Book Title:  The Nonverbal Advantage: Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work

Author:  Carol Kinsey Goman

Publishing Company:  Barrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Year:  2008

# of Pages: 182

ISBN #:  978-1-57675-492-4

Reviewed By: Emily Wall (Vancouver Correspondent - Canada)

Have you ever wondered if your boss is telling the truth about that promotion? Why some people manage to convey confidence in every movement while other, more capable employees, are constantly overlooked? How to tell if someone is lying or telling the truth? If any of these questions have occurred to you, this book may very well have the answers you're looking for.

Carol Kinsey Goman has an impressive academic background. She trained as a therapist and went on to complete training in Nero-Linguistic Programming and Ericksonian approaches to hypnosis and psychotherapy. That's body language and facial expressions to you. While this may at first seem an intimidating background that may be off-putting in terms of a book on body language, Goman manages to present down to earth and practical advice in layman's terms.

The book itself is divided into well structured chapters titled by topic, such as: Talking with Your Hands, Face to Face, You're in My Space and Reading the Whole Body. Each chapter is further divided into sections that discuss particular elements of each broad topic heading. Thus each topic is covered in methodical and organized detail.

Aside from the well-organized chapters, Goman also provides plenty of visual aids in the form of diagrams and photographs, many of which are extremely useful in understanding what she is describing. She also intersperses her chapters with activities and suggestions that appear in separate boxes under the heading "Try This!" which allow the reader to engage with the material as they are reading it. Throughout the entire book Goman uses well-chosen and succinct examples to provide a real-life context to each new concept.

My favourite chapter was the one about eyes. Aside from giving interesting tips on how to decode whether someone is lying (fast moving eyes, looking up and to the right to indicate creation of a new image), telling the truth (looking up and to the left to access memories), talking to themselves (looking down and to the left) or interested and excited (their pupils dilate); this chapter also discusses eye contact and how it relates to people's reaction to you. In one example, the author illustrates how looking at the area between someone's nose and forehead is a "professional gaze," which tends to evoke confidence. She then contrasts this to the "social gaze," which involves looking at the area from the nose down to the chin, and tends to be construed as more flirtatious and casual. In her example, this explained why one woman had trouble being taken seriously in her professional capacity by male colleagues.