A very interesting and fun book to read is one entitled “Handwriting Analysis,” by Chris Morgan. It is not a business book per se, but according to the author, people’s handwriting reveals a lot about their personality.  And since understanding one’s self is a key prerequisite to building one’s skills, the book can provide an interesting and eye opening perspective on personality types and personal traits.

Many organizations also use handwriting analysis as part of their recruitment process, according to Morgan. Therefore, the book provides some leads to others’ personalities  which will help to understand them better.

The version I got must be a collector’s edition by now. It was published in 1992, in a nice hardcover, comprising one hundred glossy pages, with many pictures and demonstrations of writing styles and analysis examples.  If you can not find the same version, there is a later one that was published in 2003 titled “Handwriting Reveals You: Strokes of Uncommon Personalities.” 

At the beginning of the book, the writer sheds light on handwriting analysis, or graphology, as an important science that has been practised now for centuries.  The author provides an idea about the history of writing, its origins, focusing on the roots of graphology, in particular.

The book contains some interesting facts about handwriting. One of them is that while many things can be distinguished from handwriting, some can never be. For example, sex, age, ethnicity, nationality, and left or right handedness cannot be determined from a person’s handwriting. However, many things can be learned from handwriting.  Actually, each handwriting is unique to the point where the author considers a person’s handwriting as unique as one’s fingerprints; no two people ever have the same handwriting.   

The writer provides handwriting analyses of some famous people of the past century, including statesmen like Winston Churchill and Richard Nixon, in addition to celebrities like sports stars singers, and geniuses.

There is more in handwriting to analyze than most people think.  Every single feature of handwriting says something about the writer. To analyze someone’s handwriting, one needs to check the upper, lower, and middle zones of the written letter, along with the slant, spaces between characters, spaces between words, size, connections, and so many other things. 

There are two interesting parts in a handwriting analysis. The way a person writes the pronoun “I” says a lot about one’s character, according to Morgan.  From it, things like being egotistic, emotional, scientific, businesslike and much more can be deduced.  What is fascinating is that it is not how the letter “I” is written, but more how the “I” as a pronoun is so indicative of the “me” in the person.

The second interesting part of an analysis is that of a signature. The style of the signature, whether artistic, with big circles, slant or condensed, all over can say a lot about a person. 

According to the author, one’s handwriting can reveal many things such as childhood problems, personality problems, mood swings, and can even foretell if one may get to be a president of the US, for example. 

Maybe that is an overstatement, but according to the writer, all United States presidents have a right-slant style.   

Even doodles one scribbles on the side of the note pad during boring meetings can reveal things about the personality of the doodler.  For example, drawing a geometrical or architectural shape with heavy strokes are a reaction to every day routine and a feeling of being trapped, according to the author.  However, series of curved lines drawn to form a cone suggest a mood of relaxation.

Thursday, February 15, 2007