Book Review: What Everybody is

Saying?
Preliminary Information:

Book Name: WHAT EVERYBODY IS SAYING ?

AUTHOR: JOE NAVARRO, an ex-FBI agent who has worked for 25 years in areas
of counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism and behavioural assessment. He is a
scholar on science of non-verbal communication. He is a world-renowned speaker
on studying body language and their use in personal and professional lives of
individuals.
Place: USA
Publisher: Harper Collins
Edition: First Edition 2007
Pages: 234
Special Features: Illustrations and images are provided for understanding the
postures that are being discussed in the book.
ISBN: 978-0-06-143829-5
Price: $11.99

Introduction:
Actions Speak Louder than words is an old adage that urges one to walk the
righteous path as what one does is better believed that what one says. Many
studies have revealed that about 90% of our communication is done by the body
and it is only 10% that we speak. Thus, the adage becomes relevant also in the
literal sense. While the science of body language was restricted to detecting lies
and suspect identification by the military and law enforcement personnel, it is
becoming increasingly important in a globalised world. There has been
exponential rise in people-to-people contact since the 3 rd wave of globalisation
started in the 90s. The difference in cultures, values and belief systems can
cause impedance in understanding each other, among strangers. It has been
accepted that in spite of difference in our social make-up there are certain
movements and reactions that are fundamental to humankind. Moving of arms,
legs, facial expressions are many times spontaneous and voluntary. Sometimes
such reaction is also called as a lizard effect for it is only response to stimuli and
has no relation to the brains function. More and more interviews, greater
business negotiations, international relations, issues of terrorism and crime have
made this line of study and important feature of professional roles of many
individuals.
An idea of human body language, its interpretation and understanding people is
inevitable if administrators and civil servants have to discharge their functions
effectively. It will also lead to realisation of the goal of Good Governance which
should be hallmark of any form of Governance.

Developments in the Book:

The author Joe Navarro starts with narrating incidents of
interrogation from his service and explains how he is able to identify killers. He
notes that he owes it to being able to read people. This is how the author
introduces the book. In the next chapter, the author discusses about their
importance in an individuals social and interpersonal life. He recommends the
reader to follow the Ten Commandments to master the science of body language.
Most of these commandments revolve around being a keen observer,
understanding context, catching baseline behaviours, identifying a group of tells
etc. A tell is short for a tell-tale sign that each person who is being observed
displays that indicate a particular type of thought process or emotion. For
example, if a person avoids eye-contact then it may mean either he is not
confident, or is guilty of something or just that he/she is not interested.
According to the book the human brains activities can be divided
into 5 layers. The bottom most is the limbic brain which only issues only signals
to respond only as a reaction to stimulus. It does not perform any complex
function of thinking and being creating. This limbic brain is also sometimes called
as the Lizard Brain as it performs functions similar to that of a lizards brain. Our
limbic responses to stimulus are given by 3 Fs. Over the years, the limbic brain
has imbibed these responses and we are programmed to act in a particular way.
The 3 Fs are Freeze, Fight and Flight. Upon encountering or sensing a danger,
one might want to run away from the scene/context (Flight), or may stay put
(freeze) to go unnoticed when flight is not possible or decide to fight out. The
author signifies the importance of order of the response. It, according to him, is
Freeze, Flight and Fight. The freeze response we take is based on our animal
instinct to become invisible as soon as we perceive a danger. The breath
becomes shallow, movements become still and there is bending of neck which is
called as turtle effect. The flight response is when we understand the threat
and want to distance from it. These can be seen in the modern world in form of
bending/leaning backwards or away from conversation, covering ones torso with
either a pillow or a bag or folded hands, placing hands on face etc. The third
response which is the fight response, the author says, is much obvious as an
aggressive stance is easily discernible by the viewer.
These observations are made on different aspects of the body. Joe Navarro
divides them into :
1. Pacifying behaviour.
2. Legs- as the most honest part of the body.
3. Torso.
4. Facial expressions
5. Hands especially palms and fingers.
After reading the book, it was very easy to look at some pictures and guess the
emotional comfort and relation between the individuals in the photographs.
 In this picture, N Chandra Babu Naidu
visited Narendra Modi to ask for Special
Category status for AP. Notice how our
Honble PM Modi is sitting with hands and
legs close to the body. This is an example
of distancing behaviour. It is quite clear
that he is not willing to accept Mr Naidus
request.

BRICS summit of 2014. Both Russian

President and our Honble Prime
Minister bend forward indicating the
comfort level between the two
leaders. Also note the eye contact
both leaders are making with each
other.

Lastly, the media speaks a lot about Australian

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and our Honble PM
Modis Bro-mance. However, take a closer look,
notice Mr Abbotts eyes closed and the left palm
fully open in the embrace. Contrarily, Mr. Modi has
maintained certain distance and has left the right
palm cupped. This indicates certain amount of
discomfort being felt by Mr. Modi while Mr. Abbott

All through the book the author urges the readers of caution of not
construing any behaviour as indication of emotion. He suggests first identifying
the baseline behaviour and then observing the changes. Also he points out
that just a single tell may not be enough to draw conclusions and it is only
through a set of tells that things become more clear.
Conclusion:
In an increasingly connected world the understanding of the non-verbal
communication becomes extremely important. As, civil servants, we are going to
be harbingers of taking India to the next level of growth and improving
negotiations, having better understanding of stakeholders concerns, identifying
the criminals and terrorists among the general public etc are some of the
functions that this science is going to aid us in. I would fully recommend this
book to all those who want to improve their interpersonal communication and to
be made compulsory for both civil servants and those aspiring to become one.