Surrounded by Idiots Author Thomas Erikson Announces New Follow-Up Book, Don't Be an Idiot

Thomas Erikson has spent years explaining why other people can be so difficult to understand. His next book turns the question inward.

Vermilion, part of Ebury, has acquired Don't Be an Idiot, a new follow-up to Erikson's international bestseller Surrounded by Idiots. The book is scheduled for publication on May 20, 2027, with Penguin listing hardback, ebook and audio editions.

Its subtitle — The Seven Drivers of Human Behaviour (and How to Use Them, So They Don't Use You) — suggests a shift in focus. Instead of concentrating only on the personality types that made Erikson famous, the new book is positioned around the underlying forces that influence how people think, react and make decisions.

🧠 A different question from the one that made Erikson famous

Surrounded by Idiots became popular because it offered readers a simple language for talking about behaviour. Erikson's colour-based framework — red, yellow, green and blue — gave people an easy way to think about communication styles, conflict and personality differences.

The new book appears to move beyond that familiar structure. Rather than asking only why people behave differently, Don't Be an Idiot is being presented as a book about the forces that drive behaviour in the first place.

📈 From a controversial title to a global nonfiction brand

Erikson's publishing story has always been slightly unusual. On his official website, he describes writing for nearly two decades before finally breaking through. What followed was much bigger than a single bestseller.

Surrounded by Idiots grew into a series, then into what Erikson's own platform now calls an “Idiot-verse” of books, courses, assessments, lectures and training built around communication and behaviour.

The author says the series has sold over 12 million copies and reached more than 70 languages. Penguin Random House similarly describes the complete Surrounded By series as a 12-million-copy global success.

📚 How the new book fits into the Surrounded By universe

Erikson's bibliography has gradually expanded from communication styles into more specific forms of difficult behaviour, with books on psychopaths, narcissists, bad bosses, setbacks, liars and other relationship challenges.

Don't Be an Idiot feels slightly different even before publication because the title turns the spotlight back on the reader. This time, the problem is not simply the difficult person across the table.

It is the possibility that our own habits, impulses and assumptions are doing more of the damage than we realise.

🗓️ What we know about the release

🔮 Why this release is worth watching

Self-help publishing is crowded, and books about personality have never been more visible. That makes Erikson's next move interesting for a reason that goes beyond his sales figures.

The original Surrounded by Idiots became successful by making complicated human behaviour feel simple and immediate. Don't Be an Idiot now has to feel familiar enough for existing readers while also offering a reason to return.

The subtitle suggests Erikson is trying to solve that by moving from personality labels toward motivations and behavioural drivers.

Whether that becomes another international bestseller will not be clear until next year. But with a 12-million-copy series behind it and a major publisher already positioning it as a long-awaited follow-up, this is one of the more notable nonfiction announcements on the 2027 calendar.

🔎 Sources used for this article