What are the 9 Best Books on MBTI Personality Types for Beginners?

Here for 9 best books on MBTI personality types for beginners who want to learn about Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The Myers Briggs personality framework has been the most insightful psychological tool (for me at least) to truly understand why people are so different when it comes to thinking, decision-making, and intaking information

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The internet was the first place I found myself learning more about type theory, but a lot of websites and articles were not very organized. This has led to me starting this blog as an online resource for others because I love MBTI so much.

But I really have to give thanks to the amazing authors of the following MBTI books for teaching personality psychology, neuroscience, and theories so beautifully through their writing.

The Myers-Briggs Type Theory

Mother-daughter duo Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers expanded upon Carl Jung’s 8 cognitive functions theory to develop the MBTI framework. Myers Briggs Type Indicator identifies 16 distinct personality types that each use a unique order of cognitive functions.

Understanding cognitive functions better explain how a person can be introverted in some ways while simultaneously being extroverted in other aspects. Introverted functions are very internal processes, while extroverted functions are external.

MBTI is a type code, consisting of 4 letters that indicate type preference. Introversion versus Extroversion (I vs E) is the first pair of options. The typing is followed by Sensing versus iNtuition (S vs N), Thinking versus Feeling (T vs F), and Judging versus Perceiving (J vs P).

The Linda Beren Workbooks are very simple, short books that help in understanding personality type. I recently ordered 5 of these and here’s what I rate the easiest and most applicable introductory book.

They remind me of the paperback study books you get in school. They are organized nicely and lay out all the information in an easy-to-understand way. These are great in you want to learn the framework in a short amount of time.

1a. Understanding Yourself and Others: An Introduction to the Personality Type Code

I like how the eight Jungian functions are described for each of the 16 types.

1b. Understanding Yourself and Others: An Introduction to the 4 Temperaments

This is a great Myers Briggs breakdown of the popularized 4 David Keirsey temperaments.

1c. Understanding Yourself and Others: An Introduction to Interaction Styles

1d. The 16 Personality Types: Descriptions for Self-Discovery

1e. Dynamics of Personality Type: Understanding and Applying Jung’s Cognitive Processes

This book is super cool because the author ran labs at UCLA that monitored brain scans to map out which parts of the brain are very active for each type. This and the Berens/Nardi workbooks are great MBTI books for cognitive functions.

Cognitive functions are definitely where you get into the meat of MBTI theory!

This fun book describes each of the 64 different Myer Briggs personality types combinations in regard to love.

This is an awesome deep-dive introduction to the works of all the important depth psychologists. It is written in a very personal way, but still does a good job at exposing you to all of the depth psychology theories.

Socionics can be a little intimidating at first, as it deviates a bit from popular MBTI type theory. However, this book is nice and comprehensive in understanding.

I will continue to update this list as I continue to learn.

Please let me know if you have MBTI book recommendations! 🙂