Surrounded by Idiots Revised & Expanded Edition by Thomas Erikson was an insightful read. I found colors being assigned to each personality type an effective tool to understand the books concept. With many examples, I was easily able to understand the concepts and what each personality type found to be their ideal and stressful environment. The tone of the book made it easy to read and I found it engaging and at time humorous. Learning how different people communicate in teams and tense situations was eye opening.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Essentials for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

Thank you to #SMPEarlyReadsers and StMartinsEssentials for the gifted copy.

This book turned out to be much more than I expected. The color-based personality model is simplified but offers an effective lens for understanding how people communicate especially in teams or tense situations. This is my first time reading the book, so while it’s the revised edition, it’s also my first deep dive into the material. I will say, the book includes plenty of clear definitions and real-life examples that make the concepts easier to apply. I appreciated the conversational and humorous tone it feels more like advice from a friend than from a psychologist. If you approach it with curiosity rather than criticism, it just might change the way you see others, and yourself.


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I gave up on this because I didn’t find it helpful at all. When I requested it from NetGalley, I’d hoped it could help with those awkward moments of meeting somebody at a party or potluck and having to get through conversation without awkwardness or inadvertent conflict. Instead, he endlessly lists the traits of people he splits into four colors, but absolutely no one I know comes even close to being a mostly red, mostly yellow, mostly green, mostly blue. I could take the endless adjectives he supplies and say, this person is a little this, a little that.

Maybe the book would get more helpful if I read on, but my time is valuable, so I’ll never find out.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley for review.

Have you ever wondered why some people are easier to communicate with than others? What makes some more approachable? Easier to talk to? Easier to work with? Or maybe just they are the ones who when given a task, no follow-up is needed because everyone knows it will be taken care of accurately and on time. And then there are those who are the opposite of all of these qualities... We must work with and communicate with all types of people, so knowing how to do effectively is key.

In his book, Erikson begins by assigning a color to each type of personality to make each easy to refer to throughout the book. He also describes the ideal environment for each personality-type, as well as the most stressful one, and finally identifies which groups are more inclined to work well together & which are more likely to clash.

In the introduction, it is mentioned that this book is an expansion to his original text by the same title which I had not read. So, I found this one to be extremely enlightening and something I can use to help me as I reflect on my relationships with colleagues.

I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. When I saw it was revised and expanded, I thought it was the perfect time to read it. I have to admit that it is not what I expected it to be. I feel like I learned a lot while reading this book. It was very insightful and it even had me question what type of person I am. I wouldn’t be surprised if from now on I try to guess what people’s category is. I do recommend reading this book at a slower pace so that it’s easier to comprehend all the information. Other wise you might end up like me, jammed packed with a lot of info that now I feel like I forgot most of it.

Thank you to the author, St.Martins Press, and NetGalley for this e-ARC.

I never read the original, so I'm not sure what's different about this revised version, but it's a basic overview of the DISC personality types. Most people find it fun to diagnose themselves and their friends, but the book wasn't useful on a very practical level. I was given an ARC by NetGalley to review.

I don't know about this book... apparently, I'm a green idiot and I think that's true.

I think my idiot beefs about the book is the way the chapters were structured. I get the point of the colors, but it just became too monotonous and I started browsing through the book. I don't like to do this typically, but it was just too much information and I don't know... just info dumping overload?

I have never read the first edition and I'm sure that one was fine too.

That Mel Robbins reference - oooh boy, IYKYK.

I don't mind the title including the word "idiot." I think have a bit of idiot ways in each of us.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-copy of SURROUNDED BY IDIOTS REVISED & EXPANDED EDITION to review.

I rate SURROUNDED BY IDIOTS REVISED & EXPANDED EDITION three out of five stars.

This book was truly " one for the books". Several moments of reading left me starting at a wall as I thought about past experiences with others and how this book opened up a lens to those interactions.

I picked up Surrounded by Idiots hoping to better understand the people I am around—and wow, did it deliver. The revised edition adds even more clarity with updated examples and snarky humor that made the behavioral insights stick. I found myself nodding along as Erikson broke down the four personality types (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue) and how they clash or complement each other.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's for the free eARC in exchange for my review.
As a nurse juggling high-stress situations and diverse personalities, this book gave me practical tools to communicate more effectively—not just at work, but with family too. I especially appreciated how Erikson emphasized self-awareness as the starting point. That said, some parts felt a bit repetitive, and I wished there were more real-world healthcare examples.

Still, I walked away feeling more equipped to navigate tricky conversations and less likely to label someone as “difficult” without understanding their behavioral lens. Definitely worth the read if you want to decode human behavior with a dose of humor.

★ ★ ★ - found it to be quite useful as a community-building tool for a workplace group but outside of that context it doesn’t seem to hold much relevance—Astrology & MBTI are both more inclusive & comprehensive, for example. Does this book read like “Hogwarts Houses but for Muggles”? Yes. Is this book incredibly cishetero normative, white-male facing, & capitalism-centric treating humans merely as vehicles of production? Yes. However. As that is the world we all happen to live in & must find a way to survive in at this moment in time, & since this book puts itself forward as a guide on how to better communicate with different kinds of “producers” (aka humans) in various corporate & work situations, there is arguably some value to be found here.

Thank you for the opportunity to read early for review - I found this to be a really interesting read through, particularly in our current business climate. This was an unexpectedly calming read - I felt really seen, and like this was reinforcing a lot of what I was seeing around our office. I'm looking forward to incorporating more of the tips and tricks.

I grabbed - nay, lunged - for this based on the title alone. I really didn't know what to expect (it's a massive bestseller that I'd never heard of), but, seeing as how I've recently taken on some managerial responsibilities, I thought this book would be helpful in avoiding becoming one of those Idiots (and seeing if I am one already.)

This is not so much a management style book as it is a study of a certain personality type system called DISC. Instead of D and I and S and C, the author uses Red, Yellow, Green and Blue:

*Reds are action- and results-oriented, very shouty;
*Yellows are social butterflies, not as shouty but very chatty, and everyone likes them;
*Greens are thoughtful and kind. They'll make sure your coffee is always topped off but probably won't get anything else done;
*Blues are deep thinkers who analyze all angles before acting in order to ensure everything is meaningful and perfect.

I'm a Blue/Green!

Fortunately, I am interested in personality types (how very Blue of me), so I rather enjoyed learning about this new system. What I appreciated, though, were the practical examples of how to engage with each personality type in order to maximize their best traits:

*One of my work friends is Yellow - she loves to interview people and organize our team social events, and she is amazing at both. I told her about this book and she said, "let me guess - I'm Yellow, right? I'm always the bright social sunny one." Her expense reports are a disaster, however;
*Another is Green - she is active in the firm's charitable organization activities, and does just well enough in other aspects of her job;
*There's me, Blue - I'm the expense coordinator. I'm not kidding. I love spreadsheets and minutia. I loathe social events and am figuring out how to worm my way out of going to the team's offsite this fall;
*I don't think we have any obvious Reds on our team? Upper management for sure though.

Overall, the personality types come across as pretty simplistic, but, we're all composed of different colors, just varying degrees of them. I've already found it helpful and recommend it.

I’ll be honest—despite the attention-grabbing title, Surrounded by Idiots turned out to be one of the more thoughtful and practical books I’ve read on personality types and communication. Thomas Erikson has a way of taking complex, sometimes abstract ideas (like why people behave the way they do) and turning them into something that’s surprisingly simple, relatable, and even fun to read.

What stood out most to me was Erikson’s conversational tone. From the very first chapter, I felt like I was being guided through big ideas by someone who truly wanted to help me understand—not lecture me. The approachability of the writing made it easy to keep turning pages, and I found myself thinking, “Wow, this actually makes sense.”

The core concept of the book is the four-color personality model—Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue—and how these colors represent distinct behavior types. At first, I was skeptical about putting people into color-coded boxes. But Erikson quickly addresses this by clarifying that no one is just one color. Most of us are a mix, and understanding these shades and combinations is what makes the tool useful—not rigid. That nuance was really refreshing and made the book feel more grounded and realistic.

One of the most valuable sections for me personally was the part about stress—how each personality type reacts under pressure, and how to handle that constructively. As someone who’s growing into leadership and team management, I found this especially helpful. Conflict resolution, de-escalation, and learning how to support people based on their individual stress patterns is such a crucial leadership skill, and Erikson gives practical insight into how to do that with emotional intelligence and care.

Overall, Surrounded by Idiots is more than just a catchy title. It’s a smart, engaging, and actually useful book that I’ll be referring back to often—especially as I continue to lead, teach, and work with a variety of personality types.

I'm always skeptical about assessments, however recently I learned they are a great starting point to helping me understand me.

Erikson’s premise is that people behave in patterns that can be grouped into colors: Red (assertive and competitive), Yellow (enthusiastic and talkative), Green (cooperative and conflict-averse), and Blue (analytical and structured).
The author says that identifying each person’s dominant traits according to the DISC model will make it easier to anticipate their specific triggers.
In chapter 16 the author explores how different types experience anger, and what their triggers may be. He claims that Reds lose their temper most often and most easily, but that their episodes usually don't last very long.

Meanwhile, it is more obvious and gradual when a Yellow becomes angry, as this expressive type tends to show their emotions and their gestures in their tone of voice.

I love how the author ends this book one of his last sentences is " People will remember how you made them feel, in the end that's what really counts"

I enjoyed this book and learned quite a lot on how to connect these color to actions.

I picked this up because of the world we live in right now (and let’s be honest, that title is kind of irresistible). I’ve always been fascinated by what makes people tick, and this book promises to break it all down with a simple color coded system: Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue personalities. Super easy to follow and actually kind of fun to think about which one you (and everyone around you) might be.

It’s a quick, no frills read. I definitely caught myself nodding along during the parts about work dynamics and how different personalities clash or totally miss each other’s signals. That part was super relatable.

That said, the book stays pretty surface level. Like, yeah, this is a cool intro to personality types, but if you’re already into psychology or behavioral theory, it might feel a little basic. People are more complex than four colors, obviously. Still, I think it’s great if you want a light, digestible breakdown of why some people drive you nuts and how to maybe handle them better.

Would I recommend it? Yeah, if you’re just getting into personality stuff or want a fresh perspective on how to not lose your mind around coworkers (or family, let’s be real). Just don’t expect a deep dive because it’s more like a personality theory appetizer.

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas Erikson, and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Essentials for the eARC of this book.

I picked this up out of pure curiosity & because I’m always interested in learning more about why people act the way they do. This book breaks people down into four color coded personality types & it’s all about understanding how different people think, act, & communicate.

It’s a super quick & easy read. I did find myself nodding along at certain parts, especially when it came to how we clash with certain personalities at work or in everyday life. I can definitely see why this book is popular. However, I feel it could have gone deeper. The color system is interesting, but pretty surface level imo. People are obviously way more complex than four boxes. So if you’re into more research-based or nuanced personality theory, this might feel a little basic. Still, I think this book works if you’re looking for a fun intro to personality types or just want to understand your coworkers (or anybody, really) a little better.

Very useful and insightful read, I laughed when I saw the title but it’s actually a helpful book to have

It's a good book to read, even if you have read the previous version; it adds to the material and addresses the criticism the book faced. IG you really want to get a lot out of this book, it's not one you can skim; you need to critically read it, 3.5 stars.

Interesting book on the DISC personality categories, how to identify yourself and others and how to manage those characteristics. Most of us are a blend of these traits but have one dominant personality. He also explains how to best manage these personalities both in business and personal life. It makes you think about how people are different and you shouldn’t judge them so harshly. You also need to think about how best to communicate with them to be effective.

This guy is constantly surrounded by idiots that I think it’s a him problem at this point. Work on yourself bro. It’s you not them.

An informative read offering insights into human behavior and communication styles. Erikson's color-coded personality system helps readers understand themselves and others better. A valuable resource for personal and professional relationships.