The Art of SpeedReading People: How to Size People Up and Speak Their Language [Paperback]

Paul D. Tieger (Author), Barbara Barron-Tieger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 25, 1999

In business & in life, communication is the key tto success. And, as made clear in this book, learning to use the power of Personality Type is the key to communicating more effectively. Now in the same successful format as the bestsellers Do What You Are & Nurture by Nature, The Art of Speed Reading People offers a revolutionary new tool for sizing up people & speaking their language. A salesperson pitching a customer. A manager trying to motivate an employee. A teacher attempting to make a point with a student. In any of these situations, the power to "read" another person can be a powerful advantage. Drawing on the same scientifically validated Personality Type model that many Fortune 500 companies use, this book shows how anyone can quickly identify key personality characteristics through a person's appearance, vocabulary, body language, occupation, education, & interests. The Art of SpeedReading People is the ultimate communication resource - the next best thing to having X-ray vision.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Do you communicate ineffectively with some people and powerfully with others? The reason may be a difference in personalities and communication preferences. The Art of Speedreading People is a crash course in communication strategies, showing you how to observe behavioral clues to gain valuable insights into people's personalities and communication styles. The result: you become a more effective and convincing communicator, and you are more likely to receive the response you want.

This book is like a practical communications seminar based on the psychology model called Personality Typing, which is focused on identifying key personality traits in order to communicate most effectively. First, you analyze your own personality type and determine your placement on the scales of extrovert/introvert, sensor/intuitive, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving. The book then teaches you about the clues that indicate other people's personality type, including speaking style, body language, and occupation. You test yourself by reading a few scenarios and personality typing the characters described. You put the system to work by learning approaches to "speedreading" people in person and on the phone using skill-building exercises. Finally, you learn how to communicate effectively with people who are a different type or temperament than you. The Art of Speedreading People is intriguing and useful, especially for those who work in a sales, service, teaching, or managerial position, or any job where effective and positive communication is paramount. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The authors have taken a well-respected aspect of psychology called "personality typing" and devised the art of "speed reading" people as a powerful tool for quickly and accurately identifying key personality traits for effective communication. The book also serves as an infomercial for the authors' consulting practice. Tieger and Barron-Tieger aim to accurately identify key characteristics of personality that are present in all people, through understanding how people are energized, what kind of information they naturally notice and remember, how they make decisions, and how they organize the world around them. The first section of the book is devoted to the underlying principles of personality type, the second section addresses communicating with people in their favorite style, and the final section deals with understanding and appreciating the subtleties and preferred communication styles of the 16 types identified by the concept of personality type. Although some readers may not agree with all of the authors' views, this book provides useful insight into the ongoing challenge of effective communication. Mary Whaley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1st Little, Brown pbk. ed edition (February 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316845183
• ISBN-13: 978-0316845182
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.6 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy Getting Started Guide to the 16 MBTI Personality Types, December 4, 2002

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D. Bodenheimer (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Art of SpeedReading People: How to Size People Up and Speak Their Language (Paperback)

I have read a great number of books on the 16 MBTI personality types, and I have investigated scores of websites to really find out all I can about understanding people and their personalities. This book, by far, is the easiest guide to the MBTI. I highly recommend it both to people new to MBTI, and to those who have a fairly good understanding of the 16 types.

This book is simple and easy to understand, and has some really great real-world examples that are wonderful. The "How To Speak" sections are fun and make perfect sense.

Other books on the MBTI are really complicated and seem to require a Master's degree in psychology in order to really get the most out of them.

This book will help you understand the people in your life, and make you realize that everyone is different, and that everyone sees things from a different perspective. But that isn't the best part... it tells you HOW they see things and HOW best to interact with them.

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Insightful For Understanding How People Communicate, March 7, 2005

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Philip R. Heath "Gadgets, Music, & Books" (DFW) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Art of SpeedReading People: How to Size People Up and Speak Their Language (Paperback)

I have used MBTI at work and found it to be useful. I came across this book when I was looking for something to add to the basic knowledge that I had. Don't worry though, the first two chapters go over the basics. If you are not familiar with MBTI, this will get you started. If you are familiar with it, it serves as a good review.

Then the heart of the book takes you through three tools for identifying peoples preferences: type preference as a whole, temperament, and extraverted/introverted feeling. After putting all of these together, the authors present you with some case studies where you use the various techniques to try to identify the types of the people involved. They are simple but useful.

The book closes with some detailed advice for interacting with the four different temperaments in general and then specifically the four individual type preferences within a given temperaments.

The final chapter is titled "How Will I Ever Look at People the Same Way Again?" Truthfully, you won't. You will notice things about people, and hopefully these things will help you improve your interactions with the people you come in contact with.

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Guide, May 16, 2002

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"mimser" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of SpeedReading People: How to Size People Up and Speak Their Language (Paperback)

I had heard about personality typing and such before from Psych classes, but this book puts it to practical use. They first give an introduction to personality typing, it's history, and modern implications. They then help you understand the differences in type as well as dispelling some common myths and connotations of terms used in typing.

The book introduces various methods of assessing a person's personality type (using preferences vs. temperment) as well as giving some exercises at the end of each chapter to help put what you just learned to use. Of course, the stress is on *Speed* reading people so they give tips on how to quickly asess someone's type so that you can put what you learned to use in the real world where you can't sit down and have a therapy session with everyone you meet.

The later chapters in the book delve into the 16 different types, grouping them by temperment, and gives detailed descriptions on common behaviors and responses of these types. Additionally they give tips on how to interact with particular types in order to communicate with them most effectively.

Note: they are VERY careful to state that typing does not equal stereotyping and always caution that people won't always fit neatly in these man made categories. Plus they are very careful to stress that this book is not intended for someone to learn how to "control" others, but rather develop a system of effective interaction with friends, colleagues, bosses, etc.

If you always felt you never really "got" people then this is a definate must read. If you always kind of "felt" people out and reacted from what you sensed (like me) this is still a must read because it takes this method and lays it out explicitly so you can use it as a tool rather than merely intution.