Book Review|| How To Read A Person Like A Book.

Anyone would readily hop on a book with the title “How To Read A Person Like A Book”, or not. Notwithstanding, I did and it was one interesting read for me if I may add.

It's quite amusing that this book has been resting on the book shelf for over a decade and I'm only just reading it. Truth be told, I probably wouldn't have taken it seriously if I read it anytime earlier.

We all go about our daily activities and during the course of these activities, we experience certain emotions. Some people are experts at masking such emotions, take the poker players for instance. If a poker player as much as demonstrates the tiniest bit of emotion, that could be picked up by the opponent. As such, it is great to know how to mask and also read other people's emotions sometimes.

About The Book

“How to Read a Person Like a Book” is a fascinating guide that basically delves into the art of understanding human behaviour, body language and verbal/non-verbal communication. The author and co-authors;Gerard Neirenberg,Henry Valero and Gabriel Grayson, provide practical tools and techniques to help readers decode people's thoughts, emotions and intentions by extension.

Just like every other book, this had its strengths and very minor weaknesses.

Strengths

First off, the book explored a majority of human behaviour including verbal and non-verbal aspects. There's no doubt that humans can be quite complex and understanding them isn't usually a walk in the park. However, there is always a cue, whether minute or not, that can serve as a tip into the person's emotion.

This doesn't necessarily mean you would know exactly what the person is thinking, rather, it's like a starting point. For instance, once a person begins to rub their nose during a conversation, that can be a sign of disbelief.

Second, this book wouldn't have hit the right nerves without the author’s engaging writing style and demonstrative pictures. It's easy to read about a posture or cue but it gets better when there are images to demonstrate such postures. The author took time to include images which made the reading experience more enjoyable.

One other thing I observed was the addition of relatable experiences and illustrations. Such experiences are enough to jog one's memory making it easier to remember the cues. Along the line, the author offered few tips and strategies for improving relationships, communication and even social skills

However, the only thing I classified as a weakness were drop-downs interfering with my reading. The author could be making a very interesting point and before the end of the sentence or paragraph, you could see a drop-down sitting pretty. At such instances, I had to flip the page over to complete the paragraph before going back to read the contents of the drop-down. It became hectic at some point.

My Opinion

This book is an excellent resource for people looking to improve their communication skills, social skills and even relationships. Although it isn't a definitive guide and probably isn't backed by science, the book offers amazing insights and practical ideas.

As per the directives from the book, readers were asked to utilise the knowledge they just gained by observing people and trying to decipher what emotion they are exhibiting. I tried… and ended up looking like a psychopath for gawking at random strangers. But, a majority of the cues were accurate.

For instance, when trying to find out if a person or an audience is bored by your speech or rambling, you should observe their sitting posture(head resting on hands with droopy eyelids), are they momentarily tapping on their chair? Is the person checking their wrist watch from time to time?

One interesting thing about this book is the fact that whenever I come across a cue that denotes something striking, I reminiscenced on a time when I felt that emotion and certainly, I demonstrated a few, if not all of the cues specified.

Recommendation

I would recommend this book to everyone who is ready and willing to improve certain aspects of their lives that involve communication with others. Generally, the book is a fascinating read and the insights shared can always come in handy.

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All images used belong to me and were taken with my mobile device except stated otherwise.

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