Unmasking the Face

Paul Ekman is a real pioneer. Before he did his groundbreaking research, the prevailing explanation for facial expressions was that they are learned behaviors societally-imposed, not that they come from humans' basic biology.

I gave the book three stars because I felt the writing could have been better. Other than that, I thought the book was filled with interesting and useful information. It is an unusual subject looked at from a different perspective. I liked it. The subject is all about how to read facial expressions and our unconscious responses to body (facial) language. It is filled with pictures and examples and over all is a good read.

Learn how to read people by reading their faces.

Lots of examples, to read the emotions on peoples faces.
It will require some hard work to get really good at it, but is worth it!

Ekman is a leading authority on the study of the facial expressions and their relation to emotion, and this book is a methodical and thorough (for the layperson, at least) introduction to the field, with special focus on recognizing what he calls the six basic universally expressed emotions: happiness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust/contempt, and sadness.

Ekman provides clear, well-detailed instructions for recognizing each of these emotions, and the book includes plenty of photos to illustrate the different facial contortions of each emotion. The only complaint I would have is that I had to do a lot of page flipping back and forth to read Ekman's remarks and subsequently refer to the relevant picture. Perhaps a future edition could be better formatted to make it easier for the reader to view the expression alongside Ekman's comments.

In addition to writing about specific emotions, Ekman also covers some fascinating related topics such as recognizing facial deceit and discovering the patterns of one's own facial expressions, i.e., what you're telling the world with your own face.

Ekman is an academic and his writing shows it; he's precise, methodical, thorough, and careful in the extent of his claims. Readers who are new to the subject of reading facial expressions but are seriously committed to learning about it will find this an invaluable book.

(Ekman's later work, "Emotions Revealed," is also a great read and contains much of the same information as "Unmasking the Face," although I found the former to be lighter on technical information and practice faces, and more focused on the larger reflections Ekman has made looking back on his work over the last few decades. In other words, both books are great, but "Unmasking the Face" is a bit more technical and thorough, and therefore a better book to pick up for learning how to recognize facial expressions.)

Nothing new here. Very basic for what everyone has experienced. It does have good usable insight into what causes the face to contort. It establishs basic parameters for everyone to know and articulates them well. I thought the basic knowledge was very well put forward with great emphasis on the reasons to watch the face of a person. This is what enables you to get to a conclusion.