Title: Reading People | Author: Anne Bogel | Published: 2017 | EARLY REVIEWER
I was very excited when I had the opportunity to join the Reading People launch team a couple months ago. I have been an avid fan of the Modern Mrs. Darcy and the announcement of Anne Bogel’s new book Reading People was right up my alley.
Anne came up with the idea for her book after she became fascinated with personality types, primarily her own and her families, and why people acted a certain way or differently than herself. That’s definitely a very broad start, but Reading People is the perfect book for anyone curious about all the different personality profiles, types, tests, quizzes, etc. you might find out in the interwebs.
One appeal to this book for me, was that I have had first hand experience taking many of the tests she covers in the book, both through school but also at my work. Anne covers some of the most popular profiles you may have heard of including:
- Anne’s Reading Personality Quiz
- Five Love Languages
- Myers Briggs / 16 Personalities
- Strengths Finder
- Keirsey’s Temperament Sorter
- Enneagram
Each profile/test type has it’s own chapter devoted to her research into the testing, plus her own results and along with personal experiences with friends and family going through the process. Some of the tests or profiles take more time, especially if you find you might closely relate to a couple different types just by reading the descriptions. The questions can be tricky but Anne provides a great resource with extra descriptions of each, plus suggestions on how best to approach each test and evaluate your results.
I came away from reading Anne’s book with so many highlights, other books to read, tests to take, and insights to share with my family and friends. Of course, of all the quizzes I had yet to take (like which Jane Austen character would you marry, or which Disney princess are you), I had to start with Anne’s Reading Personality Quiz. The result was not shocking to me, or probably anyone else that knows me:
Reading People was an amazing adventure into the depths of our personalities and a great eye-opener for me on how I relate with others, react to situations, expectations I set for myself and others, and gave me great tools and information to open my mind to more possibilities that could help strengthen all my relationships. Even if you’re just a diehard fan of Facebook’s quirky quizzes, you will find Reading People to be informative and enjoyable to read.
Reading People by Anne Bogel comes out September 19th but if you pre-order you get a FREE audio version of the book, plus exclusive access to Anne’s Reading Personality class. 
Keep reading for my results and experiences with personality profiles and tests.
I’ve found I’m almost spot on with every profile/test I’ve taken. I haven’t been able to track down my original Myers Briggs profile from high school, but I’m definitely on the hunt hoping it’s locked in a filing cabinets somewhere to compare the present to the past.
One short route to find out your Myers Briggs temperament type is to visit the 16 Personalities website. It took me a bout 5 minutes and I’m pretty sure these results are different than what I previously had (maybe I was an ENFP or something along those lines). I’m now an ISFJ aka “The Defender”.
I’ve taken the Five Love Languages profile a couple of times and every once in awhile the order shifts, but for the most part I’m pretty consistent with the top three alternating around (probably depending on what might be going on in my life):
- Physical Touch
- Quality Time
- Words of Affirmation
- Acts of Service
- Receiving Gifts
Strengths Finder is one that does require a cost but it’s so worth it. You read the first 30 pages of the book, complete the quiz, and get your top 5 results. Reading through each one, it’s hard not to associate a strength with ourselves – they all seem to fit in some way. But I couldn’t agree more with my results from 8 years ago:
- Strategic
- Futuristic
- Developer
- Discipline
- Empathy
I haven’t had the chance to take the Enneagram Test. The official version does involve a cost but a quick google search produced a handful of website that you can take a similar test for free.
Of course, this is only a small scale of the different profiles and tests out there but it was such an adventure to follow along and see how I relate and compare to the stories in the book, and Anne herself.
Happy reading, friends.
<3,
Lauren
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