Book Review - Surrounded By Idiots by Thomas Erikson

Title: Surrounded By Idiots
Series: -
Author: Thomas Erikson
 
Description: Author Thomas Erikson explains that there are four key behavior types that define how we interact with and perceive the people around us. Understanding someone’s pattern of behavior is the key to successful communication. Erikson breaks down the four kinds of behavior types—Reds who are dominant and commanding, Yellows who are social and optimistic, Greens who are laid back and friendly, and Blues who are analytical and precise—and explains how to identify and interact with each type of person. Instead of being bogged down with overly technical categorizations, the simple four color system allows you to speedily identify a friend or coworker and adjust how you speak and share with them. Surrounded by Idiots is full of practical information for interacting with people based on their color, including the strengths and weaknesses of all the profiles, how to give positive and negative feedback to each, and the best way to word an email when writing to someone with a different profile.
 
Review: Swedish business man Thomas Erikson wrote about the color theory he developed. In the book “Surrounded By Idiots”, Erikson states that there are roughly four types of people: red, blue, yellow and green. The book is easy to read, explains a lot of things and is very recognizable at times. Because while reading it, you recognize yourself in some of the types and you clearly recognize people in you inner circle, from work or people from your past. 
In short, I will explain the for types. Reds are the dominant, ambitious people with strong wills and opinions. Yellows are the talkative ones, social, optimistic, enthusiastic and love attention. Greens are the stable ones, they are reliable, patient and good listeners. Blues are analytical, slightly reserved, structured and play by the rules. Erikson states that most people are a combination of two and also some are a combination of three. Only few people are just one color. I’m clearly a green-blue person, it was very obvious for me. At some point I thought he was writing about me. 
Is this theory by Erikson scientifically grounded? No, but I believe that from all the experiences he had in his life he has that to work with. That’s how he came up with this theory and it’s something I really believe in. Because, like I stated before, I recognized a lot from my own life. 
“Surrounded By Idiots” is a fun read. For me as a green-blue person, I loved the logical set-up of the book, the lists, the recognition. And I sometimes find it hard to understand how people, that are very different from me, do certain things. This book describes that too, so maybe I think further next time I feel this way. Very helpful, but most of all a very interesting book. Different from what I usually read.
 
Rating: 4,5/ 5