How to Analyse People on Sight, by Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict. Well, this book is about a subject on earth, in which every individual is most interested — the one, oneself. It begins by saying, Most of us are much more interesting than what the world thinks, we are. But the most interesting side of ourselves remain hidden away. And we seldom get a peep into what actually, we are.
The book, in fact divides human personality into five types. The Alimentive Type or The Enjoyer, The Thoracic Type or The Thriller, The Muscular Type or The Worker, The Osseous Type or The Stayer, and The Cerebral Type or The Thinker. The book then describes the constitution of each type, how they differ from all others, the chief distinguishing marks, etc. Just as the progress humans made so far is a story of our success in taming the environment, our future growth shall be mainly determined by our success in understanding ourselves, it posits.
Truly, the book comes up with a lot of helpful hints to put this into practice. 'A fat man seldom dislikes anybody very hard or for very long, holds few grudges, and is rarely, a theorist.' 'Though progressive, unselfish, and highly civilized, impracticality, dreaminess, physical frailty and his tendency to plan without doing, are the traits which stand in the way of his success, as far as the Cerebral Type go.'
A chapter about the suitability of each type as marriage partner to all the other types adds further value to this book. Maturity, Affection, Manly or Womanly nature, the readiness to Accommodate, and many other issues that are relevant for social exchange are discussed here.
A very interesting discussion, indeed.
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