Honest Review – What Every BODY is Saying
September 27th, 2011 Filed under: pr careers — Public Relations Author
He says that’s his best offer. Is it?
She says she agrees. Does she?
The interview went greator did it?
He said he’d never do it again. But he did.
Read this book and send your nonverbal intelligence soaring. Joe Navarro, a former FBI counterintelligence officer and a recognized expert on nonverbal behavior, explains how to “speed-read” people: decode sentiments and behaviors, avoid hidden pitfalls, and look for deceptive behaviors. You’ll also learn how your body language can influence what your boss, family, friends, and strangers think of you. You will discover:
- The ancient survival instincts that drive body language
- Why the face is the least likely place to gauge a person’s true feelings
- What thumbs, feet, and eyelids reveal about moods and motives
- The most powerful behaviors that reveal our confidence and true sentiments
- Simple nonverbals that instantly establish trust
- Simple nonverbals that instantly communicate authority
Filled with examples from Navarro’s professional experience, this definitive book offers a powerful new way to navigate your world.
He says that’s his best offer. Is it?
She says she agrees. Does she?
The interview went greator did it?
He said he’d never do it again. But he did.
Read this book and send your nonverbal intelligence soaring. Joe Navarro, a former FBI counterintelligence officer and a recognized expert on nonverbal behavior, explains how to “speed-read” people: decode sentiments and behaviors, avoid hidden pitfalls, and look for deceptive behaviors. You’ll also learn how your body language can influence what your boss, family, friends, and strangers think of you. You will discover:
- The ancient survival instincts that drive body language
- Why the face is the least likely place to gauge a person’s true feelings
- What thumbs, feet, and eyelids reveal about moods and motives
- The most powerful behaviors that reveal our confidence and true sentiments
- Simple nonverbals that instantly establish trust
- Simple nonverbals that instantly communicate authority
Filled with examples from Navarro’s professional experience, this definitive book offers a powerful new way to navigate your world.
Review:
‘What Every Body is Saying’,
by Joe Navarro
If I could recall correctly, my initial introduction to social behavioural patterns of non-verbal communications probably began with Julius Fast’s ‘Body Language’ during the seventies, followed by one of Desmond Morris’ well-illustrated books, ‘Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behaviours’, in the late seventies.
My fascination with the subject grew, particularly from the standpoint of developing a competency in reading people, with the acquisition & reading of Allan Pease’s ‘Body Language: How to Read Others’ Thoughts by Their Gestures’, & more specifically, Gerhard Gschwandter’s ‘Non-Verbal Selling Power’ during the eighties.
I reckon, with the wisdom of hindsight, those were roughly the pivotal books in guiding me to understanding the significance of body language in human interactions.
Throughout the ensuing years from the eighties, I didn’t pursue any newer books on the subject, until very recently when I have come across Joe Navarro’s book.
The author is a former FBI counter-intelligence special agent, which somehow has given the book an iota of authenticity, in contrast to an aura of mystery, about speed-reading people.
In a nut shell, speed-reading people successfully is essentially learning about the world around us, decoding & determining the meaning of non-verbal communications as manifested through facial expressions, gestures, touching, physical movements, posture, body adornment & even the tone, timbre, & volume of a person’s voice – to predict human actions.
More specifically, it’s collecting non-verbal intelligence to assess a person’s thought, feelings & intentions, a competency that can be mastered through constant practice & proper training.
This wonderful book, with clear, concise & succinct writing on the part of the author, has been designed to serve that purpose.
It starts off in the beginning with the ten commandments for observing & decoding nonverbal communications successfully, followed by an insightful exposition of how our evolutionary triune brain structure contributes to our hardwired responses to the world.
For me, just understanding the freeze, flight & fight responses as well as an appreciation of the comfort/discomfort & pacifying routines – in reality, these are parts of our very robust survival mechanisms – has facilitated my renewed journey to becoming a better speed-reader of people. The author has discussed these emotional aspects at great length (Chapter II).
From Chapter III to VII, the author went on to discuss the non-verbals of the feet & legs; the torso, hips, chest & shoulders; the arms; the hands & fingers; & the face, respectively.
I have never seen such extensive as well as illuminating treatment along the foregoing lines by any of the other authors I have encountered earlier.
In spite of all the relevant insights & expert advice which the author has openly shared in his book, he has concluded in the end analysis that there is, however, one type of human behaviour that is difficult to read, & that is deception.
Nevertheless, the author has outlined for readers a dozen of important things to do & valuable points to keep in mind in the course of any interpersonal interactions. Reading them, I come to realise that they all boil down to developing acute observational skills.
In fact, the first commandment from the author, as outlined in the beginning segment of his book rings very true: be a competent observer of our environment.
As a case in point, with the author’s assertion in the concluding chapter, paying attention to the synchrony between what is being said verbally & non-verbally, between the circumstances of the moment & what the subject is saying, between events & emotions, & even synchrony of time & space can often provide valuable clues to detecting deception.
Additionally, when we speak, we naturally utilise various part of our body – such as the eyebrows, head, hands, arms, torso, legs & feet to emphasise a point about which we feel deeply or emotionally. Observing such emphasis can also provide valuable tips on detecting deception.
To end this book review, I like to paraphrase a quote from the author’s friend, as a result of the friend’s personal experience in navigating the car to an unknown destination (in Coral Gables, Florida), mentioned in the epilogue:
“Once I knew what to look for & where to look, the signs were obvious & unmistakable. I had no trouble finding my way.”
That reaction also more or less sums up my sentiment about developing mastery in speed-reading people.
[Reviewed by Lee Say Keng, Knowledge Adventurer & Technology Explorer, November 2008]
