What They’ve said…
…about This Book
Newest comments at the top; oldest at the bottom.
“Thankyou for this gem of a book!!! I actually came across it I think around 2007. When just starting out in Paul CHEK’s Self Mastery course. I’ve ever let go of the book! I only got half way through it and knew one day I would pick it up and finish it! Reading it again it makes more sense now. And again feel grateful for your hard work bring it together!
My Mother found your book while I was starting to go through Paul’s Self mastery course. She passed it on to me and then Paul heard about it through me. Exciting how the universe works. Like myself at first, your book buyers may not finish the work of the book, and like Paul’s How To Be Heathy book, get put back on the shelf, half read. But, that said, they won’t ever forget it and it will never be thrown out. Instead your book waits patiently as a guide ready to be read with eyes and hearts wide open.
– Josette Curry, Canada, January 2021
(Josette is a personal fitness trainer and life coach.)
“…a word of big congratulations for integrating so well the worddynamics of various leadership methodologies. I have loved your book…. Well done!”
– Henk Kleizen, ‘business sculptor’ and CEO of The Leadership Consortium, February 2018
“Keith Rice ‘meta-states’ on human nature with a constantly reaffirmed attractor, ‘to help’, a braided, integrative methodology giving prominence to the work of Clare W Graves, and the implicit organizing principle, that an objectification of the ‘self-plex’ is possible, desirable, and refinable, to the benefit of ourselves and all other life forms. With these conditioning influences he artfully spins a narrative that is seductive, charming, convincing, instructive, empowering, and to the extent one adapts self to the narrative, is psychoactive in the most furthering way. Only a pair of long sentences can do his exquisitely designed lens the honor it deserves.
Concretely Dr Rice has laid out one nicely designed map of a self, what it is, how it works, grows, changes, engages other self-plexes, and how ‘it’ can be engaged and influenced to serve who it is that wishes to influence it. For all those readers who are on this same project, i.e. who to become, how to foster the unfolding of self, how to guide one’s being, this is a very practical repair, upgrade and operator’s manual to be learned and treasured.”
– Tom Christensen, editor of Developmental Innovation (Integral Publishers, 2015) and Innovative Development (Integral Publishers, 2015), January 2015 (amazon.com review)
“As someone trained in Spiral Dynamics by the authors of the book, I have also come to appreciate this more recent book ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’, particularly as it puts both the theories and applications and much more simple language for practitioners to make use of. It also offers quite a few examples and perspectives about how to use this brilliant model (SD) in practical ways.
The original Spiral Dynamics book was written more as a technical text, and is not an easy read for most people, however it does still have some core essentials that are important to the serious student of this field. so I recommend having both books in your library.”
– Mark Klaassen, Communications Plus, New Zealand, October 2013 (amazon.com review)
“I was attracted to this book because of my interests in integral philosophy, Spiral Dynamics and the evolution of consciousness. I found this book to provide an accurate representation of Spiral Dynamics, but one that is not dogmatic in its interpretation. The author uses realistic examples from his practice that lend validity to his approach. Rice’s interpretation of theory with which I was familiar was consistent with how I understood that theory. He covered a lot of theory that I was not that familiar with and connected it in a way that made it useful for me. My interest in the spiritual aspects of psychology are likely more extensive than the authors, but his approach does not conflict with my somewhat different orientation.”
– Dave Watkins, USA, January 2011 (amazon.com review)
“If I had not known Spiral Dynamics to some extent already then ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ would have been a complete revelation. As it was, it reiterated some things, made others much clearer, filled in a lot of gaps and brought many new ideas as well.
…I found ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ to be a little technical and therefore rather hard work but in the best possible sense of being a very good text that needed careful study to take it all in. For anyone who is serious about understanding human psychology and social values I would say that ‘Knowing Me Knowing You’ is essential reading.”
– Jon Twigge, businessman and founder of the ‘Right to Be’ Blog, Leceister UK, June 2010
“Whenever I go back to your book I find my nascent ideas fully worked through!!! I continue to marvel at the breadth and density of the ideas and interweaving theories that you integrate!”
– Marcus Pontin, community support worker, Sheffield UK, November 2009
“I recommend Keith’s book. A very good description of Spiral Dynamics and a larger psychological overview of related ideas. It does get a little technical or academic but if you are happy with that it makes an excellent and even potentially life changing read.”
– Jon Twigge, businessman and founder of the ‘Right to Be’ Blog, Leceister UK, October 2009
“I tell my students that your book is the best compilation with practical usage guidelines I’ve yet found and suggest they read and practice the values memes technology as you present it.”
– Paul Chek, Paul Chek’s Blog, California, USA, April 2009
(Paul Check is a world-renowned expert at developing practical and effective methods for addressing all aspects of well-being – physical, mental and spiritual. He is the author of several books, including ‘The Last 4 Doctors You’ll Ever Need!’ (Online Multimedia Ebook), and has made a number of workshop videos.)
“Recommended as a book for teachers wishing to understand more about learning styles.”
– Karenne Joy Sylvester, Kalinago English Blog, February 2009
(Karenne Joy Sylvester is developer of the pioneering SimplyConversations system for teaching English as a foreign language.)
“I purchased ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ at Amazon, especially since I’m interested in the connection between NLP/Metaprograms and SD. What you write is very, very interesting. You make a lot of relevant interconnections explicit, which deepens my awareness. So reading your book is a valuable pleasure. And also your website is loaded with interesting stuff. So thank you for sharing all this material!”
– Erik Philippus, Weert, Netherlands, October 2008
“I have read ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ and found it to be of great value. It affirmed a lot of my existing opinions and introduced me to a wide range of appealing new ideas. What more can one ask for in a book?”
– Dave Watkins, USA, September 2008
“There’s more than a comparison of models in what I’m reading here. There appears to be (or at least that is how it is landing with me) . . . a ‘weaving’ of the measuring tools with SDI (possibly?) being the spine of the understanding.”
– Brenda MacMillan, Calgary, Canada, August 2008
“This is neither a typical self-help book nor a Psychology text, using as it does an eclectic range of sources – although Eysenck, Freud, Maslow and Murray (author of the TAT) get a mention. There are useful footnotes and interesting asides which reflect the author’s own journey of personal development and some exercises to complete.
The main thrust of the book is about the work of Clare W Graves and the Beck & Cowan Spiral Dynamics model…plus Eysenck’s personality model and NLP. Rice uses these to underpin other theories and models of human behaviour….
Overall an interesting read with some ideas worth pursuing.”
– Michael Guttridge, excerpt from his review of ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ in the August 2007 edition of ‘The Psycholigist’, the journal of the British Psychological Society.
“It is certainly thought provoking and has a ‘can-do’ feel whereby all the basic tools are there for both the professional and the layman alike to take action!…there is such a lot of work in the book. It must have taken ages to write. It should be required reading in local and national government departments! I even analyse the news as well as other people within its terms of reference. I guess it has made me see and understand things differently…it made me do a lot of thinking and few are the days when I don’t analyse something in terms of reference from sociopsychology.”
– Pamela Crofts, Hull, UK July 2008
“Keith Rice has high expectations for the impacts of this book upon his readers and how they will employ them. He has supplied a concentrated span of Spiral Dynamics applications, in book form, to a practical range of domains. He has integrated those dynamics with other psycho-logics to help readers have a fuller understanding of how they and others behave.
There is much in this book to appreciate from various perspectives. Rice attempts to supply a reader with enough information and examples to begin to understand himself or herself as a dynamic system; a system of different personality tendencies and ‘selves’ or value systems; a system rooted in biological, neurological, and life-conditioned “hard wiring” and variances. For readers who notice these dynamics going on within them, there is a further benefit. Rice’s discussions and examples in Part Two pave the way to internalize how systems interact. Taken as a whole, the book could help people develop metasystematic understandings in at least interpersonal domains. These would be worthwhile developmental contributions.”
– Sara Ross, excerpt from her review of ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ in the June 2007 edition of the Integral Review e-zine.
“‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ is an amazing book! Thank You to Keith Rice . It has inspired me! I’m in the midst of grasping the concept of Spiral Dynamics and this book is helping me so much to understand all of it. It is an inspiration for humanity to change.”
– Josette Curry, Canada, February 2007
“‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ is a fine piece of scholarship and represents a lot of work. In addition to the use of NLP, I liked the inclusion of other models regarding emotions and personality. The footnotes show the effort to document and give credit.”
– Wyatt Woodsmall, The International Research Institute for Human Typological Studies, Virginia, USA, November 2006
(Wyatt Woodsmall is one of the world’s leading coaches, trainers and theoreticians in Neuro-Linguistic Programming. His books include ‘Time Line Therapy & the Basis of Personality’ (co-authored with Tad James, Meta Publications, 1988) and ‘People Pattern Power: P3: the 9 Keys to Business Success’ (co-authored with Marilynne Woodsmall, Next Step, 1999). In 1993 he co-founded of the International NLP Trainers Association.)
“Here is a highly professional treatment of an approach to understanding ourselves and other people. The use of the term ‘SocioPsychology’ serves as a clue that the author integrates the work of Clare Graves, Don Beck and Chris Cowan into his approach. So here we have a serious approach to integrating Spiral Dynamics with Neuro-Linguistic Programming, the work of Robert Dilts’ treatment, after Bateson, of levels of mind and neurology, Eysenck’s biological approach to personality, Wilber’s spirituality and many others. In that sense, this is a book after Ken Wilber’s heart and in the intellectual tradition of Ken Wilber whose research based work is so heavily footnoted.
At the same time, this is a self-help book in the sense that the author is often very personal in his writing style and offers steps and techniques that one can use in one’s development….
This book is a significant contribution to SocioPsychology approaches to life and learning. It goes far beyond the typical self-help book in its sophistication…. Anyone who is interested in development will find it a challenge worth taking.”
– Russ Volckmann, excerpt from his review of ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ in the October 2006 edition of the Integral Leadership Review e-zine
“I have read this book and it is excellent. It is well written, clear and to the point, and very informed.”
– Don Beck, Spiral Dynamics Integral, Texas, USA, August 2006
(Don Beck, co-author of ‘Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership & Change’ (Blackwell, 1996), has been working with Gravesian principles since the mid-1970s – most notably in advising the teams of Nelson Mandela and F W DeKlerk in the South African transition of the early-mid 1990s.)
“I highly recommend Keith Rice’s new book, ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’, to everyone. It is not only faithful to Spiral Dynamics, it is also everything I’ve been asking for in the past five years ago. The book is an answer to all those who ask: tell us how to incorporate Spiral Dynamics into our work and practical applications. Spiral Dynamics provides a great meta framework. A person, however, still needs to overlay all their own knowledge of other models and methods on Spiral Dynamics and to overlay Spiral Dynamics on them. Keith Rice has done this remarkably well in this book!Hopefully we all will have a chance to read it and it will motivate more books by those of us who have incorporated Spiral Dynamics into our personal and professional lives.”
– Bill Hajdu, USA, August 2006
“As one who came to Spiral Dynamics via the NLP route in 1998 and has worked extensively with both models, I have witnessed a number of discussions between those who tried to say NLP was the significant tool and SD a support to it and vice versa. Keith Rice has shown that they can work in combination. I reckon ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ is a great encapsulation of both models and how they can be used in conjunction with each other. The referencing of additional models and papers is exceptional and I’ll be following up on a number of them.
There is no doubt that I will (and have already begun to) recommend this book to those who’ve expressed an initial awareness and interest in SD and or NLP.”
– Marcus P Barber, Strategic Futurist, Looking Up Feeling Good Pty Ltd, Richmond, Australia, July 2006
(Marcus P Barber is one of the leading innovators and Values Systems specialists in Australasia. He is has written a number of articles (web and print) and is author of ‘The Money Tree and How to Grow One: Creating Success in Your Business’ (Barber Books, 2005).)
“’Knowing Me, Knowing You’ is very readable and will give insights both to people who know about Spiral Dynamics and those who don’t. The meshing of all the different theories of Psychology and Sociology is masterful….it must be groundbreaking!”
– Cathy Byrne, Headteacher, The Parks Primary School, Hull UK, July 2006
“Keith E Rice has done a really wonderful job with his book, ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’. It meshes so many concepts new to me with Spiral Dynamics that I feel I’m soaring to new heights of intellectual life!’
– Simon Lafrenière, ‘Student of Life’, Montreal, Canada, June 2006
“The most remarkable thing about ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ is the way Keith Rice has put together a coherent jigsaw made up of so many pieces of the key behavioural science theories. Whilst so many practitioners are very precious about their pet interests, Keith freely acknowledges and credits the work of leading theorists, adding value to our understanding by drawing the parallels between the various schools of thought, both ancient and contemporary.
The book provides an excellent revision source for Keith’s training courses and further expands our understanding of what makes us tick. Demanding, but wholly absorbing and enlightening.”
– David Burnby, David Burnby & Associates, Hull UK, May 2006
(David is a former regional director of Common Purpose. Since then has consulted as a Local Improvement Advisor for the Department of Communities & Local Government and been n Associate Consultant for the Local Government Improvement & Development Agency. He is the UK’s leading expert in Outcome Based Accountability.
“I found some of the ideas at the beginning a bit hard going – a little intense! However, this was compensated for by a review at the beginning of each new chapter which helped to consolidate the previous learning. I thought the way it built sequentially, introducing a new element each chapter, was very effective.
I really liked the idea of being able to use it as a self help book, as well as a tool for exploring how some models may fit together and how to use them practically. This all comes with a suitably severe warning about using these models wisely (“great knowledge brings with it great responsibility” – did that come from ‘Spiderman’?) and is presented in a way that will appeal to both the academic and the self-developer without offending either scientist or spiritual believer.”
– Helen Ezard, NLP Practitioner, Driffield, Yorkshire UK, March 2006
“Keith Rice has achieved something that few thinkers and authors achieve – he has weaved together NLP, Spiral Dynamics, Meta-Programs, Meta-States and the Self-Actualization work of Abraham Maslow into an integrated and consistent package to give a comprehensive view of self and others. I’m very much impressed with the extensive documentation that undergirds ‘Knowing Me; Knowing You’ as well as the wonderful graphics. Many who love to theorize lack the practical applications, but not Keith. In spite of my own past critiques of Spiral Dynamics, this is a wonderful book!”
– L Michael Hall, International Society of Neuro-Semantics, Colorado, USA, February 2006
(Michael Hall is the developer of the Meta-States concept and author or co-author of a number of key NLP-oriented works, including ‘Meta-States: Reflexity in Human States of Consciousness’ (2nd Edition, Neuro-Semantics Publications, 2000) and ‘Frame Games: Persuasion Excellence’ (Neuro-Semantics Publications, 2001).)
“I have to say that I enjoyed it immensely.
I feel that this book is so valuable in that it seems to be the first one to weave together all the Upper Right components of Ken Wilber’s 4-Quadrants model in with Spiral Dynamics and the various typology systems. In my humble opinion, this is a landmark event and it represents a foray into completely new and uncharted territory.
My favorite part was Keith’s discussion about why we have emotional reactions to values & beliefs, but not to discussions/debates about skills or knowledge. To have this Upper Right correlate to explain why we fight with each other (and even engage in war) was so incredibly helpful.”
– Barbara Larisch, New York City Integral Salon, USA, February 2006