Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each

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A quick rundown of this product’s key features:

A runaway best seller in Sweden that has sold more than a million copies worldwide, Surrounded by Idiots shares a groundbreaking new method of understanding the people around you that will change how you interact with everyone from your coworkers to your spouse.

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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Our Top Reviews

Reviewer: J. Taylor
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great book, love it so much I personally purchased it for my whole team.
Review: Title is misleading but the book is great! This book is for anyone struggling with teams that are full of different personalities and working styles. It might not fix the team but it will help you understand why people work the way they do and how you can work with them. This book will also open your eyes to who you are and how you might work… don’t assume this is another personality test gimmick this book really offers sound advice on who you are and how people read you and how to read others.

Reviewer: Michelle Kuykendall
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Eye Opening!!!
Review: EXCELLENT read!!! I bought this to help with professional interactions, but almost immediately I saw how these ideas and practices are even better for my personal relationships.The writing is fun and informative. Quick read that left me with a better understanding of both myself and those around me. I’d recommend this to ANYONE!

Reviewer: Kristin Knight
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Valuable self help book
Review: Read this for book club. Interesting read based on other psychological research. Author gets a bit repetitive, but it is a helpful tool in understanding self and others.

Reviewer: Juliana Lainez
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Cried. Laughed. Questioned My Entire Life. 10/10.
Review: Lowkey obsessed. It’s funny, messy, and hits deep. Made me laugh, cry, and rethink everything—all in one go. Must read if you’re vibin’ with real talk.

Reviewer: Gabriela M
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good insight
Review: Of course this is all an opinion, I thought the book had great insight and good information about different types of people. The only way I’m going to look at people from now on in color. That being said my particular reading style found it difficult to get through the stories that were told from personal experiences. All that to say, the information was very insightful and I would recommend this book. Especially if you work with different groups of people, it will be a good read.

Reviewer: claire
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Eye-Opening and Insightful!
Review: I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson, but it turned out to be one of the most insightful books I’ve read on human behavior. The way Erikson breaks down personalities into four color-coded types helped me see my own interactions in a whole new light.What I loved most was how practical the book is. It made me reflect on my own communication style and why I sometimes clash with certain people. Instead of just feeling frustrated, I now have a better understanding of why people react the way they do—and how I can adapt my approach to connect more effectively.That said, some parts felt a bit simplified, and I don’t think people fit neatly into just one category. But as a tool for better relationships, whether in work, family, or friendships, it’s incredibly valuable. I’ve already started applying what I’ve learned, and I can see a difference!

Reviewer: Aerika Blankenship
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Literary Review for Graduate Study
Review: This book describes four behavior types by sorting them into colors: red, blue, green and yellow. People that are sorted into these behavior types typically exhibit the same characteristics. For example, the book claims that green individuals are typically laid back and sometimes struggle to make decisions. Since teachers need to be able to understand and manage behavior, this book can be a foundation for how we interpret different social situations with students. While Erikson does point out that we should not use this classification method on children, it does give us some background knowledge on students and what drives behavior (e.g. environment).There are many aspects of the book that I enjoyed. The book begins with a description of how and why he and his father began classifying behavior in this way. They used what is called the DISC method to establish these four behavior types. He explains that most people are a combination of two or three behavior types; very few people are just one type. Erikson describes the basis of behavior – what causes us to behave in the way that we do. He then moves on to provide an overview of the system, listing characteristics of each color in a diagram provided on page thirteen. After this introduction, he dives into how we can recognize each behavior type, how each behavior type deals with stress, which behavior types are best suited to work together, how to give feedback to each behavior type and so on. In chapter nineteen, Erikson provides examples of how people who have been sorted into the different behavior types react to different questions about their behavior and the book. Each of these people who were interviewed have read the book and are able to explain how they feel about the portrayal of individuals who belong to the group they do – most of them seem almost annoyed. For example, Hakan seems annoyed that the interviewer points out what he says is contradictory. The book ends with an interactive quiz, which is perhaps one of my favorite parts. It allows the reader to self-assess and determine what they took from this book and how they (now) understand the different behavior types.While there are not many things that I would change about the book, there are some pieces that could help provide some clarity for the reader. I loved how each behavior was talked about in detail; however, there were some parts where I really had to stop and think about what behavior was being talked about and reflect on what was said about that “color” chapters beforehand. This was likely due to the fact that it would spend the course of four chapters talking about each behavior type individually in relation to one concept or situation. It may have been better for the author to adjust this so that each situation was talked about for a single behavior type. For example, perhaps chapters four through nine could have talked about just green behavior, describing the different situations, scenarios and ideas that are discussed for that behavior throughout the book. This was not a huge issue since there were a variety of visuals, but it may be difficult for some readers who lack reading comprehension skills or have problems organizing information in their minds.

Reviewer: Paketleme güzel, teslimat hızlı.
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: its good for understanding

Reviewer: Mariel
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Fast delivery , love itThank you

Reviewer: Mareme Ndiaye
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: C’était pour ma soeur et elle a bien aimé le livre, je vais bientôt le lire aussi ^^

Reviewer: Sep
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I’m not a pro reader, but I can binge read books that are really good – Simple, fun, and teach you something you can immediately apply. Surrounded by idiots caught my attention from the first few pages. It is one of those books that make you wonder how different society would be if everyone read it once.After I finished this book, I made a list of all the closest people I interact with (family, friends, coworkers, lovers) and tried to identify their “colors”. My perception of these people went from being “aggressive” or a “pushover” to “Red” and “Green”. It subconsciously became second nature to me to quickly identify what colors someone I am talking to falls under and so naturally you start understanding why people are the way they are and how YOU can adapt to them better to make the most out of that interaction/relationship.One area in which I found this information to be quite amusing and helpful to analyze is in the context of romantic relationships. I started seeing the “true colors” of my past partners and inherently saw why the relationships were either great, or not, and where they went wrong and how knowing this information now and applying the knowledge in the next relationship will be drastically life changing. I realized why as a Yellow, Red with hints of Blue I was having problems with someone that was Red and Blue – My “yellow side” clashed with their “blue side” while actually complementing their “red side”. Our common “redness” led us to fall for each other as we both like someone with the same qualities, but also played a role in weakness as it brought some subconscious competitiveness that is not good in a romantic partnership, especially if one or both partners aren’t emotionally mature enough to see things for what they are instead of falling prey to the supposed societal norms and perceptions that are unfortunately being reinforced in everyday social media content. It’s truly remarkable once you realize how humans self sabotage and this book definitely helps you realize that.I can also now see the downfall of my past relationship with a mostly Green person. My Red side could not only not tolerate being with a Green person, but it made my redness go into overdrive and into survival model (instinctual human behavior) which ultimately caused the imbalance that led to a breakup.In my personal view, It’s important to not see this as a lesson of « I can’t entertain a prospect with a color that challenges mine » as 1) though challenging, it is actually *goals* to be with someone that has some opposing qualities so both partners can adopt traits that can help them become a more upgraded and newer version of themselves that will open new doors in life. Remember, a partner should ultimately make you grow, not just make you feel comfortable. As a yellow, you want and need to become more blue, and as a blue you would most definitely benefit from being more yellow; in fact, it’s exactly those lack of yellow traits that have you somewhat stuck in your life and same goes for the yellow person – they both represent the characteristics that are needed to take their lives to the next level! and 2) because you come to understand that unless yo are both 100% one color, everyone (~85% of the population) will have a mix of colors and that you will have to learn to adapt to each other. I think couples needs to read this book more than anybody!In summary this book is a 9.5/10. Fun, simple, and impactful. Must read!

Reviewer: Ravi
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Worth the buy

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