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Ready to dive in and learn all that there is to know about the enneagram? Here is a huge list of the best enneagram books for personal growth!
The enneagram is a personality system that is grown in popularity over the last few decades. It’s actually based in much older roots but was really the late 1900’s that it was made into what it is known as today.
The enneagram has grown in popularity because it’s more than just a personality label. It’s a system for knowing WHO you are, WHY you are the way you are, and HOW you can grow to be the best version of yourself.
Most personality typing systems just stop at the who you are and leave you with a label. The fact that the enneagram goes above and beyond the label is what makes it so popular and useful. It’s a game changer in personal growth and for learning how to love others better.
I’m going to provide a list of all the great enneagram books for if/when you are ready to dive in and learn all that there is to know about the enneagram! Note: my site (and my instagram account) are great places to continually learn about the enneagram but I wanted to make sure you know about all the great enneagram books that are out there as well.
If you are just starting your enneagram journey you’ll want to check out my intro posts: How to Find Your Enneagram Type and The Nine Enneagram Types: A Brief Overview.
The Best Enneagram Books for Personal Growth
Introductory Enneagram Books
The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery
This book written by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile (type 4 and type 2) is a great easy read and still full of good enneagram information. It is lightly Christian based for those who want a Christian based book. It also has a study guide which makes it great for book groups.
The Essential Enneagram
This simple to understand introductory enneagram book written by David Daniels, MD (a type 6) and Virginia Price, PH.D includes an in book enneagram test to help you narrow down your type. It also includes sections on how to confirm your type, best practices for each type, and more.
In-Depth Enneagram Books
The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Types
This lovely big book is by Don Richard Riso (type 4) and Russ Hudson (type 5) includes great questionnaires to help you discover your type, covers red flags and wake up calls for each type, how each type reacts in stress, and where they need to head for growth. One of my favorite aspects of this book is the many block sections that give specific practices for each type to grow.
The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge
If you want to know why two type 4’s can look so different than this in-depth book by Beatrice Chestnut, PhD (type 2) is for you! The Complete Enneagram covers all the basic enneagram facts but it also digs deep into what are known as the subtypes for each type. Depending on your instinctual subtype, your enneagram number can look quite different and may even look like another type. This book gives growth tips for not just the types but their subtypes as well (along with a section in the back for mistypes!)
Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery
Yet another hefty book by Don Richard Riso (type 4) and Russ Hudson (type 5). These guys write so much great information on the enneagram! This book is unique in that it really digs into the levels of development (or levels of health) for each type. There are nine levels of healthy ranging from healthy to unhealthy and depending on your level of health, your type can look a little different.
The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life
This book by Helen Palmer (type 6) covers all the basic enneagram information but also goes into typical family history, interactions and relationships between the types, things to be aware of, and preoccupations for each type.
The Art of Typing: Powerful Tools for Enneagram Typing
This book written by Ginger Lapid-Bogda (type 2) might be best suited for enneagram coaches and counselors but it is an easy ready with great graphics and illustrations that make it simple to understand the enneagram types. It does cover some of the lesser talked about aspects like the Harmonic Triads but it’s done in an easy to understand way and is helpful for finding your true enneagram type.
Relationship Enneagram Books
The enneagram is first and foremost for your own personal growth and development. That said, it is also an extremely useful tool for understanding others better and with that understanding comes relating and loving other types better. Listed below, you’ll find books that use the enneagram for marriage and parenting.
The Path Between Us: An Enneagram Journey to Healthy Relationships
This easy to read book by Suzanne Stabile (type 2) is sort of like the companion book to The Road Back To You which she co-authored. It’s on the introductory side which makes it a great read for anyone and it focuses on understanding the other types so that you can have healthy relationships. There are sidebars that show the how each type may interact with the other eight types and each type’s section ends with a full page of how to interact with others based on that type and how others can interact with that type. It is lightly Christian based for those who want a Christian based book. There is also a study guide.
Becoming Us: Using the Enneagram to Create a Thriving Gospel-Centered Marriage
Written by Beth McCord (type 9) and her husband Jeff McCord (type 6) this book is my go-to recommendation for using the enneagram with marriage! It is Christian based. It’s very thorough giving the basic explanations of the types but also goes into conflict styles, communication styles for each type as well as tips for the spouse of each type on how to communicate, love, affirm, relate in conflict, and more.
The Enneagram in Love: A Roadmap for Building and Strengthening Romantic Relationships
Stephanie Barron Hall (type 3) gives a great breakdown of each of the nine types but also goes above and beyond by exploring how each type pairing (all 45 possibilities!) plays out. She also gives a roadmap for solving potential problem spots.
The Enneagram in Love and Work: Understanding Your Intimate & Business Relationships
Helen Palmer (type 6) digs into relationships and how they play out in both work relationships as well as love relationships. It includes sections on living with each type, intimacy, signals each type sends, how each type is in the workplace, leadership types, and more.
Knowing Me, Knowing Them: Understand Your Parenting Personality by Discovering the Enneagram
This book written by Tracy Tresidder, Margaret Loftus, and Jacqui Pollock is very helpful for parents by learning how to become better parents when understanding their strengths and weaknesses thanks to the enneagram. It also covers what is likely to cause each parent type tress, and tips on how to support your growth as a parent. (note: ignore the cheesy cover, the content is good I promise)
Know Your Parenting Personality
Janet Levine (type 3) writes about how your enneagram type plays out as a parent. This book contains many personal stories for parents of each type so you can get an idea of how things really are. It also includes sections for best strategies and action programs for each type and at the end of each type’s section it includes a list of positives to build on and negatives to overcome.
Christian Enneagram Books
While some of the above listed books may be lightly Christian, those listed below are more heavily Christian focused.
Self to Loose, Self to Find: A Biblical Approach to the 9 Enneagram Types
Written by Marilyn Vancil (type 9), this book takes a unique approach with the enneagram as it focuses on the parts of your type that you’d do best to loose, and which parts Jesus invites you to find.
The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective
This larger book written by Richard Rohr (type 1) and Andrea Ebert gives the Christian perspective on each enneagram type. It also includes random trivia bits such as symbolic animals, nations, colors, biblical characters for each type. (not going to lie, I’m a 1 and I had a hard time with this book. It wasn’t consistent in it’s patterns enough for me and some of the descriptions are a bit harsh at times)
