Whether we know it or not, most of us practice face reading everyday. We match people to faces, get clues about a person's temperament and state of mind based on their facial expressions, and facial features influence who we look for in different life situations - romance, work, leadership, emergencies, etc. Wouldn't it be cool to know even a small fraction of the things about the face that will help us find our romantic match, the ideal boss/employee/business partner, the most effective leader, or even who we should ask for advice or a shoulder to cry on?
Patrician McCarthy's book, The Face Reader, covers this and much much more. Filled with hundreds of photographs that represent a diverse range of faces, the book does a thorough job of explaining face reading in an easy to follow format. Photos include not just whole faces but also specific facial features. From eye brows to noses and chins to ears, each has a dedicated section in the book along with its associated sampling of photos of usual to unusual variations of a facial feature.
In addition to the tons of photos, I really enjoyed reading this book because it is rich with the author's personal stories and anecdotes about her personal journey in face reading and the people she meets along the way. At times funny, inspiring, sad or thought provoking, her book isn't simply an encyclopedia or a how-to manual to reading someone's face. It also brings a human face (no pun intended) to this more than two thousand year old ancient art form.
Perhaps the most profound lesson I received out of reading the book are the personal insights I got about myself and the people in my life. McCarthy provides tools for understanding our individual strengths (in the book she refers to them as gifts) and challenges as well as to see what they are in others. Through this understanding, we can be more effective people, realize what it is we really want in our lives and know how to see and bring out what is best in others.
Great book not just for fun or the coffee table but also for personal growth, understanding and learning how best to relate with different personality types, relationships and business.
I am an acupuncturist and had classes on face reading with Patrician while undergoing my Master's training. I found Patrician to be the most knowledgeable in the Daoist tradition of Mian Shiang (face reading). She has a deep understanding of Chinese history and culture which gave rise to a sophisticated system of medicine and Feng Shui. She is truly a genius at what she does. I would suggest her book and classes to anyone who is a student of Chinese Medicine or has an interest in human behavior. This book is more general and less health-oriented than the classes I took, but perfect for the novice to get acquainted with basic concepts of the 5 elements and Yin and Yang and how they manifest in our features and personalities. For the TCM student, the ability to gain this level of insight into one's patients is often more helpful than a tongue or pulse reading. Learning face reading also allows students to see concretely the expression of abstract concepts like qi or fire making it a perfect learning tool. For others, face reading helps one grasp that there are types of people who really do relate to the world differently and how best to interact with these different types of people. Wonderful for relationships!
