Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 5,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Sex, Lies, and Handwriting summary
Michelle Dresbold
A Top Expert Reveals the Secrets Hidden in Your Handwriting
Listen to the first key idea
Key idea 1 of 5
3.5 (39 ratings)
14 mins
5 key ideas
Audio & text
What is Sex, Lies, and Handwriting about?
Sex, Lies, and Handwriting (2006) is an informative guide to spotting the clues in a person’s handwriting that reveal their true nature. Filled with real-world examples, these blinks offer fascinating insights into the world of handwriting analysis and what we reveal about ourselves every time we put pen to paper. With this information, you’ll never look at a signature the same way again!
About the Author
Michelle Dresbold, a handwriting expert, is the only civilian to have earned an invitation to the US Secret Service’s Advanced Document Examination training program. Her expertise has helped law enforcement agencies accurately profile deadly criminals and solve cases involving kidnapping, arson, forgery and murder.
Table of Contents
Key idea 1 of 5
Since handwriting originates in the brain, it’s an accurate way to gauge personality traits.
When a police detective or FBI agent creates a psychological profile for a criminal, they often employ a reliable technique: handwriting analysis.
Handwriting provides psychological insight because it actually comes from your brain, not your hand.
If your hands were damaged in an accident, you could learn to write with your toes or mouth – and you’d end up with handwriting similar to what you had before. However, if you injured your brain, your handwriting could be altered or greatly diminished.
Since your brain determines all the characteristics of your handwriting, including the size, shape and slant, these details in turn reflect different characteristics of your personality.
Let’s start with the slant, which tells us how upbeat a person is.
Recognizing the slant in someone’s handwriting is a lot like reading their body language. If their shoulders and head are slouched down, you’d recognize this as a sign of moroseness or even depression.
Conversely, if they have a bouncy strut, with their head held high, you could tell that the person is cheerful and upbeat.
It’s the same with handwriting: an upward slant, with an uphill angle, suggests cheerful spirits; while a downward slant, at a downhill angle, suggests sad and morose feelings.
So let’s compare the handwriting of two famous artists, Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso.
Van Gogh struggled throughout his life, selling only a single painting before committing suicide, and his downward slanting handwriting reflects this. Picasso, on the other hand, was a wealthy and prolific artist who enjoyed a long life, and his handwriting slants happily upward with towering letters.
Now, let’s move on to curves or sharp angles, which tell us how nurturing we are.
For this we’ll compare the handwriting of Mother Teresa and Adolf Hitler.
Saint Teresa’s writing has many curves, with very round letters that reveal her gentle and caring personality and correspond with her life of charity.
Hitler’s handwriting, in contrast, has no curves at all. His letters are full of sharp angles that reveal an angry, determined, competitive and fearful personality that corresponds with his hostile intentions.
Want to see all full key ideas from Sex, Lies, and Handwriting?
Key ideas in Sex, Lies, and Handwriting
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
Who should read Sex, Lies, and Handwriting
- Amateur detectives
- Psychology students
- Readers who want to spot a lie
Categories with Sex, Lies, and Handwriting
Books like Sex, Lies, and Handwriting
What our members say
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
Start growing with Blinkist now
25 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers