The Book Depository What Every BODY is Saying by Joe Navarro
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Price: £15.28
Brand: The Book Depository
Description: What Every BODY is Saying : Paperback : Harper Collins Publishers Inc : 9780061438295 : 0061438294 : 02 Feb 2011 : Demonstrates how to modify your subconscious statements to your advantage. This book helps you read what other people are 'saying' nonverbally. These skills can increase your ability to assess moods, decode behaviors, anticipate problems, avoid hidden pitfalls, influence negotiations, and understand the secret motivations of those around you. The Book Depository What Every BODY is Saying by Joe Navarro - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: The Book Depository
Product ID: 9780061438295
MPN: 0061438294
GTIN: 9780061438295
Author: Patrick Løye
Rating: 5
Review: They say that a large proportion of our communication is done via body language (It was around 70-80% I believe)... so it's pretty obvious that with those wanting to achieve mastery over social interactions - that body language is a high priority on their list. Sadly, a lot of materials have taken advantage of this demand and leapt onto the bandwagon - providing over the top, exagerrated and unrealistic claims... so every self-proclaimed "Body Language Expert" will give you hard-and-fast rules about each and every hand movement, and exactly what they say. So if a man crosses his arms, it means that he is uncomfortable because the decor if his immediate location contains colours that remind him of his 3rd aunt's house who had a big dog that bit him when he was 10... oh, and if he blinks quickly too, it means that there were 2 dogs. Rarely does the consideration "is he cold?" spring to mind. Fortunately, Joe Navarro is realistic in his explanations. As an Ex-FBI, it could have been tempting for him to make out like he was the lie-detector king and sell you a ton of 'tells' about what people do when they lie... but he doesn't. He holds the realistic idea that you can never tell a liar - Only if they develop discomfort. His ideas are tried, tested and very thorough. There's a lot to learn in this book, particularly for beginners. The layout is nicely structured for dipping back into for reference and is packed with a ton of well-presented images (No ridiculous hand-drawn pictures). But don't think of this as an oracle, or an encyclopedia - but more a study aid / instruction manual. Unfortunately, because it is one of the few realistic books out there - it dwarfs in comparison to other titles, as it lacks the over-the-top claims that adorn their pages. A lot of the examples are probably 'obvious', for the simple reason they're the only ones that are most reliable. A lot of readers come here expecting a manual for every little flinch and motion - which, I'm afraid, is impossible (or unreliable)... the level of explanation on body language can only go so far, because there's so many factors that come into play. For example; is a woman facing you a sign of interest? On one hand, yes... but what if she's interested yet shy about it? She'd face away then. She might not be interested, but feels comfortable enough that she will still face you... The only 'reliable' tell you can generally find is a person's state of comfort - which, fortunately, Joe explains in brilliant detail here. The only real downside is that, coming from an FBI background, a lot of his examples are FBI/crime/interrogation-based. Don't get me wrong - his ideas still apply to social/business situaitons... but be aware that you might need to do a small bit of legwork in applying the principles to your field. He's given you the raw materials - all you need to do is ask "ok - so how could this body language pop up in my field?" - The 'tells' will still be the same, but when and how they appear might change. So overall, it's an excellent, down-to-earth book that you can keep leaping back into for references and reminders as you hone your new skills
Author: S
Rating: 2
Review: Many things about this book irritated me. For a start the first couple of chapters are mainly just trying to sell you the authors other services (conferences or whatever). Almost stopped reading at this point. The next few chapters seem to be almost entirely about what you're going to learn from the book. I hate it when books do this because I've already bought it - you don't have to try and sell it to me. It's the same sort of thing as how in American TV shows they show you what's about to happen every 5 minutes. Just get on with it. Secondly the way it's written is very ponderous and it tries hard to sound science-y in areas that are totally irrelevant. Here is an extract to illustrate my point: //"For millions of years, the feet and legs have been the primary means of locomotion for the human species. They are the principal means by which we have manoeuvred, escaped and survived. Since the time out ancestors began to walk upright across the grasslands of Africa, the human foot has carried us, quite literally, around the world... ...And while not as efficient at certain tasks as our hands (we lack an opposable big toe)..."// It goes on like this for some time. This is great for those that have yet to realise what the lumps of meat on the ends of their legs are for but for the rest of us it's just pointless waffle that adds nothing to the book. It reads a lot like padding and without it I think this book would probably be about 100 pages long. On the subject of trying to sound science-y the book has many references to other literature. Funnily some of them are references to other books by the author and books about the author which leads me to believe they're probably there more for show than anything else. I don't know why they bothered to do this because the major premise of the book is that it's information gleamed from many years of experience not an academic look at body language. There is some actual interesting material in the book and some more subtle stuff to look for that you may notice after reading it but it's hidden in such a large amount of crap it barely seems worth the effort.
