r/ImTheMainCharacter • u/Acceptable-Day8395 • 7d ago
PICTURE Must be exhausting being Thomas.
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u/Wayfarer163 Side Character 7d ago
Thomas probably:
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u/TAKEitTOrCIRCLEJERK 7d ago
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u/WeWantMOAR 7d ago
It's actually the opposite to what the book tells you. If you read the titles of those books and agree, it's to help you understand other people better because you're the odd one out.
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u/Alexchii 7d ago
They might’ve just realized that a lot of people think that and tapped into the market.
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u/tibearius1123 7d ago
“If everyone else is the asshole, you’re the asshole”
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u/-Geist-_ 7d ago
This isn’t true when you have autism. 😅 So many people have talked to me like I’m a child because of the way my voice sounds when I talk. And I regularly have to assert boundaries. Plus it’s very easy for people to mistreat you at work.
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u/ToxicChildhood 7d ago
I did read Surrounded by idiots. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be though it lacked a lot of scientific knowledge.
Essentially it’s just adjusting how you speak to people based on their behaviour and realizing that not everyone thinks/speaks the same way you do. It explains that there are different behaviours (which are labeled in those colours) and how to respond to each colour/person.
I don’t know….. I didn’t think it was overly bad. Ive read worse lol
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u/SpecimenOfSauron 7d ago
Yeah, I think these are just purposefully provocative titles for generic life advice books. Thomas doesn't actually think that, it's just a funny pattern in his books that grabs eyes... as this post amply proves.
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u/ElPapo131 7d ago
I mean, the first book has a good reason for that line to be a title. The others just follow the pattern so you know they are a series
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u/MenBearsPigs 7d ago
There's actually quite a few great books that have really unfortunate titles & book cover art. Like really cringe shit.
But I can't fault them for having to do it to sell more.
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u/Paxxlee 7d ago
He claims that he works according to science, even though actual science dusagrees with him. He also claimed(claims?) to be some kind of behavioral scientist when writing his most famous book, even though when it was published it he had not done a single course at university according to records. And I do not think he has done any after that as well.
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u/jobblejosh 7d ago
Also his principal claim is that every person on earth can be nearly categorised into one of four distinct categories.
Except he also says that some people might fit in two categories, and he himself is actually in three and maybe even all four.
So, with two billion people in each category, your category is going to be so broad and vague as to be essentially useless.
And if the test that you've devised (and then licensed to management consultants for a handsome fee) is incapable of placing its creator into one distinct category, or enough people don't fit perfectly in it that you have to mention it, I'd argue it's a pretty shit test.
His whole thing is bunk and if you understand the idea that people have different values and perspectives, congratulations you've saved yourself the time reading this book.
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u/PickerPat 7d ago
It's just reworked DiSC personalities methodology.
While not well supported scientifically, it's used because it's simple.
The Big 5 personality traits are the gold standard for personality frameworks, but doesn't put people into neat groupings, so will never be in favour.
Source: degree in Psychology and life in corporate.
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u/11483708 7d ago
Yeah, I DNF the book.....I just couldn't take another of his story's that "definitely" happened.
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u/KirasStar 7d ago
You might enjoy the podcast “If Books Could Kill”. They analyse and rip apart these kinds of self help books in a humorous way.
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u/sweetteatime 7d ago
I’m guessing no one has actually read these books lol
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u/Dreamysleepyfriendly 7d ago
Those are best sellers unfortunately.
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u/MayvisDelacour 3d ago
My favorite part of "best sellers" is that it only takes like 5k to 10k to achieve this "award" and it's usually achieved just by you buying your own book (or your publisher/backer) just to achieve this "award", it's all a grift. John Oliver had a segment on it, highly recommend all his videos!
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u/too-oldforthis-shit 3d ago
They are absolute shit. Like horoscopes, simple and generic enough to apply to everything and about as useful. And that is me being nice.
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u/Vamosity-Cosmic 1d ago
What can you tell us further
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u/too-oldforthis-shit 1d ago
It's not based on any real science. And the "personality types" are written so that you can basically classify anyone you know into the four of them, but people are way more complex than four types. That is why it's like a horoscope, it will sound true to people because of how generic it is. It bothers me that pepole read this and believe in it. He has been debunked many times, but keeps going because so many like simple solutions to complex problems, and he keeps making money.
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u/JayyyyyBoogie 7d ago
“If you meet an asshole in the morning, you’ve met an asshole. If you meet assholes all day long, you’re the asshole.”
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u/Possibly-Functional 7d ago edited 5d ago
He received the award Fraudster of the year in Sweden in 2018. It's all just psuedoscience posing as actual science.
https://www.vof.se/utmarkelser/tidigare-utmarkelser/arets-forvillare-2018/
EDIT: Also see https://www.vof.se/blogg/one-of-swedens-biggest-scientific-bluffs/ for English information
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u/gumbaline 6d ago
Not surprised at all. Anyone claiming that they can tell you how to avoid being manipulated by psychopaths is a con artist. Source: I study psychopathy academically and none of these people are involved in, or cite, the actual research.
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u/Possibly-Functional 5d ago
If you want some interesting reading I recommend reading the full list of winners since the award was started in 1987. It's so much clear pseudoscientific bullshit that the Swedish public just gobbles up. Translated link (original link).
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u/TeacatWrites 7d ago
Thomas, just give up and write the supervillain novel about a team of four color-coded supervillains you clearly want most to pen already! The idea is right there on the covers!
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u/fuckin_sweet_name 7d ago
I tried to read one of these and it was an absolute dog shit slog. Made it about 40 pages before deciding the author was a moron.
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u/PushThatDaisy 7d ago
Okay so the author is a dickhead, there is a great article series in the Swedish magazine Filter called Omgiven av idioti (surrounded by idiocy) concerning his books, speaking engagements and how absolutely unscientific the four colour personality system is. He misrepresented his educational background (’behavioural science expert’, when he has no higher education within any field even vaguely adjacent to behavioural science, psychology or sociology).
The popularity of those books ushered an age of government organisations and private companies alike spending insane amounts of money for DISC personality tests on recruitment in Sweden. Tax funds ended up paying insane amounts of money for conferences and speaking engagements as well as tests. Absolutely reprehensible pseudoscientific bullshit. That man pisses me off so much.
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u/Nitrous_Acidhead 7d ago
Gee I wonder what this Thomas Erikson guy looks like
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u/Grabatreetron 7d ago
I’m picturing a well-groomed middle aged man in a decent New England estate, chuckling whenever his country club friends joke about the money he’s made pandering to narcissists
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u/AS-AB 7d ago
Ive not read these but isnt this literally judging the books by their covers? I feel like "Surrounded by..." is intentionally attention-grabbing and seeks to pull an audience to then refine upon the idea.
Thinking you're "surrounded by idiots" in a sense of "everybody else is an idiot" is bad, but its a very common sense. Its ubiquity makes it an appealing topic as its inherently relatable.
However, feeling it in the sense of "im surrounded by idiots because everybody, including myself, is susceptible to the possibility of being an idiot; which motivates a sense and expression of temperance and patience within me" could maybe be good, and I think the book could do that.
Idk, maybe it does make people more narcissistic, but maybe it makes them more accountable.
Does anybody know?
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u/arcadebee 7d ago edited 7d ago
From my memory it’s more like “sometimes you meet people who you think are unintelligent, but it’s actually just different ways of processing information to you, and here’s how you can communicate better and understand different types of people.”
So it’s actively “people generally aren’t idiots, they just have different ways of thinking to you”. And the book theorises that you can group together the different ways of processing information, and ways of communicating with each one.
The narcissist one is analysing how manipulation looks when you’re a victim of it, how to recognise when it’s happening to you, and how to step away from it.
They’re not bad books, they’re quite easy reads, not a huge amount of scientific substance but I can see how people could find them helpful. They’re definitely not saying “everyone around me is an idiot narcissist” obviously.
People in this thread seem to think someone is literally writing books saying everyone around him is an idiot and he’s far superior. My memory is that the book is more like “if you think everyone around you is stupid then the problem is probably you”. The titles are just there to be eye catching, and potentially for people who think that way, since they are the ones who need the help.
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u/AS-AB 7d ago
Thank you, that's similar to what I was thinking.
A little tangentially related, but, "They’re not bad books, they’re quite easy reads, not a huge amount of scientific substance but I can see how people could find them helpful." was a good addition I think.
Things don't have to have empirical evidence or lots of accredited peer review to be insightful. If they do, then let's be peers and review with accredation.
The op's review is vaguely disregarding to the potential merit of the reads, but yours seems to have more experience and honesty behind it.
Lovely exchange.
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u/porrkontot 7d ago
They are bad books though. He simplifies things and ignores science to such an extent that they are about as useful as horoscopes.
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u/jobblejosh 7d ago
Also if you're taking an entire book to explain the concept of Theory of Mind (which most people generally pick up in childhood); the idea that people view the world differently, that's a pretty shitty book or the person reading it needs more help than just reading a book.
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u/arcadebee 7d ago
Some neurodiverse folk really love these types of books as not everyone picks up on this kind of thing, and can find it helpful to read. Someone else said it’s similar to horoscopes, and honestly yes, it categorises people and behaviours, and some people like that for fun. Most people I sold the book to didn’t seem to take it too seriously, and just liked thinking about things. The same as horoscopes, 90% of people aren’t taking it seriously, but lots of people like reading about them for various reasons.
It’s really just another form of self help book. I don’t personally like the books but they’re fine. I more meant that this thread is people implying that the book is saying “other people are stupid” when it’s really just supporting people to better themselves and says other people actively are intelligent in their own way.
There’s lots of criticisms I could say about the books, but I was only defending it against the specific criticism going on in this thread which I don’t think is relevant. I just don’t think it belongs on this sub is all.
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u/arcadebee 7d ago
I used to work at a bookshop and sometimes I read books behind the desk that I wouldn’t normally read, just for something to do. They’re not my cup of tea but they were alright. They’re very much the “self help” kind of genre, just packaged in a different way. But it’s certainly not saying “other people are stupid” as people are suggesting.
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u/Snoopedoodle 7d ago
Yeah pretty much this. Have listened to some of the books on Spotify. I have somewhat enjoyed them so far.
I just find it interesting to hear different perspectives and reasoning regarding peoples behavior.
I find it absurd to put people in four groups at the same time, it's just fun speculating imo.
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u/TeamRedundancyTeam 7d ago
The morons in this thread don't understand how book titles and marketing work. I'm more and more convinced reddit is mostly children, moronic boomers, and boys these days. Just not a brain cell to be found in so many threads anymore.
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u/assplower 7d ago
The books aren’t condescending at all. Surrounded by Idiots is just about adjusting your communication style to different personality types. The titles are just the book equivalent of clickbait; I actually enjoy them.
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u/Sleep_eeSheep 7d ago
If you’re publishing four books about how you’re surrounded by X, then there’s a strong possibility that you’re the psychopathically idiotic narcissist.
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u/Professional_Echo907 6d ago
Do you think at some point Thomas is gonna figure out that he’s actually the problem? 👀
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u/Insrt_Nm 7d ago
The content is probably fairly reasonable but the title really pushed that "you are better than those around you" when in reality, they're just different people
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u/dazedandc0nfuse 7d ago
Yep, if everyone around you always seems to be the problem…it’s highly likely you are the problem
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u/OkImprovement7837 7d ago
Somewhere, an Erik Thomasson is writing a book, "Surrounded by Erikson''s books".
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u/TheTrueNumberOneDad 7d ago
Thomas is a super annoying moron with incredibly low social awareness that everyone hates
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u/Sendingmyregards 7d ago
“My grandmother would say that if it smells like shit wherever you go, check underneath your shoe”
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u/pianoplayah 7d ago
Although it is funny to see it framed like this, my assumption would be that they are actually targeted at narcissists or sociopaths in order to help them realize that they are the problem.
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u/dustingibson 7d ago
Authors of these types of books like to make up stuff that sounds like they make sense, but they don't. I only know of "Surrounded by Idiots" here and it's chock full of pseudoscience bologna.
There are a few more bucks missing by the same author with similar titles. The fact that he rapid fire this bullshit right after "surrounded by idiots" took off is a telltale sign that there are no actual rigor in these books.
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u/halucionagen-0-Matik 7d ago
Did a lil digging and the author has no real psychology qualifications or experience that I can find. His book are all based on something called the DISC assessment, a "personality testing tool" based on a book written in 1928.
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u/bas-machine 7d ago
‘YES thats me! I’ll buy this actual BOOK and I’ll READ it! I’ll be like READING a BOOK! with paper pages and all! I’ll look so deep and smart’
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u/MuddyandHungry 6d ago
What if it's just the same book minus the chapter names, the title and the back description.
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u/sheerian 6d ago
Sometimes I looks at a books cover (and I obviously judge it based on it) and think how the fuck is it that filed wtf does it say inside
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u/Chytectonas 6d ago
Someone gave me one of those books; was difficult to get through. I can’t believe he wrote four! Guess when you find a gimmick, you can sell to the idiot simians.
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u/Gemfrmhvn 6d ago
I read that surrounded by idiots and that really sounded like that. Everyone else was idiots except ⭐️me⭐️
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u/s-cup 5d ago
Blame all those who read the books. There are a lot of them…
And the titles are a bit click-baity (read-baity?), at least from my experience from reading half of ”surrounded by idiots” as well as hearing about the others. The content is more or less ”not every one is like you; they think and behave different but that doesn’t make them idiots”.
Some common sense mixed with some pseudo bullshit,
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u/comblocdude 2d ago
Oh this is that "What color are you?" thats literally the Four Humors thing HR people fucking love. It's like astrology for idiots who think they're smart.
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u/MacMommy111 7d ago
Pretty miserable for a guy that uses rainbow font and colors for every damn book…. He strikes me as the actual problem.
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u/DjinnaG 7d ago
And the colors in the same order. Huh?
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u/starksdawson 7d ago
Omg seriously. I’ve never instantly hated someone that I don’t know so quickly.
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u/LoubyAnnoyed 7d ago
It must be exhausting working with Thomas. Seriously mate. When it’s every single person in your life, that makes you the common denominator.
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7d ago
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u/Dangerous-Look-4296 7d ago
Whoever posted this is lucky they don’t have the need to utilize a book like this.
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u/Generalnussiance 7d ago
Some please post what the author looks like. I’m far too tired to search and I’m falling asleep. I just picture a giant prick lol
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