This is a smart and fast read that can benefit nearly anyone in business, but especially those of us who work in marketing or sales.

It also provides great insight into the works of our own minds and emotions. I’ve found myself discussing parts of it with my therapist which has been fascinating.

If you want to improve your interpersonal relationships and communicate more clearly, I recommend this book.

I found this book to be enchanting and informative. The mind is more than we all sometimes care to remember by Henrik Fexeus provides us with ways we can subtle ways that can control our lives.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The author gives us an introductory understanding on nonverbal communication, how to better understand it and ways to become a better communicator. Some people might see his ideas as manipulative, but I think that he is just showing us how to be more aware of reading people and their cues. Includes a lot of examples.

I wish I could read minds!
This book doesn’t tell you how to read Minds, but it talks about how to “read” body language and facial expressions.

If you want to learn how to notice these changes within yourself and others, this is a good beginners guide.

I received this ebook copy in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley and the publisher.

This book was weird. Creepy, even. The manipulation it prescribes is less subtle and more overt and too akin to that of abusers and narcissists. It left a sour taste in my mouth.

I don't feel like there was any new information covered in this text that I haven't already seen numerous times in similar books on the topic.

THE ART OF READING MINDS

It stands to reason that you could learn a lot about reading other people from a mentalist.

In that regard, Henrik Fexeus has a lot of interesting if uncomfortable insights into human behavior to offer in his book, The Art of Reading Minds.

As Fexeus explains, the trick to “reading minds,” as it were, is to build rapport with other people. “The basic idea of mind reading, as I use the phrase,” he writes, “is to gain understanding of other people’s mental processes by observing their physical reactions and features.” At the core of this undertaking must be an appreciation for the fact that whatever we think or feel is somehow expressed in our body language, whether consciously or unconsciously. Accordingly, if we are attuned to the subtle cues that people give off about what they are thinking or feeling, we can more easily build rapport with them, and thereby more effectively read their minds.

Which sounds simple, in theory, more so the way Fexeus explains (with examples, no less). But of course it’s so much more difficult in practice.

So, quite obviously, it requires a lot of practice.

Yet that is precisely where The Art of Reading Minds takes a turn into uncomfortable territory. Inevitably, much Fexeus’ “tips” for how to read other people can come across as manipulative, if not downright creepy. Much like other similar material on the subject, for instance, there’s lengthy discussion about how mirroring the posture or cadence of speech of another person can make you appear more agreeable to him/her. Why else convey such tricks other than to train others in the subtle art of manipulation?

Then again, anyone who reads a book about reading other people has to have some interest in manipulating others.

On that note, Fexeus’ at least makes an effort say all the right things about the responsible use of such skill. He admonishes his readers that “our goal is, still, to influence others in ways that help them achieve insight and emotional states they may have had a hard time reaching on their own.”

In other words, don’t be that guy.

This, ironically and however obvious, is arguably the single most important lesson glossed over in The Art of Reading Minds: that our motivation for building rapport with others speaks volumes about the kind of people we truly are.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Fexeus does a great job of keeping the book fun by adding humor. He backs up much of the information in the book with scientific references including a shout out to Pavlov’s dogs and their dinner bell. The author encourages use of his techniques by providing exercises. He covers the importance of establishing rapport, the effect of sensory impressions on thoughts, detecting other’s emotions, micro-expressions, signs someone may be lying, telegraphing attraction using body language, how to trigger emotional states in one’s self and others, and how to use his techniques as party tricks.

In the emotions section, Fexeus focuses on surprise, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, contempt, and joy. He includes photos to show how these emotions are expressed using the eyes, mouth, eyebrows, and forehead, while reminding the reader of Othello’s Mistake. Even if the signs he mentions are seen, other factors may be involved. For example, detection of an emotion, e.g. anger, in another person doesn’t mean the anger is related to the viewer.

This book makes for nice reference tool on body languages and facial expressions. The party tricks might not be for everyone, but having them included adds to the lighthearted approach to the topic.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an Advance Reader Copy.

The Art of Reading Minds isn’t actually about reading minds. It’s about observing other people’s body language closely to notice their “tells.” Author Henrik Fexeus offers a variety of ways to do this—though, surprisingly, since a big part of reading others is building a rapport with them first, he spends almost the entire first half of the book discussing ways to get people to feel connected to you, to see you like you’ve always been good buddies. Usually this involves mimicking their behavior in some way. For example, matching their energy level, using their favorite buzzwords, or finding a way to agree with them (“I’d think the same thing if I were you!”).

But once the other person feels camaraderie with you, the real mind reading begins. Collect bits and pieces of info by observing gestures, posture, eye movements, voice changes, physical contact, and, of course, language. While one piece of information can’t tell you everything you need to know about the person, taken together can you get a pretty good idea if someone is lying to you, flirting with you, hiding a secret, etc.

Fexeus ends with, what can only be described as, party tricks. He teaches you how to read people’s subtle movements, so that you can eventually tell who that person is thinking about, who she loves, who he dislikes, etc., just by asking a few questions and watching for the physical clues that follow. It’s pretty cool stuff.

It took me a bit to get through this book, but it was still very interesting and informative. I sure would love to see the TED talk version, though. Just sayin.

“All our thoughts [are] reflected in our bodies; the reverse is true as well.”—from the Art of Reading Minds.

Reading minds is achieved by reading body language—no New Age mumbo-jumbo is necessary. This book can make you a body language expert. “You already do it, but you could do it better.” You can use the skills taught here to read another person’s underlying feelings. You can also learn how to build rapport with others. By projecting the body language most likely to make someone feel comfortable with you, you can build a common ground even if you are disagreeing with their stated position.

The Art of Reading Minds works! It provides simple methods to build your mindreading skills. Mimicking the other person’s gestures, body position, and even voice characteristics will encourage others to feel you are on their wavelength. So you can test out the techniques, the author provides simple exercises. You can prove to yourself that pupils get bigger when a person is interested in you and your conversation. Another exercise uses an imaginary lemon to prove how your thoughts automatically impact your physical body. You can also discover if you are a visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or neutral (logical) thinker. If you emulate another person’s style in word choice, cadence and volume, it quickly builds an underlying rapport and a feeling of closeness between the two of you.

This is such a fun and useful book. Though it may feel initially manipulative, these techniques are invaluable tools to use with clients, bosses, and even with future mates. Let me reiterate, they work! 5 stars!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was absolutely fantastic—I learned so much!! It really helped me portray the emotions of my characters in a physical way, which is extremely helpful, especially in emotional scenes or where I want to hint at a thought/feeling rather than spell it out. Thank you!!

This doesn’t really say anything new. It discusses body language, facial expressions & intonations as well as language choices and ‘tricks’ you can do to ‘prove’ that you’re a mind reader.

It is handy as it is all contained in one book but it is very much a beginners guide to understanding unconscious behaviours and noticing them within yourself.

Nonverbal communication is more important than most imagine.

Fexeus makes it clear, to the focused reader, that there is more to 'mind-reading' that telepathy.

Chock full of examples, some a little odd, this text will give the novice a little insight into the real art of reading someone's mind.

Recommend for those who would like to improve, as well interpret that of other, their nonverbal communication skills.

Many people fail to realise that there is so much more you can pick up on when communicating with someone face to face than merely the words spoken; we give out a whole host of non-verbal information and provided you know what to look out for and how to assess the cues correctly it can be very helpful. It especially comes in handy when, like me, you often have a problem believing or trusting the words others say; by analysing the body language alongside the verbal communication you can very accurately whey all of this up.

One of the aspects I think many will appreciate is that although written by acclaimed mentalist, expert on body language and non-verbal communication Henrik Fexeus it is written in a highly accessible and conversational style and would work perfectly as an introduction to the topic as no prior knowledge is required in order to gain a good understanding of the ins and outs discussed here.

Originally published in his native Sweden in 2007, The Art of Reading Minds is divided into twelve short, pithy chapters. They are as follows: Mind Reading!?; Rapport; Rapport in Practice; Senses and Thinking; Emotions; It's Never Too Late; Be a Human Lie Detector; The Unconscious Pickup Artist; Look Deep into my Eyes; Haul Anchors; Show Off, and Mind Reading!!

It focuses on how understanding the signals people unknowingly emit can lead to a much more profound understanding of others and how to influence their behaviour. The way it is written allows you to dip in and out at will and the tips and tricks were fun as well as illustrating the point the author was trying to make. This is an informative and utterly fascinating book and one I highly recommend. Many thanks to St Martin's Essentials for an ARC.

Read if you are willing to put into practice all the skills the author details!

This book requires a lot of time to put all his wonderful ideas into practice. I have no doubt that if you actually take time to do all of them then you will be much better at interacting with people. He has clearly researched physical skills as this book is very detailed and step-by-step in its approach.

He explains why certain techniques work when trying to gain rapport with others.

I am not willing to take all that time or else it would probably be a 5 star book for me. I received a free advance copy as a book reviewer for NetGalley.

When I was offered the opportunity to read and review this book, I was not quite sure what I was getting into. However, I figured it sounded interesting. The book is really a good overview of reading another’s “clues”. People send all sorts of clues to what they really think, feel, want to say, etc. all the time. We just need to be ready, willing and able to recognize ,correctly read them and use them appropriately. The chapters are short and interesting and are designed to help one recognize and read others’ actions to provide a way to influence their behaviors and establish better rapport. Also, the author uses humor and easily understood language to allow one to understand what is really going on inside others. The majority of the tips provided will help someone in their daily life, though some would work as parlor tricks during parties—which may make a dull time more interesting. I have read a lot on this subject, but this book helped me flesh some of it out as well as providing solid, useful tips for every day use. If you find the study of people and how people interact (and NLP and body language and the whole school of subjects such as these) interesting, you will enjoy this book, and will probably learn something from tit that is applicable in your every day life. I received this form NetGalley to read and review.

It’s not about psychic ability or about telepathy; instead, it’s an interesting book about nonverbal communication and how to be a more effective listener and speaker. Henrik Fexeus has written an interesting book on how to connect with someone by using various techniques in order to improve your rapport with another person. The earlier chapters cover more basic approaches like mirroring, where you adjust your body language to be similar to the person to whom you are speaking, while the later chapters discuss such things as anchors, which are things that trigger a memory. The importance of planting an anchor is discussed in detail.

Back in my college days, I read several books on nonverbal communication. I remember one of the books saying that crossing your arms is blocking, the way you cross your legs is either inclusive or exclusive relevant to the person you’re talking to, and other basics like that. Fexeus offers another perspective that gets more in-depth on how to become more effective at communication and build better relationships with others.

Could have been better. not well researched, but more opinion than fact which is okay, but expected more for this type of book. Was hoping to use reserach in people reactions.

This was a book that I was definitely excited for and I am very happy I was able to read it! It was so so interesting and really made you think.. Henrik Fexeus did an outstanding job at diving deep into the mind and how fascinating it really is.

This is an extremely practical book, full of helpful insights with very clear examples and exercises. The writing is witty, engaging and funny. I highly recommend this book both in what it teaches but also in how entertaining it is.