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Six-Minute X-Ray: Rapid Behavior Profiling
With skills specifically designed for intelligence operations, Chase Hughes releases yet another groundbreaking book. In Six Minute X-Ray™, you’ll learn the most powerful people-reading system in the world. Chase exposes and unpacks simple techniques that come together to allow you to see beyond the mask that anyone is wearing. In less than six minutes, you’ll know more about the hidden side of the person you’re speaking to than their own friends and family - no joke. ◆ How to see behind the masks people wear ◆ Identify anyone's hidden fears and insecurities in less than 5 minutes ◆ Quickly and easily get an 80% read of a person before you meet ◆ Enable people to become the most vulnerable, open, confident, and best version of themselves during the first six minutes of meeting them ◆ Discover hidden secrets about a person in six minutes that gives you access to their most hidden beliefs and values ◆ Use this information to create undivided attention and cooperation ◆ Exactly how to tune in and adapt your language to the internal language of anyone you speak to ◆ Detect deception the moment it occurs, and know exactly how to deal with it ◆ Professionally qualify or disqualify the person or team you’re meeting within your first meeting ◆ Get past the social and corporate mask of the person you’re meeting with – see them as they are ◆ Determine the truth behind the desires, fears, and motivations of your counterpart – EVEN WHEN THEY DON’T TELL YOU ◆ Read a room of people like a Special Agent – guaranteed ◆ Recognize dominance, fears, and needs before you speak with the person or group you choose ◆ Become aware of your own social needs and weaknesses and prevent yourself from being misled or manipulated ◆ Instantly identify the physical position to take when speaking with your person of interest ◆ Create rapport with the person instead of the mask they’re wearing ◆ Identify the subtle signs of an individual's positive and negative body language and emotional affect – utilize this to your advantage ◆ Identify and bring out deep concerns and doubts in a way that brings you closer to the person/ team you’re dealing with ◆ Among other small details, learn how small finger movements will always tell you if the person is becoming more open to your ideas And so much more… ★★★★★
268 pages, Paperback
Published December 10, 2020
854 people are currently reading
2514 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
April 19, 2021
This is one of the best body language and human behavior books I have read. One of the reasons why it resonated with me was because it is not full of "unnecessary filler." Chase Hughes has a lot of information to get through and he gets right down to it.
The second reason I liked the book is because I am an injury trial lawyer, and I have to see body language and hear language in witness, and claims adjuster responses. Of course, you can use what is in the book for any interdependent action with other humans, so it is not just for a trial lawyer.
In my profession, I have to read body language in the following areas:
1. Witness depositions
2. Witness cross examination at trial
3. Speaking to mediators and defense lawyers in a case
4. Listening to my injured client about what happened and how the injuries have affected their life
5. If I have teamed up with a co-trial lawyer on a case, we have to work together, and reading body language and understanding human behavior is great
6. Speaking to my paralegals, etc.
My take-aways:
1. The four lenses of how we view people is very insightful and serves as a foundation as to what the book teaches;
2. Blink rate importance was huge for me;
3. The Behavioral Table of Elements is mind blowing (and cool);
4. The Locus of Control and The Decision Map was extremely good to read about;
5. The Human Needs Map was great too;
6. The adjective and pronoun use is fantastic;
7. The Quadrant Technique and the Behavioral Compass are two important tools you will use to put all the information you learn in the book together;
8. Aaaannnnddddd, if you have some knowledge of NLP, this book will take what you know there to an entire new level.
This book opens the flood gate on why we behave as we do. It "tip toes" into some dark psychology and then ends with examples and a work plan to implement the ideas in the book making it a very practicable book.
This book inspired me to buy Chase Hughes' other book, "The Ellipsis Manual." If you are interested in learning about body language and human behavior this is a GREAT book to have at your disposal!
The second reason I liked the book is because I am an injury trial lawyer, and I have to see body language and hear language in witness, and claims adjuster responses. Of course, you can use what is in the book for any interdependent action with other humans, so it is not just for a trial lawyer.
In my profession, I have to read body language in the following areas:
1. Witness depositions
2. Witness cross examination at trial
3. Speaking to mediators and defense lawyers in a case
4. Listening to my injured client about what happened and how the injuries have affected their life
5. If I have teamed up with a co-trial lawyer on a case, we have to work together, and reading body language and understanding human behavior is great
6. Speaking to my paralegals, etc.
My take-aways:
1. The four lenses of how we view people is very insightful and serves as a foundation as to what the book teaches;
2. Blink rate importance was huge for me;
3. The Behavioral Table of Elements is mind blowing (and cool);
4. The Locus of Control and The Decision Map was extremely good to read about;
5. The Human Needs Map was great too;
6. The adjective and pronoun use is fantastic;
7. The Quadrant Technique and the Behavioral Compass are two important tools you will use to put all the information you learn in the book together;
8. Aaaannnnddddd, if you have some knowledge of NLP, this book will take what you know there to an entire new level.
This book opens the flood gate on why we behave as we do. It "tip toes" into some dark psychology and then ends with examples and a work plan to implement the ideas in the book making it a very practicable book.
This book inspired me to buy Chase Hughes' other book, "The Ellipsis Manual." If you are interested in learning about body language and human behavior this is a GREAT book to have at your disposal!
October 1, 2022
I enjoy Hughes's work and contributions to the Behavior Panel and purchased this book along with the Ellipsis Manual (which I have higher hopes for).
This one arrived two days ago and it was a very quick read indeed. I read it one day but that was because
1. I skimmed a great deal of it,
2. Its typeface and spacing are quite generous,
3. There are "knowledge checks" or something like that at the end of some of the chapters--quiz questions for review, in other words, instead of the more traditional and effective clear recap of what was covered,
4. So much of it is repetition that it's easy to notice when he's repeating a former idea, because it's usually expressed exactly the same way, and
5. I was able to skim through about a quarter of it alone because it was just him telling his audience why the Six-Minute X-ray (dubbed 6MX) is so powerful, and it's an understatement to say that it annoyed me to have bought the book only to be badgered throughout the book to, well, buy the book.
The biggest problem overall is that the writing is just awful. I doubt he had an editor at all. (There is no title page or front matter or publisher than I can tell; I assume it's self-published.)
Typos and poor sentence structure are the least of his concerns. He writes a great deal without saying much and much of what he says is unclear. Very few of the techniques are explained well.
The point of this book is not to learn the techniques he and his fellow behaviorists apply, which is what it's billed as. It is to sell us the book we already bought (dammit), then to sell us on his system, then to (hopefully) get us to enroll in his online course, which I found sadly laughable by the end of this sample of his work. There are occasional interesting and worthwhile bits in it, but I expect they can be found in legit behavior manuals.
I would have thought a professional behavior analyst would have been mindful of what we can learn about him when he slaps together his thoughts like this, complete with random anecdotes (which are interesting but irrelevant to what we bought the book to learn), but I guess not. It's clear he thinks very highly of himself and his training (meaning "significance" is his primary social need--see, I did learn *something*). The first mention could be excused as him clumsily establishing his credibility, but not the many that followed, the most eye-rolling for me being "That's right. My mother wanted the skills learned from my million-dollar education to watch The Bachelor."
In describing the primary need of "acceptance," he is hyper-focused on material possessions being strong indicators. I agree that they are, but maybe give us some less obvious ones after he's pointed out that people who want acceptance tend to identify with groups and wear name brands and buy the popular stuff? I mean, didn't we all know this much since high school already?
So disappointing. Chase Hughes is wonderfully articulate in a verbal medium, but if he's going to write, he needs someone else to make it readable and worthwhile. As it stands, this book reads like a clickbait story--poorly written, rambling, repetitive, and there's not enough meat in the end to make the struggle worth it.
__
Edit to add: The book began to fall apart the first time I opened it. The front page fell out. I read it without ever opening it more than 95 or 100 degrees but this would continue as I read, random pages just falling out because the binding is practically non-existent. I'm returning it to Amazon for a full refund. Almost everything about this book is badly done.
Oh and ALSO: Holy crap, but he keeps referring to charts and says "go to this url and download this one for free" but DOESN'T BOTHER TO PUT A COPY OF ANY OF THEM IN THE BOOK ITSELF. What. I mean. Just...WHAT?! Why.
This one arrived two days ago and it was a very quick read indeed. I read it one day but that was because
1. I skimmed a great deal of it,
2. Its typeface and spacing are quite generous,
3. There are "knowledge checks" or something like that at the end of some of the chapters--quiz questions for review, in other words, instead of the more traditional and effective clear recap of what was covered,
4. So much of it is repetition that it's easy to notice when he's repeating a former idea, because it's usually expressed exactly the same way, and
5. I was able to skim through about a quarter of it alone because it was just him telling his audience why the Six-Minute X-ray (dubbed 6MX) is so powerful, and it's an understatement to say that it annoyed me to have bought the book only to be badgered throughout the book to, well, buy the book.
The biggest problem overall is that the writing is just awful. I doubt he had an editor at all. (There is no title page or front matter or publisher than I can tell; I assume it's self-published.)
Typos and poor sentence structure are the least of his concerns. He writes a great deal without saying much and much of what he says is unclear. Very few of the techniques are explained well.
The point of this book is not to learn the techniques he and his fellow behaviorists apply, which is what it's billed as. It is to sell us the book we already bought (dammit), then to sell us on his system, then to (hopefully) get us to enroll in his online course, which I found sadly laughable by the end of this sample of his work. There are occasional interesting and worthwhile bits in it, but I expect they can be found in legit behavior manuals.
I would have thought a professional behavior analyst would have been mindful of what we can learn about him when he slaps together his thoughts like this, complete with random anecdotes (which are interesting but irrelevant to what we bought the book to learn), but I guess not. It's clear he thinks very highly of himself and his training (meaning "significance" is his primary social need--see, I did learn *something*). The first mention could be excused as him clumsily establishing his credibility, but not the many that followed, the most eye-rolling for me being "That's right. My mother wanted the skills learned from my million-dollar education to watch The Bachelor."
In describing the primary need of "acceptance," he is hyper-focused on material possessions being strong indicators. I agree that they are, but maybe give us some less obvious ones after he's pointed out that people who want acceptance tend to identify with groups and wear name brands and buy the popular stuff? I mean, didn't we all know this much since high school already?
So disappointing. Chase Hughes is wonderfully articulate in a verbal medium, but if he's going to write, he needs someone else to make it readable and worthwhile. As it stands, this book reads like a clickbait story--poorly written, rambling, repetitive, and there's not enough meat in the end to make the struggle worth it.
__
Edit to add: The book began to fall apart the first time I opened it. The front page fell out. I read it without ever opening it more than 95 or 100 degrees but this would continue as I read, random pages just falling out because the binding is practically non-existent. I'm returning it to Amazon for a full refund. Almost everything about this book is badly done.
Oh and ALSO: Holy crap, but he keeps referring to charts and says "go to this url and download this one for free" but DOESN'T BOTHER TO PUT A COPY OF ANY OF THEM IN THE BOOK ITSELF. What. I mean. Just...WHAT?! Why.
July 5, 2022
I believe Hughes has a good deal of experience and a solid skill set, but I can’t buy the hype in the book.
The language is casual and persuasive instead of academic and informative - I felt at times like I was being urged to drink Koolaid in Jonestown. There was some comical hubris - learn this skill to know things 97% of psychologists can’t comprehend. The test questions to assign behavior categories aren’t nuanced - it’s possible to believe that hard work matters while also understanding the reality of things like generational wealth. Finally, there is the problem with vetting and fact-checking - all these years later and Hughes thinks the McDonalds coffee lawsuit was about some woman wanting to cash out after failing to read a temperature warning.
My husband was an interrogator and did some really important work. Like Hughes, I served in the Navy. Thus, I am not knocking the author’s real service, contribution, talent, drive, passion, or his evident work ethic. I just can’t do the 100% buy in thing - and there is no magic bullet in any walk of life.
Read the book if you are curious, but as with most things, always be mindful enough to separate the wheat from the chaff.
The language is casual and persuasive instead of academic and informative - I felt at times like I was being urged to drink Koolaid in Jonestown. There was some comical hubris - learn this skill to know things 97% of psychologists can’t comprehend. The test questions to assign behavior categories aren’t nuanced - it’s possible to believe that hard work matters while also understanding the reality of things like generational wealth. Finally, there is the problem with vetting and fact-checking - all these years later and Hughes thinks the McDonalds coffee lawsuit was about some woman wanting to cash out after failing to read a temperature warning.
My husband was an interrogator and did some really important work. Like Hughes, I served in the Navy. Thus, I am not knocking the author’s real service, contribution, talent, drive, passion, or his evident work ethic. I just can’t do the 100% buy in thing - and there is no magic bullet in any walk of life.
Read the book if you are curious, but as with most things, always be mindful enough to separate the wheat from the chaff.
May 9, 2022
First review I’ve ever done
I’m a clinical therapist and currently the Depp vs. Heard trial is going on right now, so I thought when I’m not using the things in this book in my practice I could see if they apply to other situations. I was skeptical that the book would be able to deliver on the ability to deliver. Boy am I glad I was wrong. I’ve been studying body language for over 12 years. I’ve read countless books and journal articles on the subject, from fbi profilers to the pioneer of facial expressions Eckman himself. This book will change how you see everyone. If you’ve ever wanted the ability to read someone the way Sherlock Holmes does, or to just improve your interpersonal skills, or to really land that contract, this book is an absolute must. I cannot recommend this book enough and will recommend every colleague of mine to read it. (Btw, when you’re done reading the book, come back to this review and apply the 6MX technique to this review and see what it says about me. You’d be amazed)
I’m a clinical therapist and currently the Depp vs. Heard trial is going on right now, so I thought when I’m not using the things in this book in my practice I could see if they apply to other situations. I was skeptical that the book would be able to deliver on the ability to deliver. Boy am I glad I was wrong. I’ve been studying body language for over 12 years. I’ve read countless books and journal articles on the subject, from fbi profilers to the pioneer of facial expressions Eckman himself. This book will change how you see everyone. If you’ve ever wanted the ability to read someone the way Sherlock Holmes does, or to just improve your interpersonal skills, or to really land that contract, this book is an absolute must. I cannot recommend this book enough and will recommend every colleague of mine to read it. (Btw, when you’re done reading the book, come back to this review and apply the 6MX technique to this review and see what it says about me. You’d be amazed)
February 14, 2021
What an incredible book. In 20 years of reading books on Body language and behaviour analysis this one really stands out as one of my favourites. The information is concise, and the methodology flows so smoothly. Highly recommended.
January 28, 2024
This book is dense with wisdom from one of the leading minds in the field of body language and persuasion. Anyone can tune into the weekly YouTube "behavior panel" to see Chase in action, using the techniques in this book to gain powerful insight and aid in communication.
That said, I think this book was hastily written and a bit sloppy at times. Like another book by him I've read, it really could have done better with a full edit before its first publication. I understand that the desire to publish a book and get the information out there for people to use probably took precident over the book being polished. I'm the sort of person who mistrusts information easier if it isn't presented in a professional way, though. If there are simple errors in grammar, it stands to reason there could be simple errors in terminology or other observations.
Do these techniques work? Probably. They seem sound and based on a lot of real-time experience. I just wish they were presented a bit better for my tastes.
As an afterthought, this entire book does sort of serve to be a sort of long-winded brochure to sign up for Chase Hughes' class to go "in depth" into the material. The problem with this is that from my experience with Hughes, I'm not certain there actually exists the "in depth" class as each step along the way promises more at the next level. This is off-putting and shady at best and reads like a con/scam at worse. It took me about a week to decide whether I wanted to include this in my review because I wanted to be certain I felt strongly enough about it to mention. Sadly, the bad taste this book left in my mouth made this point warranted and an important part of a fair review.
That said, I think this book was hastily written and a bit sloppy at times. Like another book by him I've read, it really could have done better with a full edit before its first publication. I understand that the desire to publish a book and get the information out there for people to use probably took precident over the book being polished. I'm the sort of person who mistrusts information easier if it isn't presented in a professional way, though. If there are simple errors in grammar, it stands to reason there could be simple errors in terminology or other observations.
Do these techniques work? Probably. They seem sound and based on a lot of real-time experience. I just wish they were presented a bit better for my tastes.
As an afterthought, this entire book does sort of serve to be a sort of long-winded brochure to sign up for Chase Hughes' class to go "in depth" into the material. The problem with this is that from my experience with Hughes, I'm not certain there actually exists the "in depth" class as each step along the way promises more at the next level. This is off-putting and shady at best and reads like a con/scam at worse. It took me about a week to decide whether I wanted to include this in my review because I wanted to be certain I felt strongly enough about it to mention. Sadly, the bad taste this book left in my mouth made this point warranted and an important part of a fair review.
June 10, 2022
The book has many interesting parts and is useful to draw one’s attention to human behaviour aspects that may have passed unnoticed before. However, in my humble opinion it is written rather poorly, with sensational statements similar to what an insurance salesman would say. It also sorely lacks scientific evidence in terms of references to actual studies that confirm statements in the book.
September 5, 2023
I first got acquainted with Chase Hughes’ work via the YouTube channel, The Behavioural Panel. I admired his ability to explain complex behavioural analysis techniques in a simple way - and to make them accessible to the masses.
With this 6MX book, I feel like I got the inside ‘scoop’ on elite training, worth thousands of dollars - and I cannot wait to implement this learning! If I knuckle down and follow the training program, I know it will transform how I relate to others both personally and professionally.
I especially love that this book poses so many scenarios throughout, so you can test whether the learning has successfully embedded. And I found the compass and quadrant techniques for recording observations a really genius way of taking a behavioural snapshot in a discreet, encrypted way.
(Even now, I am reading over this feedback to see what I can learn about myself by reading between the lines!)
Thank you so much Chase for all you do for your community. You are a great example of showing up and sharing knowledge for the enhancement and betterment of others.
With this 6MX book, I feel like I got the inside ‘scoop’ on elite training, worth thousands of dollars - and I cannot wait to implement this learning! If I knuckle down and follow the training program, I know it will transform how I relate to others both personally and professionally.
I especially love that this book poses so many scenarios throughout, so you can test whether the learning has successfully embedded. And I found the compass and quadrant techniques for recording observations a really genius way of taking a behavioural snapshot in a discreet, encrypted way.
(Even now, I am reading over this feedback to see what I can learn about myself by reading between the lines!)
Thank you so much Chase for all you do for your community. You are a great example of showing up and sharing knowledge for the enhancement and betterment of others.
October 21, 2025
I learned a lot from this book. While I'm not sure how much of its content I can directly apply to everyday life (some for sure!), that doesn’t really matter—it's fulfilled its purpose. The book was quite eye-opening, and I wasn’t bothered that the author isn’t a literary master; the sentences and overall structure could have benefited from better editing. I also didn’t mind that at times it felt more like an invitation to a course. Nonetheless, it offered valuable points, techniques, clusters of behaviors to watch for, and ideas on how to steer conversations. Overall, I find the author's proposed framework useful. At the very least, it’s intriguing to consider behavior from multiple perspectives and to analyze it through different lenses.
May 28, 2025
This fella has some great insights into how best to read folks and persuade them. The start of the book almost lost me totally when he spent way too much of my time telling me how perfect his system is compared to everyone else. He provides solid info, especially for a beginner in sales (or other people based jobs).
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January 11, 2026Interesting insight to human physiology
April 2, 2025
I'm glad for the insights gained from this book. It's got a lot of valuable information about the meaning behind body language. I think the most valuable insight is to identify the needs of the other person and meet it.
Now for the bad.
I don't like the way Chase frames how to interact with people. He talks about narcissists in interviews I've seen, and has studied human behavior for years, but it's pretty obvious he has little to no self awareness that he's a narcissist himself.
Throughout the book, he speaks in terms of information harvesting, and covertly getting what you need from people. It's almost as though he sees himself as a thief, and people as objects. He steals what he needs from them without their awareness, and why? Never to benefit them. Only to benefit himself - and how cool that you can do it too! Throughout the book he directly tells people to lie to gather Intel.
Question to ponder: Should I trust someone who tells people to lie to get what they want?
One of the biggest benefits for me was to realize that there are a lot of people like Chase out there. It's valuable to see how they are trying to manipulate me through tactics and only to get what they want. This book is a window into the mind of people with ulterior motives.
While I was reading this book, I was also reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People". The contrast between the two books couldn't be wider. I assumed that book was about manipulating people, but it's not. It's about being a sincere and humble person. What you'll find in that book is going to take you further than what you'll find here (and it's free to listen to on YouTube!).
All that said, I'm glad I read the book to understand this world of interacting with people from both perspectives. I'll take the few nuggets I gleaned with me, because after all they are there.
A few other notes:
1. The first chapter is a sale to get you to buy the book. Just skip it if you've bought it, and if you read it with the thought of buying it, know that this guy makes money training salespeople. He's very persuasive, but that doesn't mean the product is good.
2. To get you to keep reading he constantly uses language like, "In the next chapter I'm going to reveal something I never thought I'd reveal to the public." This is a hook, to hype up the content to make it sound more extraordinary than it is. Super baity. If he was really confident in his product, he wouldn't feel the need to write a chapter to bait you in, or keep baiting you to read. (See, look at me. I'm profiling the author. Looks like I learned something.)
3. I skipped several chapters, especially towards the end. It wasn't worth my time to read about the art of persuasion through reflecting audio/visual/kinesthetic language, or pronouns, and adjectives. Literally, that last sentence sums up three chapters.
4. Others mention this, and it's true. Chase uses poor grammar. One sentence didn't make sense at all, and he forgot to finish another paragraph altogether. I think it's possible he really wanted to get the book published just so he could make some money. My sense is that's really what he's really after. Money and fame, without a lot of substance. He hacks the minds of his listeners and readers to get what he wants. You're the product.
5. The last several chapters are about his note taking system and have very little value, unless you want to follow his precise note taking method. Personally, I skipped them. He also scatters this throughout the book, probably to make the book a bit more plump. The helpful material is probably 40 percent of the books actual size. Not good for marketing to sell a book that's just over a 100 pages, so he had to air the tire.
Bottom line, if you want to know how a narcissist hacks people to get what he wants, read this book, but I'd say save your money and read someone else.
Now for the bad.
I don't like the way Chase frames how to interact with people. He talks about narcissists in interviews I've seen, and has studied human behavior for years, but it's pretty obvious he has little to no self awareness that he's a narcissist himself.
Throughout the book, he speaks in terms of information harvesting, and covertly getting what you need from people. It's almost as though he sees himself as a thief, and people as objects. He steals what he needs from them without their awareness, and why? Never to benefit them. Only to benefit himself - and how cool that you can do it too! Throughout the book he directly tells people to lie to gather Intel.
Question to ponder: Should I trust someone who tells people to lie to get what they want?
One of the biggest benefits for me was to realize that there are a lot of people like Chase out there. It's valuable to see how they are trying to manipulate me through tactics and only to get what they want. This book is a window into the mind of people with ulterior motives.
While I was reading this book, I was also reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People". The contrast between the two books couldn't be wider. I assumed that book was about manipulating people, but it's not. It's about being a sincere and humble person. What you'll find in that book is going to take you further than what you'll find here (and it's free to listen to on YouTube!).
All that said, I'm glad I read the book to understand this world of interacting with people from both perspectives. I'll take the few nuggets I gleaned with me, because after all they are there.
A few other notes:
1. The first chapter is a sale to get you to buy the book. Just skip it if you've bought it, and if you read it with the thought of buying it, know that this guy makes money training salespeople. He's very persuasive, but that doesn't mean the product is good.
2. To get you to keep reading he constantly uses language like, "In the next chapter I'm going to reveal something I never thought I'd reveal to the public." This is a hook, to hype up the content to make it sound more extraordinary than it is. Super baity. If he was really confident in his product, he wouldn't feel the need to write a chapter to bait you in, or keep baiting you to read. (See, look at me. I'm profiling the author. Looks like I learned something.)
3. I skipped several chapters, especially towards the end. It wasn't worth my time to read about the art of persuasion through reflecting audio/visual/kinesthetic language, or pronouns, and adjectives. Literally, that last sentence sums up three chapters.
4. Others mention this, and it's true. Chase uses poor grammar. One sentence didn't make sense at all, and he forgot to finish another paragraph altogether. I think it's possible he really wanted to get the book published just so he could make some money. My sense is that's really what he's really after. Money and fame, without a lot of substance. He hacks the minds of his listeners and readers to get what he wants. You're the product.
5. The last several chapters are about his note taking system and have very little value, unless you want to follow his precise note taking method. Personally, I skipped them. He also scatters this throughout the book, probably to make the book a bit more plump. The helpful material is probably 40 percent of the books actual size. Not good for marketing to sell a book that's just over a 100 pages, so he had to air the tire.
Bottom line, if you want to know how a narcissist hacks people to get what he wants, read this book, but I'd say save your money and read someone else.
January 14, 2022
This is a great quickstart guide to becoming skilled in seeing the person behind the persona (yourself included). I read Hughes' book after I realized too late I'd been duped in a job interview. After reading the book once, the figurative scales fell from my eyes: suddenly others' behavior seemed so transparent; individuals really do reveal their hidden intentions and thoughts through body language and manner of speaking. I figured out the clues I'd missed in the aforementioned job interview. And, to my chagrin, I realized I had my own persona by applying some of the principles in Hughes' book. The only reason I'm giving the book a 4-star rating is the contact methods at the end of it lead nowhere. I emailed the contact email a couple of times but no response. I called the phone number listed, and when I tried to go to the contact URL it mentioned, I got a 404 (page does not exist). This is just me, but I found the image on the Contact page jarring--looks a bit like an advertisement for phone sex. Everything else on the site is well done and professional looking. Side note, I first learned about Chase Hughes by listening to the Behavior Panel on https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBehavior... Hughes is a member of that panel. I've also just started a book by another member of the Behavioral Panel, Greg Hartley--"How to Spot a Liar." Wasn't sure if I should since it gets a lot of negative reviews on Goodreads, but so far I'm finding it provides the depth Hughes' book doesn't. Will report back when I finish it!
February 28, 2025
Poorly written trash by an idiot who thinks highly of himself. Read the first 12% of the book and found nothing but dribble and Hughes bragging that he has this world-beating system.
May 4, 2025
in this book, there are absolute gems and there are absolute duds. there’s a good balance between cultish shilling and actionable tactics. you really need to know what you’re looking for before diving in.
background - the author has several absolute bangers on youtube, including a video podcast where he claims he can brainwash anyone to commit murder. regardless of whether this is true or not, you’d think his content revolves around influence and behavioral compliance. it’s not. (though to be fair there’s a micro-chapter on this topic).
this book, six-minute x-ray, is rather a deep dive into human observations - how to extract as much information from your subjects as possible. but on a high level this feels lacking, particularly on what you can do with that information: do you mirror their thought patterns to appear more likable? do you write a report and file that away? this whole book feels like a means rather than an end. not that it’s necessarily a bad thing - it’s probably by design.
what’s more terrible are the “examples”. i don’t think the author knows the dictionary definition of the word “example”. for example, he would explain the tactic of matching your subject’s use of pronouns, then give an example of a salesperson mismatching pronouns when talking with clients. given your amazing knowledge, he says, you tell the salesperson to match pronouns for future client calls, changing the trajectory of his career. end of example.
huh?? the given “example” provided no added value; it simply repeated the pronoun method’s definition with a sales skin. no example scripts were given for this scenario. no examples of how the salesperson applied different pronouns to climb up his career ladder. the whole book is peppered with these useless “examples”, where the author’s industry skins of choice rotate between law, government and sales. it’s almost as though the author needed to fill a minimum number of pages with words.
i’ve already touched on the cringy marketing fluff and hype (eg these tools will change your life, never planned to release these tools to the public, you’ll be able to read everyone like a book, etc).
i also despise books like this that start off with some humbug philosophy (eg everyone wears a mask, everyone pretends not to wear a mask, etc).
another thing i disliked is the amount of repetition about nonverbal signals, despite the author explicitly saying early on that it should be less of a focus. and there’s no prioritization of such signals - where should you start on the behavioral table of elements? what’s the lowest hanging fruit? why does the training plan focus on some elements and not others?
having said all this, there’s no doubt some real gems exist in this book. i’d say the overarching theme is observation through creating empathy, and the author has a knack for breaking down the key drivers for doing so. read the chapters on elicitation, the needs map and the decision map, if nothing else. those chapters alone deserve a star each, for a total of three stars.
background - the author has several absolute bangers on youtube, including a video podcast where he claims he can brainwash anyone to commit murder. regardless of whether this is true or not, you’d think his content revolves around influence and behavioral compliance. it’s not. (though to be fair there’s a micro-chapter on this topic).
this book, six-minute x-ray, is rather a deep dive into human observations - how to extract as much information from your subjects as possible. but on a high level this feels lacking, particularly on what you can do with that information: do you mirror their thought patterns to appear more likable? do you write a report and file that away? this whole book feels like a means rather than an end. not that it’s necessarily a bad thing - it’s probably by design.
what’s more terrible are the “examples”. i don’t think the author knows the dictionary definition of the word “example”. for example, he would explain the tactic of matching your subject’s use of pronouns, then give an example of a salesperson mismatching pronouns when talking with clients. given your amazing knowledge, he says, you tell the salesperson to match pronouns for future client calls, changing the trajectory of his career. end of example.
huh?? the given “example” provided no added value; it simply repeated the pronoun method’s definition with a sales skin. no example scripts were given for this scenario. no examples of how the salesperson applied different pronouns to climb up his career ladder. the whole book is peppered with these useless “examples”, where the author’s industry skins of choice rotate between law, government and sales. it’s almost as though the author needed to fill a minimum number of pages with words.
i’ve already touched on the cringy marketing fluff and hype (eg these tools will change your life, never planned to release these tools to the public, you’ll be able to read everyone like a book, etc).
i also despise books like this that start off with some humbug philosophy (eg everyone wears a mask, everyone pretends not to wear a mask, etc).
another thing i disliked is the amount of repetition about nonverbal signals, despite the author explicitly saying early on that it should be less of a focus. and there’s no prioritization of such signals - where should you start on the behavioral table of elements? what’s the lowest hanging fruit? why does the training plan focus on some elements and not others?
having said all this, there’s no doubt some real gems exist in this book. i’d say the overarching theme is observation through creating empathy, and the author has a knack for breaking down the key drivers for doing so. read the chapters on elicitation, the needs map and the decision map, if nothing else. those chapters alone deserve a star each, for a total of three stars.
June 29, 2023
The Six-Minute X-Ray: Rapid Behavior Profiling is my first introduction to Chase Hughes.
Bottom Line: I'm giving this book five stars for the potential impact I foresee it having in my life as I learn to apply its principles in my life. Suppose the results are even a fraction of what the author purports to be possible. In that case, it is well worth the five stars, and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to improve their intuition, reading, interpretation, and comprehension of body language and behavior analysis at a practical non-clinical level.
The Good:
- This is the most concise body language/behavioral analysis book I've read to date, and it is more practical than academic, which I appreciate for my current goals.
- The practical how-to information in this book is very well-defined and actionable.
- Very little fluff.
- Knowledge checks and exercises ensure the reader retains the information.
- Includes a 25-week training plan
- Easy to read.
The Meh:
- Some seemingly sensational or hubris statements - However, if they are true, then it isn't bragging, hubris, or sensationalism. For example:
- Some may feel that the book's lack of citations and references to academic/scientific studies indicates that the book is less reliable. However, I think the author did a good job of explaining that the book is about the system he built based on his experience, not about explaining the science behind it. Also, I found that the author's explanations and descriptions provided more context to the scientifically based body language and behavior analysis books I've read.
The Area(s) of Improvement:
- The ebook reading experience could have been so much better if there were pictures, charts, or some sort of representations of the items referenced as "available online." Having to break my focus from reading to going online to see the actual thing was distracting. Don't get me wrong, I love having the resources online that I can download and access any time is awesome for the long-term; just not ideal as the only place to find them when reading about them in the book.
- If one is being hyper-critical, the book could have benefited from some additional editing. It seems this was a big deal to some reviewers. This was not an issue for me.
Bottom Line: I'm giving this book five stars for the potential impact I foresee it having in my life as I learn to apply its principles in my life. Suppose the results are even a fraction of what the author purports to be possible. In that case, it is well worth the five stars, and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to improve their intuition, reading, interpretation, and comprehension of body language and behavior analysis at a practical non-clinical level.
The Good:
- This is the most concise body language/behavioral analysis book I've read to date, and it is more practical than academic, which I appreciate for my current goals.
- The practical how-to information in this book is very well-defined and actionable.
- Very little fluff.
- Knowledge checks and exercises ensure the reader retains the information.
- Includes a 25-week training plan
- Easy to read.
The Meh:
- Some seemingly sensational or hubris statements - However, if they are true, then it isn't bragging, hubris, or sensationalism. For example:
"...allowing you to develop a behavioral profile beyond what 99% of psychologists can see in less than six minutes."
- Some may feel that the book's lack of citations and references to academic/scientific studies indicates that the book is less reliable. However, I think the author did a good job of explaining that the book is about the system he built based on his experience, not about explaining the science behind it. Also, I found that the author's explanations and descriptions provided more context to the scientifically based body language and behavior analysis books I've read.
The Area(s) of Improvement:
- The ebook reading experience could have been so much better if there were pictures, charts, or some sort of representations of the items referenced as "available online." Having to break my focus from reading to going online to see the actual thing was distracting. Don't get me wrong, I love having the resources online that I can download and access any time is awesome for the long-term; just not ideal as the only place to find them when reading about them in the book.
- If one is being hyper-critical, the book could have benefited from some additional editing. It seems this was a big deal to some reviewers. This was not an issue for me.
September 19, 2025
Such power such wow
Fue divertido de leer y muy educativo. Tengo nuevas herramientas que probar. El principal obstáculo que encontré es que no observo a las personas, evito el contacto visual. Pero verlas y examinarlas resultó creepy en algunos casos. Pero hay tantas formas de aprenderlo.
No sabía que el people pleasing podía ser una herramienta tan poderosa. Soy toda una espía jajaja
Los capítulos sobre el need y decision map fueron mis favoritos. Descubrí cosas sobre mí y los pude identificar en los demás.
Mucho que entrenar, para identificar todo y dar el paso de utilizarlo activamente.
Love it que sí habla sobre las redes sociales y usar podcasts o videos para aprender (observando a las personas en ellos).
El resumen de Aster y yo:
LAW 1: EVERYONE IS SUFFERING AND INSECURE
LAW 2: EVERYONE IS WEARING A MASK
LAW 3: EVERYONE PRETENDS NOT TO WEAR A MASK
LAW 4: EVERYONE IS A PRODUCT OF CHILDHOOD SUFFERING AND REWARD
Law 5: Everyone is a drug addict
No se debe interpretar un solo gesto aislado, sino ver el patrón, el contexto.
Capítulo 4 Eyes
Capítulo 5 Face
Capítulo 6 Body
Capítulo 7 Detectar estrés, lo más cercano a detectar mentiras
Capítulo 8 Elicitación
Capítulo 9 Mapa de necesidades humanas
Capítulo 10 Estilos de decisión (Decision Map)
Capítulo 11 Preferencias sensoriales en comunicación. Visual, auditivo, kinestésico
Capítulo 12 y 13 Lenguaje utilizado: pronombres, adjetivos, palabras específicas.
Capítulo 14 Rapport. El cuerpo sigue lo que la mente siente; cómo usar eso.
Capítulo 15, 16, 17, 18 y 19 : Plan de capacitación
Epílogo es really cool.
Fue divertido de leer y muy educativo. Tengo nuevas herramientas que probar. El principal obstáculo que encontré es que no observo a las personas, evito el contacto visual. Pero verlas y examinarlas resultó creepy en algunos casos. Pero hay tantas formas de aprenderlo.
No sabía que el people pleasing podía ser una herramienta tan poderosa. Soy toda una espía jajaja
Los capítulos sobre el need y decision map fueron mis favoritos. Descubrí cosas sobre mí y los pude identificar en los demás.
Mucho que entrenar, para identificar todo y dar el paso de utilizarlo activamente.
Love it que sí habla sobre las redes sociales y usar podcasts o videos para aprender (observando a las personas en ellos).
El resumen de Aster y yo:
LAW 1: EVERYONE IS SUFFERING AND INSECURE
LAW 2: EVERYONE IS WEARING A MASK
LAW 3: EVERYONE PRETENDS NOT TO WEAR A MASK
LAW 4: EVERYONE IS A PRODUCT OF CHILDHOOD SUFFERING AND REWARD
Law 5: Everyone is a drug addict
No se debe interpretar un solo gesto aislado, sino ver el patrón, el contexto.
Capítulo 4 Eyes
Capítulo 5 Face
Capítulo 6 Body
Capítulo 7 Detectar estrés, lo más cercano a detectar mentiras
Capítulo 8 Elicitación
Capítulo 9 Mapa de necesidades humanas
Capítulo 10 Estilos de decisión (Decision Map)
Capítulo 11 Preferencias sensoriales en comunicación. Visual, auditivo, kinestésico
Capítulo 12 y 13 Lenguaje utilizado: pronombres, adjetivos, palabras específicas.
Capítulo 14 Rapport. El cuerpo sigue lo que la mente siente; cómo usar eso.
Capítulo 15, 16, 17, 18 y 19 : Plan de capacitación
Epílogo es really cool.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2025
It’s good, the real deal. The opening message drew me right in – everyone is suffering, wearing a mask and pretending not to wear a mask and their behavioral patterns are a product of their childhood suffering and reward. It just puts you into this state of mind that we’re all in this together, a perfect frame of reference for this book, if it makes sense.
If you want to get good at reading people, this book is all you need. Well, of course you actually need to train and practice it as well and the book has fancy graphs and a detailed 25-week training plan. I’m not going to do it as I just don’t care enough, it just seemed like an interesting book. I mean, apart from being an actual interrogator or 007, I don’t think these skills are the primary tool in anything. Dating? Not primary. Sales? Not primary. Hostage negotiator, secret agent, James Bond? Sure.
If I ever change my mind, I’ll come back to this book and do the training plan.
If you want to get good at reading people, this book is all you need. Well, of course you actually need to train and practice it as well and the book has fancy graphs and a detailed 25-week training plan. I’m not going to do it as I just don’t care enough, it just seemed like an interesting book. I mean, apart from being an actual interrogator or 007, I don’t think these skills are the primary tool in anything. Dating? Not primary. Sales? Not primary. Hostage negotiator, secret agent, James Bond? Sure.
If I ever change my mind, I’ll come back to this book and do the training plan.
April 22, 2024
Nope. He lost me when he started talking about aggressive, manipulative jerks as scared little children trying to hide their insecurities. A much better book about these kinds of people is In Sheep's Clothing by George K. Simon Jr. Most people tend to back away from aggression, and the jerks learn it's an easy way to get what they want. Spare me the one-size-fits-all neurotic, intimidated child hypothesis. Sometimes it's true, but not always, and we'd better learn to identify the difference so we can defend ourselves with tactics that actually work. This book is way too superficial and simplified. It may work for most interactions but is of very little use when you run up against someone who does not fit into a nice, neat slot.
January 19, 2025
This is the best resource on reading people that I've found--and I've actually done a lot in this space. Not only have a read many books on this topic, I am a child actor with a degree in musical theater performance--so I've been trained extensively on how to portray complex emotions (which makes it easier to read them in others).
Not only was he insightful, he was specific and practical, including calling out when it's not a reliable signal. For example, crossing your arms in front of you is not a sign of closing yourself off in many situations. Don't pay attention to that one.
Instead, he says to give the most weight to the involuntary and automatic reactions, like pupil dilation and blinking.
If you're interested in reading people, this book is highly recommended.
Not only was he insightful, he was specific and practical, including calling out when it's not a reliable signal. For example, crossing your arms in front of you is not a sign of closing yourself off in many situations. Don't pay attention to that one.
Instead, he says to give the most weight to the involuntary and automatic reactions, like pupil dilation and blinking.
If you're interested in reading people, this book is highly recommended.
June 9, 2024
Valuable information about body language and the art of listening, presented poorly. This guy is definitely not a writer. I think he would be better off with a ghost writer. His examples are kind of hard to believe - they could be more down to earth. The writing is full of repetition, boistering and bad grammar.
I summarized the information in bullet form for myself in my note taking software.
It annoys me he acts like he's the inventor of some of these techniques. Example: locus of control is definitely a widely used concept in psychology that he definitely didn't discover. I'm sure there's other crime specialists teaching these techniques and he acts like they're his hidden treasure.
I summarized the information in bullet form for myself in my note taking software.
It annoys me he acts like he's the inventor of some of these techniques. Example: locus of control is definitely a widely used concept in psychology that he definitely didn't discover. I'm sure there's other crime specialists teaching these techniques and he acts like they're his hidden treasure.
March 10, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I find this topic so interesting and I really do think some of the behavioural analyst strategies listed in the book would work. However, the book felt pretty rushed and overwhelming, making it difficult to digest the information in a usable way. Hughes dives (quickly, and somewhat shallowly) into body language cues individuals use and the meaning behind why we behave a certain way. If one was to actually sit down and put time and energy into practically applying his recommendations, I think it’d be quite a fascinating experiment, but it’s pretty high level work and probably not that useful for anyone other than investigators or psychologists haha.
September 7, 2024
_Six-Minute X-Ray: Rapid behavior Profiling_ by Chase Hughes receives four stars from me. I felt the information was well presented and useful. This is a book that I will come back and read in to grasp the concepts more.
Negative: I found the behavior compass a bit confusing and every time he mentioned it, I thought: this is a system that works for him. I encouraged myself to create my own system when and if I ever find myself in having interrogations. As for right now, working in medical case management, many things can be used to help me assist my clients better.
Recommended: yes.
Negative: I found the behavior compass a bit confusing and every time he mentioned it, I thought: this is a system that works for him. I encouraged myself to create my own system when and if I ever find myself in having interrogations. As for right now, working in medical case management, many things can be used to help me assist my clients better.
Recommended: yes.
June 8, 2025
Interessant boek dat je leert om lichaamstaal en taalgebruik te doorgronden. Daarmee is vervolgens mogelijk om mensen te ‘manipuleren’. Vooral handig bij beroepen in sales, maar ook professioneel ondervrager.
Een deel is bekend ( bv armen kruizen bij defensieve houding), deel ook nieuw voor mij.
Wil je dit echt doorgronden dan moet je er flink op gaan oefenen, het boek geeft daartoe praktische modellen. Hoewel het ‘lezen’ van mensen altijd een handige vaardigheid is, is deze investering voor mij niet de moeite waard. Daarmee is het een leuk boekje om een keer te lezen.
Een deel is bekend ( bv armen kruizen bij defensieve houding), deel ook nieuw voor mij.
Wil je dit echt doorgronden dan moet je er flink op gaan oefenen, het boek geeft daartoe praktische modellen. Hoewel het ‘lezen’ van mensen altijd een handige vaardigheid is, is deze investering voor mij niet de moeite waard. Daarmee is het een leuk boekje om een keer te lezen.
March 26, 2023
Great read with examples and suggestions
I’ve read a few Behavioral Analysis books, however, what Chase Hughes does goes beyond where other books stop. Not only does he explain a characteristic and a few examples, he provides suggestions that will allow the reader to practice that skill set. I will be going back through the book, keeping notes and practicing.
Excellent book Mr. Hughes
I’ve read a few Behavioral Analysis books, however, what Chase Hughes does goes beyond where other books stop. Not only does he explain a characteristic and a few examples, he provides suggestions that will allow the reader to practice that skill set. I will be going back through the book, keeping notes and practicing.
Excellent book Mr. Hughes
April 27, 2025
Grandiose promises of power aside, i found the book to be interesting.
As an introvert, i rarely build up a detailed model of the other person in conversation, this book showed me that not only it's relatively simple to start doing that, it might also be necessary.
Read this if you are into sales or interrogations or want to know how to spot a lie.
overall a nice read that requires you to have an uncanny ability to separate the wheat from the chaff.
As an introvert, i rarely build up a detailed model of the other person in conversation, this book showed me that not only it's relatively simple to start doing that, it might also be necessary.
Read this if you are into sales or interrogations or want to know how to spot a lie.
overall a nice read that requires you to have an uncanny ability to separate the wheat from the chaff.
July 17, 2025
This is the best book I’ve read on body language and human behavior analysis. It made me much more aware of how I interact with others and even more importantly, how I behave myself.
One of the things I really appreciated is how the book shifts the focus away from interpreting static gestures and instead teaches you to look for changes in behavior and the triggers behind them. That perspective alone made a big difference in how I observe people.
It’s a fast and easy read, straight to the point, with practical guidelines you can apply right away.
One of the things I really appreciated is how the book shifts the focus away from interpreting static gestures and instead teaches you to look for changes in behavior and the triggers behind them. That perspective alone made a big difference in how I observe people.
It’s a fast and easy read, straight to the point, with practical guidelines you can apply right away.
September 1, 2025
I listened to this book twice—it’s full of practical tips and tricks for quickly understanding people and their behavior. The system makes sense and is well-structured, offering an efficient way to apply proven, science-backed practices. That said, I wouldn’t call it a breakthrough or the only system that works. There wasn’t much that felt completely new or original, but it’s still a solid guide if you’re looking to sharpen your people-reading skills in a structured, actionable way.
September 10, 2022
A good text book
This is really a text book for the training the author offers. It is a good text book. If you really want to develop the skill you need to plan on signing up for the training program. Only the very disciplined and super motivated could fully develop the skills shown without going to school.
This is really a text book for the training the author offers. It is a good text book. If you really want to develop the skill you need to plan on signing up for the training program. Only the very disciplined and super motivated could fully develop the skills shown without going to school.
May 15, 2024
This is a great book. it needs to be studied and it's contents practiced to be useful. I have read and listened to a few of these books by ex-military, or ex-FBI, or ex-CIA operatives. This is the best and the only one that is convincing and makes me want to study and practice it's content. This book has substance.
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