These best Enneagram books for your personality type provide invaluable insight into the nine types of human personalities. It’s not just another fun quiz to determine your Harry Potter house; rather, the Enneagram is so beloved because it has life-changing power because it identifies and explores each type’s motivations, fears, deepest desires and coping mechanisms.
These are the nine types. Do you know yours?:
- 1- The Perfectionist / The Reformer
- 2- The Helper / The Giver
- 3 – The Achiever / The Performer
- 4 – The Romantic / The Individualist
- 5 – The Investigator / The Observer
- 6 – The Loyalist / The Devil’s Advocate / The Questioner
- 7 – The Enthusiast / The Epicure / The Adventurer
- 8 – The Challenger / The Asserter / The Boss
- 9 – The Peacemaker / The Mediator
I’m a type 6 and my Enneagram journey has taught me more than anything has ever taught me about my behavior and that of those around me. It truly helps you “get” a person at their core — both strengths and weaknesses, and what’s behind it all.
As a type 6, The Loyalist / The Devil’s Advocate / The Questioner, my behavior is driven by fear itself and insecurity about the future, which can obviously have its negative aspects (like anxiety), but also makes me prepared, loyal, reliable and able to analyze all sides of an issue.
The Enneagram also helps me offer empathy to other types; for example, my husband is a type 3, The Achiever / The Performer, which makes him strive for greatness, but also fear failure. With my knowledge of the Enneagram, I can provide him with extra encouragement during those moments when things aren’t going right for him.
Are you ready to start or continue your own Enneagram journey? Below I provide my recommendation for the best Enneagram test online, and then I share my best Enneagram books for your personality type. I have personally read and loved them all, as they each offer a unique look at the Enneagram and continue to reinforce the principles for me.
Best Enneagram Test Online
I recommend the paid test directly from The Enneagram Institute. I took a few free tests that I found online, but they left me confused. It wasn’t until I took this test that I knew I hit on the correct type for myself.
Since the Enneagram is about the deeper beliefs that motivate your actions for better or worse, I have found that upon learning your Enneagram type, you can feel naked, defensive, or exposed. I did! But, that’s a good thing, and it’s the first step that you are on the right path toward a powerful exploration of what makes you tick.
Also, I’ve heard that some people can just read about the Enneagram types and know which one they are.
The Best Enneagram Books
- The Honest Enneagram – my top pick
- The Road Back to You – the best seller
Details on All of the Best Enneagram Books
The Enneagram in Love: A Roadmap for Building and Strengthening Romantic Relationships by Stephanie Barron Hall
Best for those looking to better connect with and/or understand their partner
The Enneagram in Love can help you not just understand yourself as a solitary being, but it can also help enhance your romantic life. This specific book helps you improve loving relationships and connect more fully with your partner.
It’s an in-depth analysis of the ways each of the nine types acts in romantic relationships: how they process and express intimacy, themselves, and conflict. Discover your strengths as a couple and get actionable advice for engaging with each other, broken down by each type and how that type relates to every other type.
P.S. I had my husband listen to “our” chapter: 6 (me) and 3 (him), and we were both nodding in agreement the whole time. That’s an a-ha moment!
The Honest Enneagram by Sarajane Case
Best for those looking for a really practical and easy-to-reference illustrated guide to the 9 Enneagram types
My top pick
The Honest Enneagram is so good that, before I even finished the audiobook, I purchased a hard copy.
Author Sarajane Case is certified in the Enneagram, a popular Instagrammer, has a podcast, and is a coach. She describes each Enneagram type in ways that are relatable, easy to understand, encouraging, and empathetic. While reading this specific book, I was uniquely able to pinpoint people in my life who fell into each type based on her descriptions.
But most importantly, this book offers action steps each Enneagram type can take to better themselves. This has been immensely helpful to me both personally and in terms of relating to others. I can’t think of anything more potentially life-changing!
Milleneagram: The Enneagram Guide for Discovering Your Truest, Baddest Self by Hannah Paasch
Best for millenials
Millenneagram exceeded my expectations! I’m not really a millennial, so I didn’t think I would relate, but Hannah Paasch brings new life to the Enneagram by defining it in today’s millennial terms.
With pop culture references (including so much Hamilton), irreverent humor, and empowering affirmations, she reframes the nine Enneagram types with fresh new names that enable you to immediately “get it:” 1 – The Machine; 2 – The Parent; 3 – The Winner; 4 – The Tortured Artist; 5 – The Detective; 6 – The Oracle; 7 – The Party; 8 – The Dragon; and 9 – The Wallflower.
I was pleasantly surprised by how fun and easy it was to learn about the Enneagram and improve myself through this modern lens. It’s one of the best Enneagram books for your personality type because it has a sense of humor.
The Path Between Us: An Enneagram Journey to Healthy Relationships by Suzanne Stabile
Best for those looking to explore conflict and misunderstanding among the Enneagram types. It’s particularly helpful for work relationships.
2018 IVP Readers’ Choice Award
The Path Between Us uniquely and empathetically explores how others in our lives process life. When you don’t totally “get it,” all kinds of relationships can be hard, from family to friends and colleagues.
Suzanne Stabile has a really insightful way of offering wisdom on how relationships between the Enneagram types work and conflict with each other. It answers the question, “Why is s/he acting this way?” with eye-opening revelations.
The answers will assist you in building bridges throughout all of your relationships.
Reading People: How Seeing The World Through The Lens Of Personality Changes Everything by Anne Bogel
Best for fans of author Anne Bogel and her blog Modern Mrs. Darcy and/or podcast What Should I Read Next, as well as those looking to learn more about their personality beyond the Enneagram
Reading People is popular book blogger Anne Bogel’s take on the Enneagram and more, for readers wanting to dig deeper into what makes them unique. She explains not just the Enneagram but also the Myers-Briggs personality test (which I also love) and others. She gives readers life-changing insights that can be gained from each and how to apply them in everyday aspects of real life, in the authentic and friendly voice her readers know and love.
The Road Back to You
Best for those who enjoy a bit of a religious bent to their Enneagram learnings
- Over 500,000 sold
- Foreword INDIES 2016 Book of the Year Awards finalist
The Road Back to You is probably the most popular one of the best Enneagram books for your personality type. It’s the one I see people most often “start” their Enneagram journey by reading.
The premise is that what you don’t know about yourself can hurt you and your relationships, including with God. While it’s not primarily religious, it does have a religious bent. It’s both a practical and comprehensive examination of the Enneagram, with added Christian spirituality for a deeper love for God. You will learn about each type in detail, and in ways that inspire compassion.
You can also use The Road Back to You Study Guide while reading this book.
The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth by Christopher L. Hueuertz
Best for spiritual and intellectual types (like Enneagram 5’s!)
Over 100,000 copies sold
In The Sacred Enneagram, Chris Heuertz writes intellectually about the Enneagram as a sacred map to the soul. He explores our lies about who we think we are and why this keeps us trapped in self-defeat. He also uncovers the nine ways we find our way “home” to our “True Self” and to God.
He has taught the Enneagram all over the world, and has trained under some of the great living Enneagram masters to provide rich insight to help you understand the motivations behind your type — not just caricatures and stereotypes, free yourself from destructive patterns, grow spiritually and serve your community.
You can also use The Sacred Enneagram Workbook while reading this book.
Conclusion
Those are the best Enneagram books for your personality type. To recap and help you decide what to read first or next, my top pick is The Honest Enneagram and the best seller is The Road Back to You.
