Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson was definitely an interesting read. There was maybe a bit of repetition in it however I also was aware prior to reading this book about the different colours (and what my own colour is) and had been provided training from work regarding how to identify and adapt towards other people's styles based on their colour. As I said, very interesting read but possibly one that has more appeal to an audience not already familiar with the premise.

First of all a big thank you to the author, Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

This was an interesting take on how to deal with the different people around you. I enjoyed this.

As a person who struggles with connection and contact, in social situations, as well as someone who loves science, I was very intrigued, when I saw this book. I thought it sounded really interesting, to have the chance to see inside why certain people tick the way they do, and how that changes certain connections and interactions. Overall, I found this book very interesting and informative. It is definitely a good read, especially if you work with people, and want to find ways to make better, more solid connections and leads with them.

A lot of old ground covered here from previously published books. The headline being people are all quite different - can see people as the different colours/sections but I'm afraid I'm not fan and didn't finish the book. Sorry Thomas.

Has little empirical evidence supporting it, based on opinion rather than evidence. It reminds me of those books written in the 80's, you know the ones no one reads now

This is probably the most annoying book I read this year. The author is patronising and annoying and I will not be reviewing this book anywhere.

I love books about emotions, communication and the way people react to one another, and yet I felt unfortunately disappointed by Thomas Erickson’s ‘Surrounded by Idiots’. On one hand, I found it quite useful to see the classification of different personalities via the use of different colours: red, yellow, green and blue. On the other, I haven’t felt like I learnt anything new by reading ‘Surrounded by Idiots’. However, as I have read a lot of articles and books on the subject, ‘Surrounded by Idiots’ may be more useful for someone new to the topic. Especially that with the presentation of the different personalities with the use of different colours, the theory may be easier to imagine and grasp for many. The most interesting part of the book for me were the interviews at the end of ‘Surrounded by idiots’. It was interesting to see how different type of people see themselves and others with the use of real examples. While Thomas Erickson refers to many examples from his life in the earlier parts of the books, I felt that this part has shown the differences between different personalities, the best.

I enjoyed this book, I thought it was quite fascinating. I think this will help with some of those difficult people we encounter in life, be it at work or in our leisure time. I also found it helped with the type of person I am and how I would rather be perceived over certain things.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

My real reason for reading this book was the title as it sounded so close to reality, what with all the numpties there are all thinking they know best in the midst of COVID-19.

The book actually turned out to be infinitely more readable and useful than the title suggests. In fact, in my opinion, the title does not do the book justice as it is filled to the brim with useful information on the way that personalities manifest and how those personalities come across to other people. I can honestly say that I found something of use to me on virtually every page and cannot imagine that others will not find the book just as enlightening, once they, like me, get past the title.

Some interesting concepts on how to deal with different people in your lives, from bosses to colleagues to friends.

Have you ever taken a personality quiz? Sometimes they’re a fun past time. Answer a few questions and they give you a somewhat close answer, but it isn’t really “you”. We don’t take them seriously, and that’s because they’re for fun.

So this was fun at the beginning. Erikson lays out four personality types in the work place we might recognise. Looks like I’m either a green or a blue. Cool. It’s interesting to find things that we see ourselves in, but that’s when my issues began to arise.

No one is fully one colour. Humans are more complicated than a simple personality quiz and the self help methods provided to deal with us. And honestly this is pseudo science at it’s best. I don’t take this seriously. It’s a wishy-washy self help book, but even that feels like a stretch.

Or maybe I’m just acting like a blue. (Please don’t take that seriously.)

I received this books from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this - I’ve seen it in bookshops and picked it up more than once. It’s an interesting take on different behavioural types and it’s intriguing to read through it as each behaviour type definitely chiming with people in my life! It goes into good detail about how each different type of person (red, yellow, green and blue) works, and how they may best work together in different situations and bring out the best in each other.

It’s a really good book for getting to grips with the DISC approach of behavioural analysis, and I think this would be very good for anyone who was looking to work in a supervisory or managerial role. It goes in-depth into how different people can be managed / worked with, the best ways to provide feedback /criticism to different people depending on what category they fall into, and how to relate to people.

I particularly liked that near the end, there’s an interview with a person from each segment which is a great illustration of their reactions to different questions and where sore spots may lie.

I would definitely recommend this, I thought it was very interesting and I could see myself re-reading this in the future.

First of all, human behaviour is extremely complex (and the result of so many internal/external factors) that no one will every be able to accurately categorise it all. Having said that, I personally love personality tests and shoving myself into little boxes: from Myers-Briggs (INFP here) to Buzzfeed quizzes (if I were a baked potato I'd just have a plain cheese topping apparently) to Hogwarts Houses (Gryffindor) I find it entertaining to see where I fit.

But that is the magic word here: entertaining, because none of these should ever be taken seriously. I'm never going to hire anyone based on the result of such tests, I'm never going to pick my partner or friendship group based on such tests. And if someone attempted to do it to me, I'd suggest professional help.

Surrounded by Idiots is another subjective take on categorising people with a lot of anecdotes and the author's own opinions, but without concrete research or citations. Based on Erikson's system I'm a strong Green with hints of Blue. My dad is a super Red. My mum and sister would also be Greens. One of my coworkers is a definite Yellow. As long as I looked at it as "entertainment" and gently pondered about what colour my other loved ones would fit under, it was fun. Just fun, nothing more.

Unfortunately this is where the book let me down - the author disagreed with my lighthearted opinion on the matter. He came across as someone who believed this all to be cold hard facts with very little wiggle room, you HAD to fit into one or two of these and it was even a helpful way to predict what kind of person you would be in the workplace or in your personal life. I very strongly disagree and I got a little tired wrestling with him on that, it really affected my enjoyment by the end.

Still an interesting read and I definitely see why people keep buying it in my shop.

Thank you loads to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!!