Good premise, poor execution with too much questionable stuff. ( )

Hits her one point over and over again. That point is everybody is always thinking about themselves and we have filters that hide this fact even if we know about the filters. She does a good job of presenting this point from different angles. ( )

We have put men on the moon, we’ve created tiny microchips, and we’ve created the world wide net, but the one thing we can’t figure out is how to understand other people. No one human being is the same, we’re all ordinary with are own personal thoughts and desires. This can make it difficult for us to understand other people, let alone us.

Author Beth D. Flaxington is a corporate consultant, hypnotherapist, a certified behavioral analyst, a college professor and a professional coach. And now she was written Understanding Other People: The Five Secrets to Human Behavior to help us understand what people are saying when they are speaking to us. Understanding human behavior can improve your everyday life, such as getting along with a co-worker or your boss, or understanding your partner or spouse’s needs.

Life can be crazy, especially with the failing economy and this book can help you in job interviews, performing well in teams, rebooting your own actions and reactions, and understanding yourself by using five simple secrets - “It’s All About Me,” “Behavioral Styles Come Between Us,” “Values Speak Louder,” “Don’t Assume I Know What You Mean,” and “I’m Okay; You Are Most Definitely NOT Okay.”

To me, human behavior is definitely a mystery! It is impossible to read someone’s mind unless you are a psychic, so I found Understanding Other People to be an interesting topic to read. The author uses a simple, but common sense way of explaining how you can get along with others by understanding yourself first. What ever your occupation is, you can benefit from reading this book. ( )

This book was written for co-workers to better understand each other, but I also found it helpful to communicate better with my spouse.

Dr. Flaxington states that "The most powerful people are the ones who understand themselves better than others understand them." She helps us to find out more about ourselves by finding out what triggers our responses, what our values are and knowing how we communicate. The first and main secret is that everything is "all about me". Our reactions to others is how we unintentionally "view every experience through our own lenses". We need to watch others, listen and pay attention, watch our own reactions, recognize our own triggers and be committed to stop using our preconceived ideas.

She states that we don't need to change for anyone, but to adapt to situations and other people and communication will be improved.

I learned a lot and will definitely be using the 5 secrets in all aspects of my life. ( )

Understanding Other People is a quick study for dealing with different personalities and problems that may occur with communication. The author outlines behavior and personality styles and how to communicate in a positive manner with individuals.

As she outlines the different characteristics of each style, you will immediately recognize yourself and others. This is a good book for employers for building teamwork or for individuals who need to understand why others act the way they do. At the end of each chapter is a guide for practical use of the information.

As a traditional woman of faith, however, I was disappointed with the author’s description of a “Traditional”. Quote: “Traditional, value-driven people believe that a given set of rules exists and that they – and others – must abide by those rules without question.” Really? According to the author we may be, “Bible thumping individuals” or “spend their weekends and down-time at retreats with other members of their faith”. I think some personal prejudice from the author came through in a bad way. ( )