Teach Yourself Body Language

I didn't do the excersizes and I didn't get as much out of the book. It's tempting to not do them as you can get the concepts from the discussion, but I suspect given the extreme reviews of this book, that doing them makes all the difference. If you're not going to do them, then buy another book.

Why I wrote this review:I had to write this review after reading the 1 star "spotlight" review, entitled "ok but not what I expected." I have read countless books on Body Language, Self-Help, NLP, Social Psychology, and Persuasion, and this book is one of the best books I have read. The negative review is inaccurate and misleading. (Note: I am not affiliated with the author or publisher in any way.)This book is not for everyone: If you won't do the real world body language exercises don't buy this book. You need to actually do them. They're fun! Many books on body language will give you "generalizations" or generic rules, which you read about but never incorporate into your every day life. This book's different because instead of just telling you a concept you actually get to experience the concept. After reading this book you'll look at the world differently. The real world body language exercises are fun:For example, instead of just telling you about current theories related to pupil dilation and attraction the author suggests that you actually go out into the real world and try it: "Select an attractive stranger... Try to decide from their eyes alone whether or not they like you..." The author gives you further advice and pointers on what to look for and what to do. If you do the fun exercises like this, your awareness of body language will improve dramatically. This book is great because:It incorporates body language into your every day life, and covers a wide range of topics including: eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, personal space, posture, proximity, touching, and even more sophisticated NLP concepts such as timing and synchronization. I strongly recommend this book. For other great book ideas check out my listmania lists.

This book is very complete and interesting but in order to really appreciate it you must complete the "real life" experiments throughout, so you tend to need to dedicate a lot of time to it.

I used this book to help supplement a class I was teaching on interview techniques. This was a great supplement, and it was easy to use. I've made the book a "featured selection" for my class, and encourage anyone wanting to learn the basics of body langauge to check this one out.

Experts claim we can communicate much more with our body movements and posture than we can possibly achieve using the spoken word. Gordon R. Wainwright explores the often misunderstood notion of nonverbal communication in his book, entitled Body Language. Published in 1985, the book was written as an effort to educate the reader on how to perceive, understand and use body language to aid our communication with others and enhance our daily lives. Through excellent examples and explanations, Wainwright does an first-rate job of addressing this complex topic. He frequently includes exercises, many of which are enjoyable and humorous, to help in understanding the different topics of the book By the end, I felt truly educated on a subject I had often wondered about, but really did not understand well. The informative introduction section explains well what the book is about and how it is organized. Wainwright focuses on a different aspect of body language in each of the 15 chapters that comprise the body of the book. Following the introduction, Wainwright discusses eye contact and direction of gaze, which he calls the "most potent means of nonverbal communication we possess" (6). As he does in most chapters, Wainwright introduces the chapter with background information and past studies to help the reader gain a broad perspective of the topic. He then explains the origins of why eye contact is such a fundamental aspect of nonverbal communication. His analysis is rational and easy to understand and is not verbose. Allowing the reader to learn on his or her own and not just from reading the text, Wainwright uses effective exercises throughout the book. The eye contact exercise instructs you to find a crowd, in a bar or restaurant for example, and observe people in conversation, paying close attention to how they maintain eye contact. Wainwright then includes an "Exercise review," in which he lists a number of observations you probably saw. I found these exercises insightful, and it added credibility to the book when I observed what he predicted I would see. Wainwright's next topic deals with the role of facial expressions, including an in-depth discussion of smiling. He writes, "The smile is probably the most universally used and the most positive facial expression" (27). The entertaining exercise of this section has you purposely greet everyone you meet in a day, whether you like them or not, with a warm smile and salutation. As predicted by Wainwright, I found that most people kindly returned the smile and were more pleasant than normal in conversation. He also brings out another anecdote about the smile. We typically smile because we are happy; however, this can also work in reverse. In what might be an unpleasant situation, forcing yourself to smile may actually make you happier. It is these usable tidbits that keep the reader interested and why Body Language is such an excellent book. Following t