I Can Read You Like a Book [Audio CD]

Gregory Hartley (Author), Maryann Karinch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2007

Are you in business, journalism, law enforcement, or medicine? Do you face students in a classroom or criminals in a courtroom? Are you in a relationship or looking for one? Do you have children? Then you need the skills to read them like a book! I Can Read You Like a Book features a system for scanning and interpreting anyone s body language, enabling you to figure out what they are really saying or feeling: Review: Check out someone quickly, from head to toe. Evaluate: Know what to look for; notice what s relevant. Analyze: Spot voluntary versus involuntary movements; factor in gender, context, culture. Decide: Draw your conclusion. Step-by-step, you will develop the same skills the best interrogators and detectives use to assess spies, criminals, and witnesses. As part of the process, you will observe some of the most famous people in the world through interrogator Greg Hartley s eyes. You ll discover what emotions these politicians, pundits, and stars are leaking through their body language and facial expressions, and what their answers (or non-answers) are really saying. I Can Read You Like a Book gives you the fastest, most efficient method to read body language. In any kind of face-to-face competition, first encounters or daily encounters, and even watching the news, you will spot the messages and emotions that people are really sending whether they know it or not. As a bonus, you will learn how to use your own face and body to your advantage, whether you re trying to evade a difficult question, handle a sensitive situation, or just playing poker!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This informative tale claims that listeners will easily learn the craft of reading body language upon completing this recorded course. Authors and narrators Hartley and Karinch try to convey the lessons in a straightforward seminar, but they almost seem to be outdoing each other. They take turns speaking, sometimes only one word at a time, while at other times Hartley assumes the role of the main speaker as Karinch spouts off chapter titles and section headlines every so often. She acts more like an all-knowing dictionary and encyclopedia, making this audiobook sound more like a textbook. The lessons may work for many listeners, given Hartley's background in the subject, but he races through them so fast that his point is muddled away. There is no time for the audience to take it all in and practice for themselves. A Career Press paperback. (Feb.)
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From the Back Cover

"The best spies have street smarts and an intuitive understanding of the human psyche. This revealing book shows how anybody can put these skills to use in everyday life."

-Thomas Boghardt, historian, International Spy Museum, Washington, D.C. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Listen & Live Audio, Inc. (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593161093
• ISBN-13: 978-1593161095
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,597,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

114 of 129 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Arrogant and Overly General, November 9, 2007

By 

S. Atman (Southern California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Can Read You Like a Book: How to Spot the Messages and Emotions People Are Really Sending with Their Body Language (Paperback)

My first B.A. was in Interpersonal Communication, a large part of which involved nonverbal communication (aka body language). That was decades ago. Now I enjoy reading more recent information to get different opinions and updated theories.

This book is a huge disappointment. If you remove the generalized information such as making sure you understand what is normal for any given person before attempting to read his/her body language, you are unfortunately left with the author's egomaniacal biography. You even get to know how he has his hair cut (military flat top) and what kind of cowboy boots he wears (steel-toed), although neither applies to reading someone like a book. The author just really seems to want to talk about himself.

In one section, the reader is shown a photo of a man, woman, and child. You know, due to the author's own "baseline," that this is a family photo. Instead of simply explaining what the nonverbal communication in the picutre means, the author goes on for several pages describing the lives of each of the people in the photo. There is no reason for this; it has nothing to do with the point theoretically being made. We even get to hear about the "estranged grandfather." After the brief explanation of his posture, we are told that Grandpa "at the age of 35, went ashore on D-Day, with the 29th Infantry Division; to some extent, that earned him the right to look cocky." Huh? Do you want to hear that subjective bit of information, much less need to read it?

I'm sure Gregory Hartley really is a big ol' beer-guzzling macho guy who intimidates the daylights out of those he so proudly interrogates, but I personally find him so annoying I can only give very little credibility to the information in his book.

I've got a degree in the subject. I've taught the subject on campus and in seminars. There are other books out there for those who want to read the latest on nonverbal communication. Don't bother with this one unless you're prepared to wade through the details of Mr. Hartley's personal information.

29 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Failed to deliver on its promise, April 5, 2007

By 

Ricardo Zelaya (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Can Read You Like a Book: How to Spot the Messages and Emotions People Are Really Sending with Their Body Language (Paperback)

This book simply fails to deliver on its promise. Except for the obvious, it does not teach anything special to a businessman, salesman, or anyone for that matter. I have no book to recommend, I will go to the public library and check the book before buying another book of this type. This book is all bark and no bite. Save your money. Yes, I read the whole book!!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Should be directed towards law enforcement or military readers, November 30, 2009

By 

Greg A. Tirevold (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Can Read You Like a Book: How to Spot the Messages and Emotions People Are Really Sending with Their Body Language (Paperback)

The author approaches this subject from a specific vantage point, that of an interrogator. Once I was properly oriented with where he was coming from then many of his anecdotes and bits of advice became more understandable. His advice and methods are geared towards dealing with hostile or suspicious people, with much emphasis on the pitfalls of cultural differences. This is not really a book of social situation analysis where people are typically more amicable.

It contains details about reactions that are near-universal due to biology such as pupil dilation and the changes in a persons mucosa(not something I've seen covered much elsewhere). Much of this is delivered in a matter of fact tone that reminds me of a seminar transcript. This is not a bad thing except that without lots of pictures the text can be a tad confusing in its explanations. One example deals with watching people's eye movements when they recall an event versus constructing an imaginary event. He explains that right handed people's eyes tend to go up and right when constructing a visual image (i.e. making something up) but the text doesn't make it clear if this is "their" right or "your" right when looking at them. Other books I've read on the subject make this much clearer since they contain many more pictures. They show you a person you are looking at and detail the movements as you'd see them, not as you'd do them, hence up and right means up and left when looking at a person.

I understand what some other reviewers say about it being a tad ego centric as it is obvious the author tries to project a personality of authority and toughness. This image likely works better in interrogations, or even in a live seminar on the topic, than it does in a print format that is trying to teach something. I was able to read past this but I can certainly see how to some people it would be a huge turn-off on trying to finish the book.

Not really a book for novices in the subject matter and it really should have its marketing image tweaked to appeal more towards confrontational analysis.