I Can Read You Like A Book

I do not restrict myself to class reading material.

Recently and to my delight; I stumbled across a self-help book that caught my interest. Recently I have become interested in human body language, what reactions and movement we do unconciously really tells others about us. Wheither it be lying, when we flirt or just moving naturaly.

The author lets certain facts be known as false. Such as looking up and to the right is lying, not all things are so simple; humans are complex as our communication is a mix of verbal and non-verbal. (Interesting fact: as I was writing this, the movie 'Hitch' was playing. The main Will Smith plays a relationship consultant that helps guys understand women to help them with relationships. Which entails the verbal and non-verbal communication that women use).

Understanding communication on all levels will be able to help out in your life, it goes along with possible careers that you may decide to go into to. This book claims that "Step by Step, you will devolp the same skills that best interrogators and detectives use to assess spies, criminals, and witnesses". I will be looking very closely at this book because I know that most of these self-help books are just scams or ideas that will only work for one or a few people. But I am not closed minded, I will enjoy it because sometimes; a book is a book.

Happiness *within the pages*

First prompt question: Ferguson's Happiness presents the self-help book as nothing more than a packaged production meant to fill a publishing catalog. What is your opinion of self-help books, and why?

To me, self-help books are an interesting source of insight into a wide range of topics. They hit people on the psychological level, influencing their feelings and stimulating their minds. I myself do not read self-help books, sure they are interesting but I do not like sitting down and reading something that wants to tell me all the things I am doing wrong. All those chicken soup books for the soul? Never read a single one. Books such as 'Who Moved My Cheese?' by Spencer Johnson, I found that one to be odd; I could sense it was putting a point across but I just couldn't find the 'motivation' to keep reading.

My dad is a collector of self-help books and makes me read them, I guess he is trying to 'help' me in his own way. Self-help books I admit, do help some people but really it is just advice that most people already know; yet reading it suddenly makes they 'see the light'.

I see self-help books this way because I see myself being just about the way I should be. So when others are desperate for words that will magically make them feel better about themselves, I don't fully understand the human mind.