Gear Design and Performance Book

I had to sell my unborn child to the Lord of Fantasy to get my hands on this book, and I'm glad I did.

Okay, so I had to pay more than the usual amount for it on Amazon Marketplace. I'm a cheapskate, but selling my unborn child to the Lord of Fantasy sounds more epic.

Basically, this book is what it claims to be -- an exploration of the nine Enneagram types through literary characters, some more well known than others. The author caught me off guard a few times (Mr. Darcy, a 2? What? But the more I thought about how he overruns Bingley in a desire to "help" him avoid fortune-hunters, the more I realized she had a point) and I nodded my head at other times (there really is no better example of a healthy 1 than Atticus Finch from "To Kill a Mockingbird").

More importantly, though, she finally made me understand Enneagram 3's. Using Scarlett O'Hara was a stroke of brilliance.

She writes a bit about the character, and quotes scenes from the books in question to illustrate her point -- referencing Scarlett, Rhett, Ripley from "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "The Death of a Salesman," Anna Karenina, Bridget Jones, and many others. I thought the chapters on 1, 3, 4, and 7 were the most vibrant, but felt a bit disappointed in her choices for 6 (though Hamlet is a good one). She takes the time to find examples for both wings for every type, and the three social variants, which I appreciated.

It's a shame this book is somewhat hard to find (and costly) since it's a valuable resource. Though, I also wished it were a little more up do date, with more modern (or at least, better known in our times) characters. Most people will recognize Scarlett and Anna Karenina enough to understand a 3w4 and a 4w3 when you use them as examples, but a lot of the other characters are more obscure, so I must search further on my own for "ideal examples" to use in conversations.