How to Become a Great Reader

Set aside at least fifteen minutes a day to study the body language
of other people, as well as acquiring a conscious
awareness of your own gestures. A good reading ground is
anywhere that people meet and interact. An airport is a particularly
good place for observing the entire spectrum of
human gestures as people openly express eagerness, anger,
sorrow, happiness, impatience and many other emotions
through body language. Social functions, business meetings
and parties are also excellent. When you become proficient at
the art of reading body language, you can go to a party, sit in
a corner all evening and have an exciting time just watching
other people's body language rituals.
Modern humans are worse at reading
body signals than their ancestors because we
are now distracted by words.
Television also offers an excellent way of learning. Turn down
the sound and try to understand what is happening by first
watching the picture. By turning the sound up every few
minutes, you will be able to check how accurate your nonverbal
readings are and, before long, it will be possible to
watch an entire programme without any sound and understand
what is happening, just as deaf people do.
Learning to read body language signals not only makes you
more acutely aware of how others try to dominate and manipulate,
it brings the realisation that others are also doing the
same to us and, most importantly, it teaches us to be more sensitive
to other people's feelings and emotions.
we have now witnessed the emergence of a new kind of social scientist - the Body Language Watcher. Just as the birdwatcher
loves watching birds and their behaviour, so the Body
Language Watcher delights in watching the non-verbal cues
and signals of human beings. He watches them at social functions,
at beaches, on television, at the office or anywhere that
people interact. He's a student of behaviour who wants to
learn about the actions of his fellow humans so that he may
ultimately learn more about himself and how he can improve
his relationships with others.
What's the difference between an observer and a stalker?
A clipboard and pen.