Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behaviour (or, How to Understand Those Who Cannot Be Understood)

Thomas Erikson

Jul 2019 · Random House

About this ebook

THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Do you ever think you're the only one making any sense?
Have you ever tried to reason with your partner with disastrous results?
Do long, rambling answers drive you crazy?
Does your colleague's abrasive manner get your back up?

You are not alone. After a disastrous meeting with a highly successful entrepreneur, who was convinced he was 'surrounded by idiots', communication expert and bestselling author, Thomas Erikson dedicated himself to understanding how people function and why we often struggle to connect with certain types of people.

Now, ten years later Surrounded by Idiots is an international phenomenon and has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide.

In this simple yet groundbreaking book, Thomas Erikson reveals his method for assessing the personalities of people we communicate with and teaches us how to communicate better. Based on four core personality types (Red, Yellow, Green and Blue), in Surrounded by Idiots, you will begin to understand yourself better, hone communication and social skills, handle conflict with confidence, improve dynamics with your boss and team, and get the best out of the people you deal with and manage.

Packed with 'aha!' and 'oh no!' moments, Surrounded by Idiots will help you understand and influence those around you, even people you currently think are beyond all comprehension. And with a bit of luck you can also be confident that the idiot out there isn't you!

The no.1 Sunday Times bestseller, November 2023

Ratings and reviews

Incredibly generalising, mildly misogynistic, and needlessly long. This book painfully drags out simple topics with unnecessary fluff. Things that could be conveyed in one or two pages, are extended to a whole chapter. Things that could be explained in a maximum of three sentences are stretched into multiple paragraphs. Key points are buried amongst a mountain of needless fluff and unlikely anecdotes. And purely for the sake of having more pages. This is an interesting take on personality types (I would identify as a blue), but it's an incredibly simple concept and can be conveyed a lot quicker than this book, and the author knows that. If you're interested in learning about these different personality types, do a quick web search and read an article. It'll tell you all you need to know. Don't waste your time reading the endless, useless fluff in this book.

Fun and interesting book. Definitely glad I read it. I am according to the book red with some blue- so purple 🤔

Fun, entertaining and still so much valuable knowledge about how we interact with each other. I think I have read it four or fime times.

About the author

Thomas Erikson is a Swedish behavioural expert, active lecturer and bestselling author. For the last 18 years he has been travelling all over Europe delivering lectures and seminars in Swedish and English to executives and managers at a wide range of companies, including IKEA, Coca Cola, Microsoft, Volvo and KIA Motors. Surrounded by Idiots (Omgiven Av Idioter) has been a Swedish runaway bestseller in since it was first published in 2014. It has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide, of which nearly 1 million copies have been sold in Sweden alone, and it has been translated into 42 languages. For more information about the author and his work visit thomaserikson.com.