Handwriting & Personality: How Graphology Reveals What Makes People Tick

by Ann Mahony

Discover How Handwriting Draws a Map of Your Mind.

Ann Mahony, an expert graphologist, teacher, and lecturer, has taught hundreds of people how handwriting analysis can help them make better-informed decisions about everything -- from choosing a mate to changing jobs to improving communication with children.

Now, with the simple-to-learn skills in Handwriting & Personality, you can gain unique insight into friends, lovers, family members, business associates, and even yourself -- almost immediately. You will meet eight basic personality types and learn what their handwriting says about them and how you can apply it to your life. You will learn how handwriting
-- What motivates people beneath the facade they show the world
-- What they really think of themselves, both publicly and privately
-- How they're likely to behave in any given situation
-- Whether they're likely to achieve their goals
-- And much more

Used in more than 1,500 businesses nationwide to determine a job applicant's personality profile, graphology is a highly respected tool. Now you can discover how easy it is to understand the hidden truths locked within your handwriting.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 29, 1990

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I largely regard Graphology, like Phrenology, as a pseudo-science. While this book is interesting and entertaining, this is NOT an authoritative source of determining a person's mental state, predilections, and personality.

There's no clear cut standards in this book by which to apply the described techniques for interpreting a person's make-up, personality, predisposition, and psychology. The author even implies that handwriting analysis is more interpretative than clinically diagnostic.

I agree in part that handwriting is capable of revealing something of a person's personality, education, and behavior; but by no means is graphological analysis of an individual's handwriting a singularly definitive and binding method.

"Handwriting and Personality: How Graphology Reveals What Makes People Tick" claims:
"Discover the amazing power of handwriting analysis to help you: - Gain new insights into yourself - Understand family & friends better - Enhance personal relationships - Make smarter career choices - Improve decision making skills."

Huh? What? Methinks I smell a snake oil sales pitch.

In my life experiences, my handwriting is directly impacted by age, mood, physical health, stress, situational circumstances, illness, injury, chair/desk height, comfort, cold, hot, tired, alert, sleepy, medication, and even the paper quality. The very writing instruments I use (fountain pen, ballpoint, fibertip, felt-tip, pencil, shape, size, weight) can and does affect my handwriting. There's too many extemporaneous and outside circumstances which conspire to affect and impact an individual's handwriting.

Looking at the book from the opposite end raises this tantalizing question: "Can I change my life by changing my handwriting?" The obvious, reasonable answer is "No".

Graphology, in my opinion, is an intriguing and entertaining subject; but if it's boiled down to the basics, Graphology is a subjective, one-size-fits-all interpretive tool for human psychological classification.

How would you actually go about finding a good Graphologist? What accredited, nationally recognized learning institutions teach Graphology? What large corporations, businesses, and government agencies employ graphology as a proven, reliable, credible resource to screen its present and prospective employees? What would the selection criteria of a good Graphologist be? Reputation/notoriety? Recommendation? Spin a wheel? Consult a psychic? Read tea leaves? Flip a coin? Slaughter an ox and have a Shaman read its entrails?

(Personally, I like the ox & Shaman. Afterward, I can invite family, friends, and neighbors over for a good barbecue.)

[Avalon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nope. Not the best. It had the basics but then it took those facts and made them a little too specific. A pointed 'I' does not always mean someone who eats a lot. An exaggerated 'D' doesn't always mean a missing fatherly figure.
I do think Graphology can show insights to a person's personality but one single stroke doesn't always mean the same thing.

[Lord Bathcanoe of Snark · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is a reason why this pseudo scientific claptrap is not accepted as evidence in a court of law. It's because it's complete bullshit, pedalled by self professed 'experts'.
Mumbo-Jumbo for the gullible, like fortune telling, reading tea leaves, and astrology.

[Skip]

This is a great beginners book for anyone wanting to have a basic understanding of handwriting analysis.