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A review by constantine2020
The Art of Reading Minds: How to Understand and Influence Others Without Them Noticing by Henrik Fexeus
4.0
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Genre:
Nonfiction
Book Structure:
The book is around 256 pages divided into 12 chapters. The chapters' lengths are short and suitable for the genre. The author has also included the references he has used in writing his book.
What is it about?
It is about mind reading. I was very curious to know what this book will talk about hence I decided to read and see what it will offer in this area. The first thing the reader has to understand is that the book says nothing new that has not been said before as the author suggests. What he means here is that he did not invent something where you can read the minds of other people. There is even a word of warning where the author clearly suggests not to take the contents of this book as objectively true. However, he will teach you techniques that will make things more interesting if you follow them.
"Whatever happens to our bodies affects our mental process"
That is the first important concept to understand that our emotions and thoughts not just happen in our minds but also happen in the whole of our bodies. In other words, if something happens to our bodies, it affects our thoughts too. So the concept that the author wants you to understand at the beginning of the book is that you can understand other people's mental processes & thoughts by observing their physical movements, reactions, and features. It makes sense. We all do this already but it is unconsciously but as the author suggests we can get better at it if we correctly interpret the body language of others in different situations.
I found also the chapters that talk about rapport building very important. This is something one needs in his daily life. Meeting other people at work or going anywhere to a shop, bank, hospital, etc needs you how to deal with other people. If you want your things to be done smoothly rapport building is a crucial thing. He talks about techniques like matching and mirroring, be it with body movements or how to do that with your voice in different ways or even with your breathing rhythm! The whole concept behind this is that you will put yourself in the same shoe as the other person you are communicating with, this will help in getting you both into an agreement or reach to a good conclusion.
"The easiest way to plant an anchor in somebody is to wait until he or she is in the emotional state you're after"
The later chapters discuss anchors, the things that trigger the emotional reactions to a memory. This could be anything tangible like a sweater that reminds you of grandmother, or a place that reminds you of a certain situation and triggers a specific emotion. The whole thing let you understand how and why planting an anchor is important to achieve the goal.
The book also has pictures to make you have a better understanding of body languages like how to read someone from his legs movements or to understand someone's thoughts or emotions from the facial expressions. There is also how to read fake expressions with some fun exercises.
I will personally use and practice some of the techniques suggested here to see how they will affect my daily life. I feel everybody will get something if not everything from these techniques. The language of the book is simple and easy to understand so it should suit a wide range of readers. It is an informative and enjoyable book to read at the same time hence I'm giving it 4 strong stars out of 5. The book is going to be released on October 15th, 2019.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me a free advanced reading copy (ARC) in return of this honest and unbiased review.
Genre:
Nonfiction
Book Structure:
The book is around 256 pages divided into 12 chapters. The chapters' lengths are short and suitable for the genre. The author has also included the references he has used in writing his book.
What is it about?
It is about mind reading. I was very curious to know what this book will talk about hence I decided to read and see what it will offer in this area. The first thing the reader has to understand is that the book says nothing new that has not been said before as the author suggests. What he means here is that he did not invent something where you can read the minds of other people. There is even a word of warning where the author clearly suggests not to take the contents of this book as objectively true. However, he will teach you techniques that will make things more interesting if you follow them.
"Whatever happens to our bodies affects our mental process"
That is the first important concept to understand that our emotions and thoughts not just happen in our minds but also happen in the whole of our bodies. In other words, if something happens to our bodies, it affects our thoughts too. So the concept that the author wants you to understand at the beginning of the book is that you can understand other people's mental processes & thoughts by observing their physical movements, reactions, and features. It makes sense. We all do this already but it is unconsciously but as the author suggests we can get better at it if we correctly interpret the body language of others in different situations.
I found also the chapters that talk about rapport building very important. This is something one needs in his daily life. Meeting other people at work or going anywhere to a shop, bank, hospital, etc needs you how to deal with other people. If you want your things to be done smoothly rapport building is a crucial thing. He talks about techniques like matching and mirroring, be it with body movements or how to do that with your voice in different ways or even with your breathing rhythm! The whole concept behind this is that you will put yourself in the same shoe as the other person you are communicating with, this will help in getting you both into an agreement or reach to a good conclusion.
"The easiest way to plant an anchor in somebody is to wait until he or she is in the emotional state you're after"
The later chapters discuss anchors, the things that trigger the emotional reactions to a memory. This could be anything tangible like a sweater that reminds you of grandmother, or a place that reminds you of a certain situation and triggers a specific emotion. The whole thing let you understand how and why planting an anchor is important to achieve the goal.
The book also has pictures to make you have a better understanding of body languages like how to read someone from his legs movements or to understand someone's thoughts or emotions from the facial expressions. There is also how to read fake expressions with some fun exercises.
I will personally use and practice some of the techniques suggested here to see how they will affect my daily life. I feel everybody will get something if not everything from these techniques. The language of the book is simple and easy to understand so it should suit a wide range of readers. It is an informative and enjoyable book to read at the same time hence I'm giving it 4 strong stars out of 5. The book is going to be released on October 15th, 2019.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me a free advanced reading copy (ARC) in return of this honest and unbiased review.