Personality changes are conventionally frowned upon, but Carter shows that in today's world the ability to switch from one personality to another according to what is demanded of us is a huge strength, providing one's personalities work together as a team rather than against each other.

"In this interpretation of the many selves within the human mind, science and medical writer Carter (Mapping the Mind) offers a unique definition of multiple personalities in a functioning person, without the usual discussion of phobias or other psychological disorder. Carter sees personality as a cluster of related traits; for instance, ambition and related traits like drive and impatience could be one personality that would coexist with other personalities in one individual. She describes, for instance, a passive mother of two transforming into a powerful attorney in a high-powered firm; this 'mental shape-shifting' leads the mother to display contradictory character traits at home, at work and at play. Contrasting what the author calls minor and major personality traits in thought and behavior, Carter explains: 'Our inner landscape is constantly changing. Various personalities form, change, fade away, reform, merge, shrink and grow.' She adds intriguing diagrams of memory and recall patterns illustrating how people 'behave differently in different situations.' Exercises provided in the second part of the book encourage the reader's family and work personalities to interact and communicate positively with each other. Carter is pushing the envelope on personality, and her book should spark debate on the flexibility of the human mind." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Science and medical writer Carter combines popular science writing and the "self-help" genre in her discussion of the human personality. Basing the work in large part on anecdotal evidence gathered from interviews, she argues that none of us have just one personality, we instead have multiple personalities united by shared memories and that these personalities are created in as many forms and as great or small a number as required by a person. After presenting this argument and introducing the main types of personality--"anxious parents, frightened children, stereotypes, rebels and shadows"--, she discusses how the reader can come to recognize his or her own personalities, understand how they interact and contrast with one another, and encourage them to work together as a team. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

MULTIPLICITY presents an entirely new view of our selves. Instead of seeing each person as a single personality, Carter argues that we all consist of multiple characters, each one with its own viewpoint, emotions and ambitions. The mother who feeds breakfast to her children, for example, has quite different concerns and opinions from the woman taking part in a boardroom discussion two hours later, and from the woman she will be with her husband that night. Yet all three may share the same body, and none is any more authentic than another.

Personality changes in a person are conventionally frowned upon, but Carter shows that in today's world our ability to switch from one personality to another according to what is demanded of us is a huge strength, providing one's personalities work together as a team rather than against each other. In addition to its groundbreaking scientific thesis, MULTIPLICITY contains extensive exercises designed to help readers achieve this harmony.