This is a jewel of a book. Quenk describes some of the predictable ways our inferior function on the MBTI can get us into trouble and also provide the most intense enrichment. The book brings critical understanding for people who are consistently being undone by their "shadow" and also those in mid life seeking to expand their territory and use their less dominant functions in a more positive way. (written by an INTP by the way

WOW! New information! I am an avidly interested lay person who, since discovering Myers-Briggs through other popular books on the subject. has used MB informally and superficially for years in day-to-day personal and work settings. But MB had never even crossed my mind as relevant or helpful on really bad days when I or those near me were stressed to the point of being "beside themselves". But this book explains that people feeling, speaking and acting out of character during different kinds (depending on their Type, of course!) of stress can be understood and predicted just as successfully as their preferences, feelings and reactions on a normal, less stressful day can be understood and predicted. The beauty of the inferior function analysis really has to be read to be appreciated. If you are interested in Myers-Briggs, you owe it to yourself to read this book. For me, it was the eye opener of the year! (So far.) Granted, I love Myers-Briggs, but my jaw has not closed since I picked up the book. I am an ISFJ, by the way, living with an ESFP. Thank you, Naomi L. Quenk, for writing this book and thereby lifting the tent canvas up to offer us lay folk a deeper appreciation of the broad applicability and plain old day to day helpfulness of Myers-Briggs personality type theory.

Until I began reading Beside Ourselves, I had really only thought of the Myers-Briggs types as defined by the dominant functions. In other words: being an ENTP, I thought that my personality was dictated and defined by extraverted intuition (my dominant function). After reading Quenk's insightful work, however, I realized that my actions are equally a result of my inferior function (introverted sensing).

For me, Beside Ourselves is a guide to recognizing the importance of our "hidden personalities" and recognizing why we can act in ways that seem foreign even to ourselves when "in the grip" of our inferior functions, as Quenk puts it. This book shows that there is (obviously) value to accepting and understanding the "dark side" of our personalities, and that true equilibrium can usually be reached when we learn to deal with and even embrace the "eruptions" of our hidden inferior functions.

In my opinion, grasping the concepts found in this book will require that the reader has an understanding of personality type as defined by Jung, Keirsey, Myers-Briggs, etc. In order to understand the hidden personality, or inferior function, readers should have a strong understanding of the dominant function, which is essentially the personality we feel best describes us under "normal" circumstances. Highly recommended!

If you've ever kept a scrapbook of old photographs, you'll understand the fascination of this collection. Instead of grandmothers, aged aunts or toddler cousins, this book reveals life from the dimmest past. With photographs and drawings, Briggs and his colleagues have restored to view rare animals that lived in ancient seas. These are our earliest forebears, and for that reason alone, this book is worth repeated scrutiny. The images, with their stories of discovery and restoration, are offered in a spirit of shared discovery. These are very special creatures and it behooves us all to understand their value.

Although the book is targeted for professional paleontologists, the authors give us text nearly as illustrative as the images. They are part of the team who personally enticed many of these fossils from their lithic prison. Beginning with an account of Charles Woolcott's trek into the mountains of British Columbia, they go on to describe the environment in which these creatures lived. The significance of the Burgess Shale fossils, of course, is that they are images of soft body parts, usually lost as fossilization proceeds. At the time of the original find in 1909, such artifacts, especially ones of such ancient deposition were pricelessly rare. Woolcott himself understood their value to science, but never dedicated the necessary time to tease out their full secrets. It took Briggs and others, particularly Simon Conway Morris to apply the painstaking effort to recreate the body forms locked in the shale. In so doing, they overthrew a number of blithe assumptions made by a number of commentators, in particular Stephen J. Gould who had popularized the Shale finds, but sadly misinterpreted what they represent.

As you slowly turn over the pages of this book, reflect on the vast ages separating you from these creatures. The sea has always kept some bizarre secrets, but few can match the multi-spined Hallucegenia or mud-burrowing Ottoia. Haplophrentis might be mistaken for a Roman dagger lost in the sea until you read that its maximum length was but 30 millimetres long. A more formidable denizen of these waters is the Anomalocaris, with its hooked feelers and rasping mouth. Swimming in a sea with this half-meter long predator might not have been dangerous, but observing it might best be done from the beach.

This book is a clearly valuable contribution to our understanding of life's history and the process of evolution. It belongs on the shelf next to the other albums of family history. Take it down from time to time and simply open it at random. With half-closed eyes it isn't difficult to see these creatures in their daily lives, clutching rocks, swimming through the water, or burrowing into the bottom. They are your forebears, and deserve as much of your respect as does Aunt Matilda.

This is a wonderful book. It is chock-full of photographs of Burgess shale fossils. The photographs are full page photographs and are accompanied by drawings that illustrate what the plant or animal probably looked like. The text is informative and easy to follow for a layperson.

"The Fossils of the Burgess Shale," the non-geologist will find this book fascinating and understandable - yet the author did not "water down" the facts for those of us who have the technical background in the fields of geology and paleontology. The only drawback of the book was that some of the species listed in the back were not included in the pictorial portion of the book. I do understand that if Briggs had placed them all in the book the volume would have been over a 1,000 pages in length; however, several of the species not included are equally spectacular!

The first third of the book provides a brief history of the site and it's significance within Cambrian paleontology; the remaining two-third portion of the book provides clear photographs and line drawings of the animals entombed in this special location. I have used this book in teaching about the Cambrian explosion. Students were awed by the content of the book. If you are interested in invertebrate paleontology; this book is a must!

As a growing Christian and spiritual director/companion, I highly recommend this book. It not only helps us to understand but celebrate who we are, assuring us there are others like us. From such affirmation we are gently led, not into ways in which we can "improve," but into ways which will enrich both us and our worlds.

by personality type. This book separates each personality type into the meaning of the dominant, auxiliary, tertiary and inferior parts and further describes the importance and usefulness of each of these parts in the evolution of the spirit. Easy to read and understand. Great reference material that will be used even after it is put down the first time, and as one gains insight into personality typing and spiritual growth. Helps in understanding yourself and your relations with others. That is, as long as you can accurately type them or they have already typed themselves!

This is a great resource for those exploring their spirituality and familiar with the MBTI. It is insightful, practical, easy to read and comprehensive. I got so excited about the book that I was unable to to read it straight through. Instead, I've been hopping through the pages in my typical "N" (iNtuitive)style.

What I find most fascinating is how we can change during the course of our lives. The section "Personal Growth as Individuation" particulary intrigued me, especially the following: "[Individuation is a developmental process] that requires you to start dealing with your less-preferred functions (or what you might call your less conscious side) by midlife...in order to become more integrated and whole...As you go through life you find it is more functional to be able to use all aspects of the self to maximize your ability to handle a variety of situations and people." As we nudge our less-preferred functions out of the shadows and into the light, we may discover that we have blossomed into fuller selves.

My wife and I recently ventured into marriage counseling after a separation. Our counselor gave us this book to borrow after about the fourth session and after we had completed a myers briggs test. It has been by far the best resource we've seen. Lightbulbs are going off with every turn of the page. You have to read this book.

This book was incredibly accurate in describing me when I'm under stress. I never knew why, when under stress, I can't seem to keep track of ANY details and I become completely disorganized. Upon reading the book, I found out that people of my personality types (I'm an ISXJ, which means that I fit most of the description for both ISFJ, and ISTJ) tend to lose control of facts and details in their lives, which these 2 personality types are normally pros at dealing with. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to expand their knowledge of the MBTI types by learning how the types act when under stress (and "in the grip" of their inferior function).

This has to be one of the most interesting books I've yet read on Jungian/Briggsian personality type dynamics, and probably one of the most accurate as well, when it comes to predicting how a certain personality will react when under stress. Actually, that is the central topic to this fascinating book: how different, normal personalities react in different ways to external stressors, which vary, as well, by the 16 different types.

What's fascinating is to see, for example, that as an INTP, my stressors are radically different than they would be for an ESFJ (my polar opposite). What I find to be stressful, someone of another personality type would find to be the ideal situation in which to find him/herself. My stressors include: routine work, having my space intruded on at work, situations that involve lots of forced small talk, deadlines, inefficient paperwork and excessively (to me) emotional situations. And yet, someone else might find precisely these kinds of things heavenly.

I found typical INTP (related, ISTP) reactions to highly stressed situations to be very true for me as well. From the bitter cynicism, to blowing up emotionally and completely losing control, to losing complete touch with logic, I've seen every one of these behaviors in me when I'm pushed to the max, and am forced into the depths of emotion. Sometimes I don't stay there very long, in fact, I honestly hate being there, exactly as Quenk mentions.

What's even more interesting about this book, is that the behaviors are culled from Quenk's experiences and interviews with hundreds of different individuals from all personality types. While each person's reaction is very slightly different within the explorations of the sixteen types, it's very easy to see some very common patterns. Quenk does this in a very well thought out and a thouroughly researched manner.

My one (VERY) small gripe with the book is that there appears to have been a template used for each of the personality type chapters, because the introductory paragraphs to each subsection of each chapter are identical. But, with the sheer wealth of information in this book, it's really almost irrelevant. I've learned a lot about how to handle my "grip" and stressed behaviors a bit better, and to understand others' stressors as well.

A wonderful book, and a must-read reference for everyone!

I do locum tenens (temporary) doctoring and when I go on an assignment this is the first book to go in my suitcase. I take it to the office with me in the morning and take it home at night in case I get a question that I need it for. It is clear, concise, comprehensive and as authoritative as any text can be. If you care for or prescribe meds to pregnant or lactating women, this is a "must have".

This book is truly a wealth of knowledge on this well known area. For years I had wondered about the creatures that had been preserved in the Hunsruck slates. This curiosity was only compounded when I would see some animal named in a reference but without any graphical representation. Well, no one has to wonder anymore as this book delves into the entire fauna of the slates. In fact you MUST have this book if you wish to be a knowldgeable collector of these German fossils. This book has in-depth narratives of everything from blastoids to trilobites and a bunch of strange things in-between. Pictures, and in some instances radiographs to show the soft body tissue preservation, are also included with the descriptions to make them even more helpful. Although "technical" terminology is used it is easily understandable by beginning collectors. I give my highest recommendations for this truly insightful work.

THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN BY G.A.BRIGGS, A FOUNDER OF WHARFEDALE (ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS BRAND NAME LOUDSPEAKER IN UK). THIS BOOK IS COVER ALL THE FUNDAMENTAL THEORIES OF LOUDSPEAKER DESIGN. A VERY GOOD INTRODUCTION BOOKS FOR THE BEGINNER, VERY EASY TO READ BUT ALSO INSERTED LOTS OF VINTAGE LOUDSPEAKERS' INFORMATIONS AND PICTURES! THIS BOOK IS WRITTEN IN 1950'S, AS YOU CAN FOUND THE TECHNOLOGY IN 1950 CAN ALSO APPLY IN TODAY'S LOUDSPEAKER DESIGN.

G.A.BRIGGS' APPROCH FROM THE MUSICAL ANGLE AS FROM THE TECHNICAL!

Finally, somebody put a face on type! This is a wonderful book: a graphical guide to the 16 MBTI types. I feel like I have just switched over from DOS to Windows. Why hasn't anybody done this before? I have always found the 16 MBTI codes to be a little dry and lacking in "personality." For many years, I have failed to get my friends and family interested in the 16 MBTI codes. Now, when I show them the picture system and icons in this book, they light up, they finally start to get it. And, I am seeing the 16 types in a whole new light myself. It is so great to be able to talk to my loved ones in the same language now. I copied and put icons of the whole family up on the refrigerator. It works! We are very different people. Now, we argue a little less, and laugh a little more. Picture=1000 words. I am so happy to have found this book. Thank you.

I had the pleasure of attending Mr. Lopker's presentation on
personality types and parenting at the Sun Valley Mountain Wellness Festival in 2002. I then purchased his book "Pictures of Personalities" and I was amazed to say the least. My daughter and I had what you would call Personality differences. After reading this book I see my daughter in a whole new light. I understand "her" and myself better and we have had an open communication ever since.

Pictures of Personality illustrates everything very well including the four letter MBTI codes. Also, it covers the four temperaments and shows how they fit into the 16 types. It is certainly not bedtime reading. Parts of it are very challenging, but I found that it soon soaks in. It is very precisely written with clear definitions of all the different divisions that create the types. The color coded graphics (one set looks like the icons on international road signs) made it easy for me to get a mental picture of each personality type.

This book is a good introduction to temperament type for preteens and young teenagers. It describes each temperament in simple terms. It could have used some information about all the dimensions of personality type, however.