperaments. Unfortunately, in my opinion, this approach strips the MBTI of its relatively versatile coverage of the elements that constitute personhood and robs the four fundamental temperaments as portrayed by Keirsay of dimension. Having said that, it is still an interesting book to read but I cannot help questioning its practical value. 

Bitzco Fignutt, PhD. from Los Angeles, California , 29 January, 1999 
Fascinatingly accurate with intensely advanced insights. 
As a 12th year sociologist currently employed at UCLA, I was startled by the depth of this book's insightful observations and theories. Never have I seen all my years' research compounded into one volume and analyzed in such advanced extrapolation. As I read I no longer felt like a weathered university professor, but rather like a high school student enthralled by his first sociology lesson. All my previous theories were challenged as I saw every minutest detail of my research reconfigured like the pieces of a puzzle. Facts that had for years appeared completely unrelated were congealing into one great entity of enlightenment which is Keirsey's theory. The author explores the deepest reaches of the human spirit, while the vitality of the soul permeates each page of his research. I wholeheartedly bestow my professional endorsement on this newest development of Keirsey. 

A reader from Bel Air, MD , 26 October, 1998 
Portal into differing personalities. 
I found the book to be very good. It went along way in explaining why people differ and the characterisitics we can expect to find in each different personality type. Outstanding explanation on why couple's encounter problems in their relationships. Enjoyed the pointers on child-rearing as well. Would have liked to see the book expanded in child-rearing tips and how to identify the personality of a child. This deficiency kept me from giving it 5 stars. 

Jack Falt (jfalt@trytel.com) from Ottawa, Canada , 18 September, 1998 
The definitive work on Temperament theory. 
Book Review: Please Understand Me II by David Keirsey, Prometheus Nemesis Book Co.. 1998, 350 pg. By Jack Falt 

Back in 1978 Keirsey and Bates wrote Please Understand Me. It was one of the first books to popularize the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI), and it included "The Keirsey Temperament Sorter" so people could get a sense of what their psychological type was. However, Keirsey and Bates main interest in the MBTI was to use it as a way to determine temperament. They saw that the SP, SJ, NF and NT grouping of types fit the four temperaments that Hippocrates had written about twenty-five hundred years ago. 

Keirsey had long been interested in the concept of temperament, and while he does discuss the MBTI preferences, both books focus mainly on temperament. Unfortunately, in the first book he labelled the four temperaments with the names of Greek gods, Dionysus, Epimetheus, Apollo and Prometheus. I found these names really difficult to work with when I first read the original book, and had to have a dictionary in my hand to make any sense out of some of the material. In the intervening years Keirsey (Marilyn Bates has since died) renamed them: Artisan for the SP, Guardian for the SJ, Idealist for the NF, and Rational for the NT, which made for easier reading. 

In the revised edition "The Keirsey Temperament Sorter II" has been updated with some different questions, and this can still be used to determine your type. He has added "The Keirsey FourTypes Sorter" which determines only your temperament. Both of these quizzes are also on his web site: 

The book discusses in detail the similarities between temperaments and MBTI, and also how they are different. The MBTI bases psychological type on internal mental functioning. Keirsey finds it more useful to stick to what can be observed or people's behaviour: how people use words and tools. 

Words are either abstract or concrete, and tools are used in a mainly cooperative or utilitarian way. Thus, SPs use mainly concrete words and use tools in a utilitarian way; SJs are concrete and cooperative; NFs are abstract and cooperative; and NTs are abstract and utilitarian. According to Keirsey, temperament determines behaviour. 

Keirsey devotes a chapter to each temperament, including a description of each of the four psychological types included in that temperament, e.g. Rationals include: INTJ, INTP, ENTP and ENTJ. As would be expected the descriptions focus more on behaviour than on internal thought processes. Each temperament is described in terms of language, intellect, interest, orientation, self- image, values and social role. The book is well set up as it has numerous charts, and while emphasizing a specific temperament, it also shows the corresponding entries for the other three temperaments. 

Having given a basic description of each temperament, the book then devotes a chapter to the three main areas of life: mating, parenting and leading. 

In mating styles the Artisan is the Playmate, the Guardian is the Helpmate, the Idealist is the Soulmate, and the Rational is the Mindmate. While any temperament can and does marry any of the four temperaments, Keirsey finds that people tend to be attracted to their opposite: Artisans to Guardians, and Idealists to Rationals. He further describes how each temperament is likely to get along with each of the other temperaments and then gives further detail into how the temperament is likely to interact with each of the four types within the opposite temperament, e.g. an Artisan with a Guardian (ISTJ, ISFJ, ESTJ and ESFJ). 

In the Parenting chapter, Keirsey describes children with each of the four temperaments and describes each of the combinations of temperament of parent and child. The Artisan parent tends to be the Liberator and is very tolerant of the child's behaviour. The Guardian parent sees the job of parenting as one of socializing the child. The Idealist parent wants to harmonize all relationships the child has. The Rational parent wants children to become individuals. The main task of all parents is to stimulate children to help them develop their potential. 

There are also descriptions of how each temperament learns best. In his work as a school psychologist, Keirsey found that many behaviour problems were the result of poor instruction techniques rather than problems such as ADD or ADHS. The Artisan child needs lots of hands-on learning. The Guardian is more willing to do what he is told. The Idealist wants to be authentic and get along. The Rational just loves to soak up information, but quickly spots the teacher who doesn't know the material. 

The final chapter looks at leadership. Keirsey sees leadership as a function of intelligence. He sees that each temperament has a main intellectual skill with lesser ability in the other forms of intelligence. Artisans are best at tactics, Guardians at logistics, Idealists at diplomacy, and Rationals at strategy. Churchill was a good example of a tactician. He could quickly accesses what was happening and knew what to do next. Washington was the man to lead the new nation with his ability to organize all of the details needed to bring the country out of the chaos of war. Gandhi used his example of passive resistance as the diplomatic way to bring about the end of British rule in India. Lincoln, the Rational, used his skill at strategy to give the leadership required to win the civil war. Keirsey makes the point that each of these intelligences are needed in society. As such, each intellectual skill is equally valid. Unfortunately, most intelligence tests do not measure these traits. 

This updated version of Please understand Me II is almost double the size of the original. In the intervening years Keirsey has accumulated a lot of additional material that he has included in his latest book. There is a great deal of useful information for those who prefer the MBTI, and you might find that the concept of temperament is well worth considering and another useful tool to add to your psychological tool bag. < P > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Jack Falt is qualified in the administration of the MBTI . Through his company called Appreciating Differences he gives workshops and presentations on MBTI and True Colors. He is president of the APT - Ottawa-Carleton chapter, and is the membership coordinator for the Ontario Aassoc. of APT. END