Field Guide to Gestures

Description

Did a girl across the bar just flip her hair while looking at you? Did a stranger just rub his chin in your direction? What messages are they trying to convey? Next time you're out and about and come across an unfamiliar gesture, refer to Field Guide to Gestures and you'll quickly learn what friends, coworkers, and passersby are really saying when they communicate nonverbally. Formatted like a classic field guide, but concerned with body language in all its forms, this book has a full-colour insert with photographs of more than 100 different gestures, plus detailed text explaining the gesture's full meaning. You'll find out if "flipping the bird" means something different to an Australian than it does to an American, and you'll learn the subtle nuances behind making each gesture. The step-by-step directions show you exactly how to make each gesture and all its variations. From the gesture's historical context to its usages and areas of occurrence, you'll find out all you need to know to decode and communicate with gestures. Never be caught unaware again.

Nancy Armstrong and Melissa Wagner are freelance writers living in Philadelphia. They wave their hands when they talk, and are keen interpreters of gestures glimpsed across crowded bars. They are the co-authors of "Field Guide to Stains "(Quirk Books, 2003).