Product Description

What you say is often far less important than how you say it. One of the harbingers of success is understanding how nonverbal cues such as body language, dress, and demeanor affect how you are perceived and understood. In this book Navarro, one of the leaders in nonverbal behaviours, demonstrates how to modify your subconscious statements to your greatest advantage and also read what other people are 'saying' nonverbally. These skills will increase your ability to accurately assess moods, decode behaviors, anticipate problems, avoid hidden pitfalls, influence negotiations, and understand the secret motivations of those around you.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
"A masterful work on nonverbal body language by an exceptional observer. Joe Navarro's work has been field-tested in the crucible of law enforcement at the highest levels within the FBI. I cannot praise the book enough." -- --David Givens, Ph.D., author of Crime Signals and Love Signals

About the Author
For twenty-five years, Joe Navarro, M.A., worked with the FBI, both as an agent and supervisor in the area of counterintelligence and counterterrorism handling complex multinational investigations. He is presently an adjunct faculty member at the FBI's Counterintelligence Division where he teaches behavioral analysis and nonverbal communications. He consults to the Department of Energy, the State Department, and the Institute for Defense Analysis, a Washington, D.C. based think tank. Mr. Navarro has taught intelligence analysis to both the law enforcement and intelligence communities. In addition to his counterintelligence duties with the Bureau, Mr. Navarro was the senior criminal profiler in the Tampa Division and continues to serve as a consultant in the National Security Division's Behavioral Analysis Program. Marvin Karlins received his Ph.D. degree in psychology from Princeton University. He is the author of 23 books and was a senior editor at Gambling Times Magazine for 10 years. He most recently the co-writer with Joe Navarro on Phil Hellmuth Presents Read 'Em and Reap.

Customer Reviews

one of the best of all the body language books
Over the last decade I've read the books by Allan/Barbara Pease ("The Definitive Book Of Body Language" is the best of theirs); David Lieberman (in the end, I did not get a lot from his books which were not only disorganised but too much of his information could easily lead to getting false positives); and Paul Ekman (an academic who specialises in facial language - his video on reading facial microexpressions is very useful, as is "Lie to Me", the fascinating TV series based on his work).

There's benefit from reading most of the books on nonverbal language but this one is probably the most extensively field-tested and is also a good starter book, with lots of demonstration photos. The author began his sharp understanding of nonverbal language in the schoolroom when, as a young immigrant with little English, he identified what others felt about him from tiny changes around their eyes as he entered the room (slight eyebrow raise = friendly vs slight squint = unfriendly). He continually honed this natural gift over his decades in the FBI including many years of lecturing both FBI and police about body language.

The book has a whole-body approach that not only explains the what, why and how but also gives real-life examples; it is clearly organised from the most honest parts of the body to the least honest (essentially from the feet upwards), which provides a good flow. It repeatedly emphasises the importance of context and the need to compare any changes with the baseline or normal behaviour of the individual; the author confesses to still making mistakes and cautions against over-reliance on "tells".

The book provides background psychology behind many of our subconscious actions yet is easy to read and understand. Although it relates heavily to business interactions, the techniques can easily be translated to any social interaction. Even though it does not really help you with your own communication skills, it does provide excellent information on how to identify contradictions between what is being said vs what that other person is really thinking - how valuable in the workplace!

An invaluable & informative read
I recently bought this book hoping to learn how to read and better understand the behavior of the business people and situations I come across daily in my work in finance. My hopes for this knowledge were SURPASSED as the guidance Mr. Navarro provides in this book is so practical and constructive you can start applying it immediately. I like his style of writing too - easy to follow, engaging with many real examples. I also found the pictures used throughout the book are very helpful in making a behavior memorable so I can look out for it as I go about my day, in and outside of work. I can see how this information could be applied to so many different jobs and situations, not just business and finance, and as such recommend it to anyone looking for more understanding about the behaviors of the people around them.

I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could, because it's already helping me as I apply what I've learnt.

Only body language book that made sense to me
This is the first body-language book I've read that actually made sense to me, and which I feel I can trust. Rather than being written by TV personalities, with frequent appeals to speculative science, this one is written by someone who used body language for his day job in life and death situations over an entire career. He introduces a bit of (well-established) science, lots of empirically gathered experimental results, in case you're interested, but, mainly, he's talking about stuff he has observed over years and years, and personally put to the test.

Not surprisingly, this book makes far fewer claims for body language than some of the others I looked at. Navarro is categorical that body language alone cannot tell you a person is lying, although he does give some clear advice on what to look for. Rather, he focuses on barriers, pacifiers and emphasis which, when combined with the right questions, can lead you to seeing what areas a person is uncomfortable about. He quickly dismisses some of the grand urban myths of body language, for example that a person who touches their nose is lying, and makes some very good points from his criminal justice background about the dangers of believing such notions.

I learned a huge amount from this book, and it altered my thinking about what body language is and does. I learned even more about what it isn't and doesn't.

Chuck the other books away -- this is the one to buy.