The Book of Tells demonstrates how it’s possible to read other people’s minds – to discover what they’re really thinking and feeling – by watching out for their tells. The word “tell” comes from the game of poker, where it’s used to refer to the signals that players unintentionally produce when they’re trying to cover up what kinds of cards they’re holding – here a tell might be the way someone holds their cards, or glances at their chips, or scratches their nose.
 
 
The book shows that tells aren’t just found in poker – we all produce them all the time and they’re to be found in every walk of life. Some tells are deliberate – we use them to create a certain impression. Others are unconscious – they’re unintentional, we often don’t know we’re producing them, and we don’t realise what we’re giving away about ourselves. Tells also differ in other ways. Some tells, for example, are fairly widespread. Others are peculiar to certain individuals – they’re trademark tells.
 
The way you stand when you’re talking to someone – how you move your feet, hands, eyes and eyebrows – says a lot about your underlying attitudes and your commitment to the conversation. How you position your arms and legs when you’re seated also provides a wealth of information about your mood and intentions, showing whether you feel dominant or submissive, preoccupied or bored, involved or detached. The way you smile – the facial muscles you use and how rapidly they’re activated – shows whether you’re genuinely happy, faking it, lying, feeling anxious, miserable, superior or unsure of yourself. The way you hesitate when you’re speaking, how you “um” and “er”, provides important clues to your mood. While the words you choose and the way you construct your utterances may convey an “official message” to other people, your linguistic choices also contain “disguised messages” which reveal your true intentions.
 
The book surveys a broad range of tells – including dominant tells, submissive tells, conversation tells, political tells, greeting tells, royal tells, anxiety tells, sexual tells, lying tells, foreign tells and smoking tells. By keeping an eye out for other people’s tells you’ll be able to understand their emotions and what they’re trying to achieve. By watching out for your own tells, you’ll be in a better position to discover what you’re unwittingly revealing to others about yourself.

 


“He leaves no hand unturned, no body part or population group unexamined for nuance of thought or motor expression. Much of what he says is equivocal, all of it interesting, some fascinating, not a boring line in sight … It’s a fine read, a nice book, effortless for most readers, fun for everyone.”
- Human Nature Review-

“It is quite an eye-opener to discover what a devious game we humans play with our unwitting messages of communication.”
- Critic’s Choice, Daily Mail -

 

Other editions of The Book of Tells are soon to be published in:
Canada (HarperCollins Canada), Germany (Lübbe) France (Lattes), Japan (Sony Magazines), Korea (Chung Rim), Poland (Santorski), Romania (TREI) and Russia (Eksmo)