In this entertaining and often informative guide to handwriting analysis, Imberman, a graphologist and executive coach, and coauthor Rifkin (The Everything Online Shopping Book
) share their insight into how handwriting can define character. The authors trace the long history of graphology and point out that the Greek philosopher Aristotle was among the first to study the link between people and their handwriting. Imberman strongly believes that graphology is an excellent human resources tool, claiming that a professional graphologist can identify team players as well as movers and shakers in a company through their handwriting samples. Drawing on the theory of personality types developed by Carl Jung, the authors divide writers into six types (borrowing from the Myers-Briggs analysis): extrovert, introvert, sensing, intuitive, thinking and feeling. Numerous samples penned by famous people demonstrate how various aspects of script—including, size, legibility, use of margins and slant—reveal their personalities. Barbara Walters writes in a structured manner, showing her to be an organized thinker; Bill Clinton's expansive script is that of a true extrovert. The authors make a strong case for graphology as a way to determine compatibility by analyzing public figures: they use the handwriting of married artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera to show that they were mismatched from the outset. According to the authors, Paul Newman's and Joanne Woodward's handwriting also explains why they have had such a long, successful marriage. (Nov.)
