WORTH CONSUMING!
It’s really weird to read a 40-year-old
book that explains about the “new” science that is handwriting analysis. It’s
like reading those Microwave cookbooks in the 80’s in which everything was
still relatively new and an entire chapter was devoted to the advances in Bacon
cooking technology. (And yes, my mother actually owned a book like that, and I
did have an experience of flipping through the very book I just mentioned like
15 years after it was first published).
After reading this book, my opinion
of Handwriting Analysis is that it’s a respectable form of fortune telling. The
author keeps saying that to do an accurate analysis, the expert needs to be
told as much information about the person and the reason for the analysis as
possible in order to give results. TO me, that’s the same as a palm reader
making generalizations and then filling in the good stuff after you spent 15
minutes of small talk giving the person the “smoking gun” to make you feel like
you great-aunt Harriet is trying to contact you from beyond the grave and
forgives you for tying the cat to the swing-set.
Only the handwriting expert takes
the info they got and start saying " Oh, this here curl of the Q represents
lust, while this double crossed T means the writer is a liar, thus the subject
is perfect for a job as a lawyer to porn stars".
Voodoo science, if you ask me. And
since you are reading this, I take it that you are asking me.
Not that I did not enjoy this book.
I really did, mostly if just for a laugh. Often if the author found that see
was verging on analysis that reflected that the writer was the next Hitler or
Charles Manson, she quickly said something to the effect of “Consult a mental
health professional as soon as possible, as I can’t tell you if this person is
a danger of not.” Wait a minute! Isn’t that the point of handwriting
analysis???
The section on doodles was quite
interesting and I wish it was bigger. That analysis seems like an actual
science. Maybe that’s because our local radio guys do segments on that sort of thing
and I am used to it. However, I really wish that forgeries and counterfeiting
and other legal matters involving handwriting was covered in this book.
Although, those realms may not involve Handwriting analysis and my perception
of what that subject involves was way off.
And no, I do not think that
misconception clouded my judgment on the book. Again, I said I liked it. And I
already said that I was interested in the “subject” even if I was way off. The
point of my Dewey Decimal Project is to learn new things; not read only what I
know and conclude that I am the smartest being on planet Earth as nothing I
read was new to me (because, again, I had only read what I knew).
No, I succeeded in this stage of the
project, as I did learn something new from a subject I thought I had an idea
about. It’s not my fault that what I read sounded like mumbo-jumbo and got a
good laugh out of it. Others may feel that what I read about is Gospel truth. I
am merely expressing my opinion out of what I read about handwriting analysis.
The same person who defends the subject may feel that the Loch Ness Monster is
bunk. But I believe it exists and their opinion doesn’t bother me.
So, whether you read something
totally new or from a previous experience, the only bias to be wary of is what
you let others influence you to take from what you read. So fellow readers,
read up, learn, and if you find something that makes you laugh (for whatever
reasons), savor the moment. God knows there’s not much to laugh about these
days.
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