Allan Pease is an Australian author and motivational speaker. Despite having no education in psychology, neuroscience, or psychiatry, he has managed to establish himself as an "expert on relationships".
Originally a musician, he became a successful life insurance salesman, he started a career as a speaker and trainer in sales and latterly in body language. This resulted in a popular sideline of audio tapes, many of which feature his irreverent wit.
His best-selling book Body Language brought him international recognition. It has been followed by several others. He is quite well known in Australia and during the 1980s he was an occasional TV analyst for political debates where he would analyze the body language and overall performance of the contestants.
I am fairly sure this was recommended on a management course. Entertaining read, well illustrated. Not sure how accurate it is, I tried out some of the ideas such as sitting side by side or at an angle to somebody rather than opposite across a desk at them. I certainly felt better for doing so but then the book told me that I would!
The downside for me is that I started to become absurdly self-conscious. Was I standing in an optimum way, sending out the best messages? Were my feet pointing in the right directions? If somebody's body language is negative should I try to counter it by offering them something to hold? Does any of this stuff really work or is it just silliness? Is the conscious embrace of silliness the most sensible approach to interaction with fellow humans?
The serious downside is that there is a lot of assertions made in the book with very little evidence and what evidence there is tends to fall back on one study or one anecdotal example which leaves one wondering quite how generally applicable the guidance is, particularly outside of the UK.
On the other hand having been the retreating party when talking with somebody whose notions of allowable personal space where much smaller than mine, I wish that this book was read more widely - I eventually ended up backed up against a wall trapped by a water cooler feeling distinctly unamused.
Since childhood, I've always fantasized having the superpower of mind reading and ever since being exposed to a diverse set of materials on body language I can assert that I've actually cultivated some skills in this vain :D :P.
This book by Allan Peace is the bible of the body language books and reference to many results you see when you google about this topic and covers a wide and thorough spectrum of topics.
Here are some exciting skills and insights you will acquire after consuming the book and applying its knowledge:
1. You will be able to tell if someone is genuinely agreed with you or simply is faking so. 2. It would be easier for you to see if someone is lying or hiding something.
3. When to tell if your message being conveyed and that your subjects are open and receptive to your arguments. 4. How to use body language to power up your position, radiate a dominant outlook and literally be more effective.
5. You can tell if someone is interested in you or others. 6. In the book, there are lots of mistakes pointed out to be avoided in business situations and especially has a lot of advice for women to obtain a more firm stance in their meetings.
And much more interesting topics ...
I highly recommend this book to anyone who seeks communication skills and wants to appear more competent in his/her social or business interactions as well as to those whom with high ambitions of having an upper hand in their day-to-day meetings with others.
If you desire to consume more advanced topics in this subject, I'd also recommend: 鈥� Emotions revealed 鈥� Unmasking the face 鈥� Telling lies All by the psychology guru and deception expert: Paul Ekman
Aside from there being misinformation scattered about, (Napoleon wasn't 5'4", George W Bush didn't get his first passport when he became president) the authors completely rely on logical fallacies to prove their points. They make huge sweeping generalizations (they said Britain, Germany, etc. have been world powers is because their populations often mirror body language...... What??? And also that heavy smokers haven't been breast-fed whereas non smokers have been) and completely lost their credibility.
Then the gender differences they pointed out always seemed to paint women in an unforgiving light, to say the least.
You can get all the basic information via Google and spare yourself the sensationalized sweeping generalizations.
This book was very difficult to rate. On one hand, it's a pretty comprehensive guide of human gestures and postures, aided in their understanding by suggestive illustrations. On the other hand, I kept getting the feeling that the authors were trying really, really hard to sell me a commercial version of body language. Often, things were exaggeratedly emphasized in a clickbaity way and I would not have been surprised to see chapter titles such as: "You will not believe how your boss is dominating you!" or "Seven ultra-secret signals she's into you!".
Searching for information about the authors, I see that neither of them is a psychologist or scientist of any kind. They're just really, really good salespeople who've found their niche. That makes me a bit skeptical about the validity of the interpretations they offer.
There are other clues that make me doubt the content. One is the studies cited at the end. The book often contained phrases such as "studies show" or "research says". However, if I wanted to read about the study mentioned in chapter X, point Y, and flipped the pages to the end of the book, surprise! Instead of showing the research in the order it is cited, it is shown alphabetically. That means that I have to wade through a few hundred cited sources to see which applies and I am pretty sure this was done on purpose. The other objection I have with the studies is that most of them are from the 70s. (The newest ones are from 2003.) That leads me to believe that a) a lot of this research has been debunked/updated/couldn't be replicated and that b) the authors purposefully selected only those sources that had a vague resemblance to the point they were trying to make and stretched the interpretation in a sensationalist manner.
A few other things bothered me. One was the "old gramps who's trying to be hip" cringe humor. The second was the outdated examples and references - it really shows that the book hasn't been edited for a newer audience, but is still stuck somewhere in the 80s-90s (in mentality too). Then there were the problems I had encountered in the previous body language book I had read, although to a lesser extent here.
First, the book had a really strong emphasis on man vs man or man vs woman relationships. Second, there were very few references to woman vs woman relationships. (In fact, the authors presented a very petty/catty attitude between women as the only plausible one. What about female friends? Is the notion that alien?) Third, all the interactions between men and women were interpreted in a sexual manner. (What about the young man arguing with the old woman in the bus over the position of the window? I bet the authors would say that the opening and closing of the window is a suggestive sexual allusion or whatever.) More so, women were seen as always submissive in their gestures in a man's presence. (I'm not going to go into that.) Fourth, men were also presented as some sort of primitive grunting beasts ready to jump at each other's throats... OK, I am exaggerating, but the authors did seem to see them as very simplistic beings incapable of any kind of complex thoughts. (I find this particularly insulting.)
Again, I think that most of the things mentioned in the paragraph above have a very high commercial value and while they might carry some form of truth (yes, there are differences between the two sexes), they have been exaggerated for the public, because this is what sells and this is what the public wants to hear/read.
All in all, this was another book I used as research for the series I am writing. The best thing about it is that a) it's comprehensive (there are even chapters about mirroring another person's body language or height differences or seating positions) and b) it has useful illustrations. I recommend it to other (aspiring) writers, just be careful to take it with a grain of salt.
(As a bonus, checking this book, I realize that my characters' body language has been pretty well-written, just too detailed and hard to follow at points.)
鈥渨hether we realize it or not, we automatically copy the facial expressions we see.鈥�
The book is rather simple to read, with excellent everyday examples that immediately resonate with you as you begin reading. Experience, observation, and scientific facts will guide all you learn in this book. Although it was difficult to assign a rating to this book. On the one hand, it's a fairly complete introduction of human gestures and postures, with helpful examples to enhance comprehension. On the other hand, I had the impression that the authors were attempting to sell me a commercialised version of body language. Each chapter is short and charming, with plenty of casual tones and humour thrown in for good measure. My earliest lessons in body language came from Sherlock Holmes, and I haven't read many books on the subject or any other substance for that matter. Arthur Conan Doyle must have been a keen observer, I'm sure.
As an author, I am naturally a student of observation, so this book had the potential to be of great service to me not only in my writing, but in character-building and expression.
I enjoyed the read. Unlike some other Body Language books, this one has a lot of photographs, and at the risk of sounding sophomoric, they really added to my understanding of the text.
The chapters/categories made a lot of sense, and the information moved along with little unnecessary repetition. I think everyone who reads this book will have their eyes opened, and begin to read body language everywhere they go.
The only thing that bugged me was that the authors used evolution to explain much of the human's use of body language. I didn't find their theories believable, and evolution explanations really weren't necessary. I would expect some reference to the ape-man, Neanderthal, etc, but these authors referred to them with a fervor akin to proselytizing. This shortcoming is the only thing that held me back from leaving 5-stars. Skimming those sections was easy, and the book is well worth the read and the purchase price.
Ellen C Maze Author of Curiously Spiritual Vampire Tales
Allan Pease and Barbara Pease apply their experience in medicine, biology and psychology to illustrate the workings of the brain and how this influences our body language. In the Definite Book Of Body Language, the authors show us how we can use our knowledge of the brain's functions to understand people's emotions and behaviors.
I have to say that neuropsychology and behavioral science have always fascinated me. There are many books out there about these topics. But I found this one particularly interesting as it covered real life examples which you could see yourself applying or identify body language behavior and what the other person in communicating. The authors have used real life examples and offer various exercises that you can undertake to practice reading people's emotions and behaviors.
I would recommend this one to everyone really. Whether you are interviewer, a manager, a teacher, businessperson, someone looking for a job, or for a partner, this book can help you understand other people's behavior and perhaps overcome communicational barriers. It does serve as a great premier especially if you are not entirely familiar with the psychology of body language.
I am not saying that if the authors claim "water is wet", you need to ask for a second opinion.
Ok I lied, you need to ask for a second opinion.
There are parts that are genuinely riddled with sweeping statements and superfluous information, but to be fair, there are also parts that actually are interesting and are based on psychological studies done on human behaviour and the resulting body language. The problem lies in separating the proverbial wheat from the chaff. Since some claims are questionable, all claims are questionable and it doesn't hurt to educate yourself on claims that seem too neatly packaged to be true. Winnowing and Google go hand in hand.
So, in summary - - Interesting read if you suspend scientific rigour and logical disbelief at certain points. - Good book to skim through to get a better grasp on reading your audience or improving your body language but not one to be taken word for word and read through with firm conviction in all the claims made. - Get a second hand copy for yourself and speed-read the book in a day or two.
I rarely read every word of non-fiction books, but this is one of the rare exceptions. It's not even particularly fascinating. But it is interesting enough to hold my attention without skipping or skimming over anything. ALMOST four stars. It wasn't awesome enough to go out and purchase, but it would be great to have around all the time for reference when the fancy strikes. I doubt I'll remember this stuff on my own as well as I'd like to.
I'm sure that for a few days at least, I'll be watching everyone around me to try to guess their secret thoughts like a mind-reader, ha ha! Next step, rule the world!
Note: It appears from the descriptions in the book that I display some body language characterized by male dominance (for those who don't know me, I am a smallish female). Has anyone I know noticed this about me? I personally had never noticed. Does it unnerve you as the book says it would? I wonder if they are learned behaviors that I picked up because most of my friends have been male through my adolescence and young adulthood. I did not view myself as a dating option for them, but a social equal. Or am I simply more a more aggressive than average woman? Hmmm...makes me want to observe myself better.
I should鈥檝e known when there weren鈥檛 footnotes that this wasn鈥檛 what I wanted. If you want to be a sleazy, sexist male salesman, this is the book for you. My arms are crossed, I鈥檓 giving a tight-lipped smile, my foot is pointing away from this book.
There were a few things I learned, but quite a bit of things I disagreed with. Examples are: turn your palms up to put someone at ease - I tried using this during my PT retail job and got wierd looks. Another example that truly disagree with is - if someone keeps you waiting - pull out some financial papers adn a calculator adn do calculations. When they call for you say say "I'll be ready in a moment - I'll just finish these calculations" - what???? or the other example for this is to take out your cell, loudly mention large amounts of money, drop iin a well-known name or two - yeah, I'd never do that. On the other hand, there were many things I agree with, just strongly disagree with some of their definitions and work arounds.
Unlikeable pair of pop-psychologists distill the complexity of human interaction down to a few sleazy sales-pitches.
Poorly written, and self-contradictory.
"Research also indicates that the 'Head Shake', usually meaning 'No', may also be an inborn action and evolutionary biologists believe that it's the first gesture humans learn."
If you read one book of allan pease on body language, then you've read'em all. Its a book that contains all regular body positions and what can you learn from them. Worth a one time read (but can be used as a reference if you want to pry into someone's body language pattern).
Impressive Guide book !! I like this Author because his research about the topic is logical and effective.
This books possess comprehensive explanation of various situations and Postures and Gestures. Interestingly, It describes how to accommodate and have superb understanding while talking in Face to face or phone.
I got surprise while reading that the way of smoking Cigarate could show us the nature of person or for instance about his thinking.