Product Description

Key insights into birth order help readers understand themselves and improve their marriage, parenting, and career skills.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #111076 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 362 pages

Review
"...sheds light on how our place in the family pecking order endows us with traits that shape us for life." -- Dallas Child, April 1999

"If you’d like to be more successful in all of your relationships, then this book’s for you!" -- Shine, September/October 1999

"Leman frames his discussion within a Christian worldview... Well-written, intriguing." -- Minister’s Packet, December 1998/January 1999

About the Author
Dr. Kevin Leman is an internationally known psychologist, humorist, best-selling author, radio and TV personality, and speaker. He is also a consulting psychologist for Good Morning America and founder and president of Couples of Promise.

Customer Reviews

Good book for first learning about birth order
I bought this book because I wanted to learn about why my sisters and I are so different. I found the book very informative and easy to read. I still wanted to learn more so bought another book but found it too technical and less helpful than this book. I definitely recommend this book for someone who is just starting to get informed on birth order.

Interesting and compelling, but I think there is a better author on the subject.
There has been a lot written on birth order dynamics by many different authors. It is a fascinating subject and every book or magazine article I find on it is compelling. This book, like others on the subject, is a fun read with insights that will blow you away. You take the theories with a grain of salt though, because there are so many variables in life, so many different facets of personality development that must be considered--birth order effect is just one facet and certainly does not tell the whole story.

I think some of the best information on the subject of birth order, possibly more specific, more reasonable, more practical, is in the 2002 book: "The Birth Order Effect: How to Better Understand Yourself and Others" by Clifford E. Isaacson and Kris Radish. I don't meant to disrepect Dr. Leman's writing on the subject, but feel a need to direct people toward Isaacson as a little more down to earth and more practical. JMHO. He is very specific about the five birth order personality traits, but also realistic about serious limitations in application of them. Because I read Isaacson first, it could be an effect of primacy that I favor his theories and presentation, but take a look at Isaacson's book and read reviews to decide between the two, or I guess buying both, as I did, would be another solution.

Disappointed
I had high hopes for this book. From everyone's reviews, it seemed like a fun and interesting read. It wasn't. Sure, there are interesting facts and funny stories about birth order, but it seems like every other paragraph is either about God (which, at times, can start to sound preachy), or about the author himself (how smart he is) and his flawless family (wife, kids, sisters, brothers). I wish the author spent more time talking about actual facts and statistics regarding birth order instead of constantly talking about how, as little kids, his older sister would invite him to tea parties, how selfless she is, or how his son will one day design futuristic rides for Disney World. You get the feeling the author thinks really highly of himself and his family. It gets annoying and gets in the way of any factual information he might be trying to convey.