Customer Reviews

The Art of Hand Analysis

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have read this book several times. I have been impressed by clarity, comprehensiveness and simple language of the content. It is the only book I have ever read that uses the simple diagrams to explain the concepts for every line and situation. Only book I have found so far that explains the meaning of lines and various signs on the 3 phalanges of fingers and the thumb. Easy to understand language helps anyone understand it.

If you are thinking about buying a book on Palmistry, this is the only book you need to buy. Believe me! I have gone thru' many many books on Palmistry.

I read the complaining review from the Japanese gentleman with incredulity. You see, I had a hand reading from Mr Bashir in 1963, when I was living in London. I still have the reading as I wrote notes on his own notepaper! It turned out to be very accurate indeed. However, I unwisely ignored a prediction he made for the immediate future stating "Unwise to develop complicated love affair". I did not understand this warning at all(Unwise in what way? Complicated in what way?) 8 years later I was walking around my hometown suicidally depressed after a devastatingly unhappy love affair and that remark flashed into my head. Now I knew exactly what he meant by "unwise" and "complicated" but it was too late - the damage was done! The affair destroyed my self confidence and it took me ten years to get over it. In some ways, I have never got over it. So, Mr Bashir was an ace palmist, I can assure you!

I haven't done palm reading before and this was actually the first book I have read on the subject. I - as I guess all beginners just grabbing a book like this - applied the guidelines on my own palms. Most of them were right, some were not.
I'm sure that all professional "palm readers" read and study a lot before they are able to do readings for others and they must go through a lot of different experiences until they can perform reliable readings. But "The Art of Hand Analysis" seems to be a good start for those willing to get involved.

I am amazed to see the remarks by someone from Japan!
He says he would not even read this book. I have read almost all the books on palmistry and have more than 200 books on palmistry
in my library. I find this book the best of all. It will be enough to tell you that it has been written by a world-famous,
practising palmist who lived in London(ENG) and read the hands of kings and highy rankining officialls most part of his life and he writes and claims (truthfully) that he has only included in the book what he observed and found correct and true . If this book is not worth reading then... It contains the essence of a professional'S life long experiences.What it contains, comes from his life-long experience. This book is more than enough for the needs of even a proffessional.(Iam a pro.palmist)

I'll tell you out front: I haven't actually read this book in its entirety.

But why should I? Reading the excerpts was enough to make me understand that I didn't want it. While there were sparse elements of truth, I found the interpretations for the back of the hand somewhat offensive: they are full of tacit stereotypes and judgements which are no longer usefull, much less accurate in the world we (or at least *I*) live in.

As an example, my own hand has very smooth skin and little hair on the back of it, and yet according to this book, my hand ought to match the "leathery" and "hairy" hand categories!

Another example might be found in the majority of Asian men (note that I live in Japan), few of whom have much body hair (not to mention hair on the back of their hands) and yet few of them are as described by this book.

In summary, then, the short section of the book that I did read clearly was written on mistaken (racist? sexist?) assumptions, and on top of that certainly did NOT foster openness and acceptance.

If none of this bothers you, this may be the book for you, otherwise, I would recommend avoiding it.