The Brain-Based Enneagram: You are not A number Hardcover – May 26, 2020

This short (~120 pages) book is truly beautiful, easily the most beautiful Enneagram book I have seen. The illustrations convey a lot of information. It's a work of art. I hope that they fix the Kindle version if it has a problem.I skimmed the book and the general thesis of this first volume is that we all have capacity in every one of the 9 numbers (and their wings). Most of the Enneagram books say this, but that is the central idea of this book. If you take a test (elsewhere) that gives you a result for all the numbers, you can evaluate the numbers, paying attention to which styles are strengths for you and which are weaknesses. The book walks you through the analysis process. It has some methods for doing that I have never seen before and look promising.The book discusses how your style capacities tie in with your physical brain and neuropsychology.The author gives information for further resources and continuing research. At the beginning of the book is the history of the Enneagram and the basics of the system for people who are just encountering the system. It seems suitable for new people as well as old timers. Many advanced concepts from the Enneagram are not present which is not surprising for a book that is so short. But what it does, it does well.Recommended.Love the sub-title: "You are not A number". Possibly a reference to "The Prisoner" TV show?The book definitely makes the point that we do not have a single style of interacting with the world, we have many ways of acting/performing and some work better for us than others. Using the Enneagram test can help us figure out which strategies work best for us currently.

The quality of this book, which is stunning, is paired perfectly with the phenomenal content inside. It is evident that an enormous amount of time and effort was put into making this work on the Enneagram both visually appealing and approachable to the reader.With any new method of study directed towards better understanding oneself it is certainly necessary to embrace it with an open mind and patience through the process. Going through this book with patience is a worthy process.You will gain a better knowledge of your whole identity as a person through the practices and brain-based expertise in this book. I am grateful for a resource that does not place me in the box of “you are this one number or these four letters”, but rather expands my understanding of all the nuances of my self to show me how to be the healthiest version of me I can be.I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone in any season of their life. We are all in a place where more self awareness can improve our relationships in every corner of our lives. This book by Dr. Jerome Lubbe is not a cure all, self help book. It is a resource to gain a greater understanding of me and why I function the way I do. I am thankful to him and his team for bringing this work to life. It will undoubtedly change mine and has the potential to change yours if you invest the time to do so.As a footnote...my hope for the negative reviews based on the Kindle error, which has been resolved, will be updated to speak to the book itself and not a formatting issue.

I’ve been fascinated with the Enneagram for a few years and I pre-ordered this after reading Richard Rohr’s blog post about it. This is definitely different and I really enjoyed the unique way Dr Jerome explained the enneagram with brain stem, right and left hemispheres. The same way we use all 3 parts of the brain is the same way the enneagram is to be understood. We possess all 9 traits and are not merely a number. We just have high capacity for some and others don’t come as easy. I really appreciated this approach because I score high on both 2 and 7 and this book took some pressure off to fit a certain number mold.Great concept but it lacked deeper development of each number. I was disappointed by the same info being repeated for each triad numbers. Worth reading but can’t give it a 5 star review. Also the book is huge for only 120 pages. Didn’t really see the need to make it so big.

The Brain-Based Enneagram by Dr. Jerome Lubbe @doctor.jerome presents an original model of the Enneagram based on neuroscience.I discovered this amazing book via Lubbe's live interview on IGTV with Drew Moser @enneagrammers. In the interview, Lubbe introduces the idea of the whole-identity Enneagram. His message is that we are not our number, and he shifts the language to help people avoid boxing themselves in unintentionally.Lubbe provides a fresh perspective on the Enneagram by literally turning it up-side down - anchoring number 9 at the bottom. This orientation, when overlaid on the brain, aligns the three Centers of Intelligence with the brain-stem (body), right-hemisphere (heart), and left-hemisphere (head). Just as the brain functions holistically, Lubbe encourages readers to view themselves as a whole identity.The connection between the Enneagram and neuroscience fascinates me. As a psychology major in college, my favorite class was Brain & Behavior. I believe we should all be talking about neuroplasticity and growth mindset (especially in this time of uncertainty and need for change). I love Lubbe's statement, "We can hack the Enneagram and improve our efficiency (in any of the numbers) by applying what we know about neurological function." He goes on to say we have the opportunity to "chart a science-based path for personal development."In the book, Lubbe provides a basic explanation of how the brain works to help readers understand the brain-based model. He also presents a unique system of applying the RHETI results to our whole-identity profile.If you want to learn more about the whole-identity model check out Lubbe's YouTube videos, where he talks about the experience of leaning into your home number and how you experience encountering other numbers.