One evening a few summers ago, my husband was "on the net", so I sat down with a new book to enjoy some me-time. Now, this is not the kind of book you read sequentially, starting on page one and progressing through. I flipped to the section I was interested in and began to read. I smiled to myself, soon I found myself nodding (in agreement!). Next thing I knew, I was laughing. We've been married for over 17 years, and by now my husband knows me well enough to know that if a book makes me laugh, he'd better check into it. He disconnected from the Internet and came over to see what I was finding so amusing. Soon we were both laughing. We were finding ourselves in the descriptions in this book. We are both interested in personality types and temperaments, and have found several books on these that have been helpful in understanding ourselves, each other and people we come in contact with. This particular book is directed to women. The author labels the four most common personality types with "P" words: powerful, popular, peaceful and perfect. My husband and I are not the same personality type (heaven help our kids if we were!). In fact, this book says that a combination of our two particular types is the second most likely to end in divorce! Perhaps without a commitment to make it through those times when we don't see eye to eye, that could be true. More often than not, we have found that an area of weakness for one of us is an area of strength for the other. If we can see each other as a complement, we can enjoy the diversity and benefit from it. We both have strengths and weaknesses. I really like the way this book is organized (does this give any clues to my personality???). In Part One, Donna discusses the strengths, the weaknesses and how to make the most of each temperament. In part two, she presents the male temperament with the same four P's. (I think she knows my husband - the description of his temperament was dead-on.) In Part Three, she helps you understand your marriage, with chapters on the various combinations. Part Four will give you some insights into your children's temperaments. This book is a funny, engaging resource on temperaments. If you have never read anything on personality styles or temperaments before, I highly recommend this very readable book. We have a Temperament Central page, check it out for links to our chart of temperaments and other links on the internet. -Marilyn Powell |
The Armchair Academic Women and Temperaments |
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This page was last updated on: October 8, 2001
One evening a few summers ago, my husband was "on the net", so I sat down with a new book to enjoy some me-time. Now, this is not the kind of book you read sequentially, starting on page one and progressing through. I flipped to the section I was interested in and began to read. I smiled to myself, soon I found myself nodding (in agreement!). Next thing I knew, I was laughing. We've been married for over 17 years, and by now my husband knows me well enough to know that if a book makes me laugh, he'd better check into it. He disconnected from the Internet and came over to see what I was finding so amusing. Soon we were both laughing. We were finding ourselves in the descriptions in this book. We are both interested in personality types and temperaments, and have found several books on these that have been helpful in understanding ourselves, each other and people we come in contact with. This particular book is directed to women. The author labels the four most common personality types with "P" words: powerful, popular, peaceful and perfect. My husband and I are not the same personality type (heaven help our kids if we were!). In fact, this book says that a combination of our two particular types is the second most likely to end in divorce! Perhaps without a commitment to make it through those times when we don't see eye to eye, that could be true. More often than not, we have found that an area of weakness for one of us is an area of strength for the other. If we can see each other as a complement, we can enjoy the diversity and benefit from it. We both have strengths and weaknesses. I really like the way this book is organized (does this give any clues to my personality???). In Part One, Donna discusses the strengths, the weaknesses and how to make the most of each temperament. In part two, she presents the male temperament with the same four P's. (I think she knows my husband - the description of his temperament was dead-on.) In Part Three, she helps you understand your marriage, with chapters on the various combinations. Part Four will give you some insights into your children's temperaments. This book is a funny, engaging resource on temperaments. If you have never read anything on personality styles or temperaments before, I highly recommend this very readable book. We have a Temperament Central page, check it out for links to our chart of temperaments and other links on the internet. -Marilyn Powell |
"I haven't figured it all out, but I do know one thing: understanding the temperaments has been the single most helpful tool (after the Bible, of course) I've ever found for figuring out this crazy, mixed-up world and the fruits and nuts who populate it. It has even helped me to make some sense of my own zany personality, and that's saying something." -Donna Partow A Woman's Guide to the Temperaments |