Product Description

America's top jury consultant, Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, can literally read a person like a book. By decoding the hidden messages in appearance, tone of voice, facial expression, and personal habit, she has accurately predicted the behavior of jurors, witnesses, lawyers, and judges in some of the most celebrated trials of the past two decades. Now in this phenomenal new book, she applies the secrets of her extraordinary success to the everyday situations we all face at work, at home, and in relationships.

How can you "hear between the lines" to detect a lie? When is intuition the best guide to making important decisions? What are the tell-tale signs of romantic attraction? How do other people "read" us? The answers lie closer than we might think. Hair style, clothing, grooming, hand gestures, the neatness of office or living room, the steadiness of the gaze, behavior around subordinates: all of these provide critical clues to a person's integrity, work habits, and sexual interests. Through vivid anecdotes and proven techniques, Dimitrius teaches us how to interpret these signs with accuracy and precision.

Whether your focus is friendship or marriage, career or family, romance or professional success, Reading People  gives you the skills you need to make sound, swift decisions and reap the benefits from a lifetime of razor-sharp insight.  

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #283429 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-18
• Released on: 1999-05-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Amazon.com Review
It's true that politicians blink much more frequently when they're lying, but what other behavior clues do people inadvertently give off? If you want to know if you're being boondoggled, how to tell if your date is interested in a serious relationship, or if you should take that new job, Jo-Ellan Demitrius will help you figure it all out. She gives away the tricks of her trade--jury consulting--in this eye-opening handbook for predicting the behavior and revealing the thoughts of others. She's consulted for more than 600 jury trials, including the O.J. Simpson, Rodney King, and John DuPont cases, as well as for Fortune 100 companies. If her name rings a bell, it may be because she's been on Oprah, Larry King Live, and 60 Minutes, among other television shows.

Much more than a collection of tips on reading body language, her book is supremely organized, detailed, and thorough, with lists of physical characteristics, vocal patterns, office props, and conversational behaviors that reveal much more than you'd think. She instructs on how to analyze hundreds of details of everyday living, from the style of the picture frame on your boss's desk to the odd way that an acquaintance swears up a storm, in order to uncover personality traits and predict future behavior.

Demitrius isn't a hocus-pocus intuition hawker; she's more of a scientist. "...over the past fifteen years," she writes, "I have tested this method on more than ten thousand 'research subjects.' After predicting the behavior of thousands of jurors, witnesses, lawyers, and judges, I have been able to see whether my predictions came true....I did not always peg them correctly, especially in the earlier years. But by testing my perceptions over and over, I have verified which clues are generally reliable and which are not." Her advice will prove valuable not just to lawyers but to businesspeople, parents, and anyone curious about their relationships. While the book is mostly aimed at deconstructing the behavior and characteristics of others, it's also useful for job candidates and anyone concerned with projecting the appropriate image. -- Erica Jorgensen

From Publishers Weekly
Now famous for her role in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Dimitrius shares the people-reading techniques she developed over 15 years as a jury consultant. In so doing, she provides a wealth of tips and strategies for ferreting out people's real viewpoints, motives and character traits. Claiming that "reading people is neither a science nor an innate gift," Dimitrius advocates sharpening and fine-tuning powers of observation and deduction. Gathering enough information to establish an overall pattern is the key to her method. Differentiating between "elective and nonelective" traits; setting aside assumptions, prejudices and stereotypes; recognizing body language; and identifying meanings behind personal choices of dress and behaviorAall converge to reveal personality, attitude and life experience. Dimitrius rates people on scales of "hardness" or compassion, socioeconomic background and "satisfaction with life"Athe three most "consistently reliable" predictors of behavior, according to her. Whether interviewing a baby-sitter, meeting a new date or selecting a jury, this thorough, detailed guide of what to look for could probably improve anyone's ability at seeing and being seen. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Forget the inflated claims that follow from ``predict in the subtitle; this is a leading jury consultant's often valuable guide on how to understand people from the host of nonverbal signs they present. With the help of lawyer Mazzarella, Dimitrius, who for more than 14 years has helped legal teams pick juries in such trials as that of O.J. Simpson and the McMartin Preschool case, tells readers ``what to look and listen for, having the curiosity and patience to garner the necessary information, and understanding how to recognize the patterns of a person's appearance, body language, voice and conduct.'' The key word here is ``patterns''; Dimitrius isnt interested in ``Eureka!'' revelations coming from a single sign or behavioral mode. Rather, she demonstrates how one can learn a great deal about people from a combination of their facial expressions and body language, grooming and dress, home and workplace ``props'' (e.g. what kind of photos or art they have in their offices, and in what kind of frames), among other indications of their character. And she insists on a due regard for intuition and context. Concerning the latter, in a ``sometimes a cigar is just a cigar'' approach, she wisely advises readers not to overinterpret, recalling a Rodney King trial juror who impelled Dimitrius into speculative overdrive by wearing black gloves into court each day. ``Was she making a racial statement? Were the gloves a political commentary? Did they have some other unknown significance?'' Finally asked by Dimitrius about the gloves after the trial ended, the juror responded, ``It was so cold inside that courtroom!'' While quite comprehensive, Dimitrius does scant a few nonverbal forms of communication, such as posture, and is occasionally guilty of simplistic writing and bad grammar. But these flaws are overwhelmed the amount of practical good advice for discerningly ``reading'' others and becoming more aware of the myriad nonverbal messages one conveys. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.