Surrounded by Idiots
Good Fit
- Readers who want a quick, simple framework for understanding the people around them (coworkers, family)
- Anyone who enjoys practical, anecdote-rich writing on communication and management
- First-time readers of color-coded personality-type systems like DISC/DISA
Not a Fit
- Readers seeking scientifically rigorous, academically defensible personality psychology — the DISC model is criticized in academic psychology as under-validated and susceptible to the "Barnum effect"
- Readers wary of broad typology systems in general (astrology, MBTI, etc.)
Foreword writer David Bonnstetter explains he's used the DISC system for over 20 years — his father was a classic "Red/Yellow" entrepreneur, while he himself, trained in accounting and computer science, is a "Red/Blue" type — and that learning the system let him truly "understand" his family and himself for the first time.
Erikson opens his own Introduction under the title "A man surrounded by idiots" and lays out a provocative thesis: no behavior style is inherently right or wrong, only different — however you're "wired," you're fine, within reasonable limits, of course.
There are only two rare situations where you can be fully yourself: being alone in a room (you hurt no one), or being surrounded by people exactly like you (the childhood rule "treat others as you'd want to be treated" only fully works in this case). In every other situation, it helps to understand how other people "work."
The joke behind the book's title is revealed here too: words carry different meanings for different people, and when you pick the wrong one, "maybe you're the idiot" — this is where the book builds the irony behind the phrase "surrounded by idiots."
Chapter 2 ("Why Are We Like This?") asks where behavior comes from — for Erikson, it's a mix of heredity and environment; children are born impulsive and free, then develop behavior patterns by imitating those around them, especially the same-sex parent.
Erikson continues with personal examples, distinguishing "core values" learned from family (e.g. "fighting is wrong," all people are equal) from "attitudes" formed later through experience, illustrating the latter with a relative's deep-seated distrust of salespeople (a habit of returning every purchase).
- A personal, conversational style — explained through everyday anecdotes rather than academic terminology
- The DISC/DISA acronym and the four colors (Red/Yellow/Green/Blue) form the core metaphor structuring the entire book
- Humor is frequently self-deprecating (the author presents himself as someone who once "looked like the idiot")
A similarly practical, anecdote-rich classic of the interpersonal-relations genre
A similar four-type personality framework, built on a different model
From Chapter 3 onward, the book devotes separate chapters to each color in detail: Red (dynamic, assertive, results-driven), Yellow (social, enthusiastic, "head in the clouds"), Green (steady, change-averse), Blue (perfectionist, analytical) — each with practical advice on "how to recognize and how to behave."
Later chapters cover how no one is a "pure" single color (a strengths/weaknesses chapter), how to apply the newly learned knowledge, the role of body language, and finally a real-life workplace example story — the book moves in stages from theory toward practice.
If you see a problem, write to us. Publisher, author, rights holder, or just a reader — it doesn't matter. If there's something problematic about copyright in this review, if the review's author has broken the site's rules, or if you simply have a suggestion or complaint, hey@kitabdanevar.com. We'd rather resolve this between ourselves than go to court: we review requests within 48 hours and, if needed, correct or fully remove the review.
