SIGNAL

A field manual for reading human behaviour.

120 behaviours. What they mean. What they don't.

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HANDS
001

STEEPLING

●●●

The fingertips of both hands touch and spread, forming a peaked shape like a church steeple. The palms do not meet.

MEANS

Confidence in what is being said or thought. The person feels certain.

CONTEXT

Reliable in seated negotiation, interviews, and meetings. Watch for it appearing after a question is asked — it signals the person has an answer and is sure of it. Lower steepling (hands in lap) is more common in women; raised steepling (hands at chest) is more common in men. The behaviour means the same thing in both.

NOT

Prayer hands (palms together) or interlocked fingers (uncertainty, holding self in place).

HANDSCONFIDENCE

001 OF 120 · TURN THE PAGE FOR 119 MORE

120 BEHAVIOURS

From the people who study them

Curated from the published work of Joe Navarro, Paul Ekman, Chase Hughes, and the Center for Nonverbal Studies. Filtered through a single editorial voice.

RELIABILITY MARKED

Honest about what we know

Every entry carries a strength rating — one dot, two, or three. Suggestive, consistent, or robust. No pseudoscience smuggled in alongside the science.

BUILT TO BE OPENED

A reference, not a sequence

Designed to be opened at any page and closed again ten seconds later. Indexed by behaviour. Cross-referenced by meaning.

WHAT'S INSIDE

Eleven sections. One hundred and twenty behaviours.

001–018
HANDS
18 ENTRIES
019–034
EYES
16 ENTRIES
035–048
MOUTH
14 ENTRIES
049–060
FACE
12 ENTRIES
061–068
HEAD
8 ENTRIES
069–078
TORSO
10 ENTRIES
079–086
ARMS
8 ENTRIES
087–096
LEGS
10 ENTRIES
097–104
PROXEMICS
8 ENTRIES
105–112
VOICE
8 ENTRIES
113–120
SELF-SOOTHING
8 ENTRIES
THE THREE RULES

What sits beneath every entry.

1
RULE 01 OF 03

Clusters, not single tells.

One behaviour means almost nothing. Look for three or more independent cues pointing the same way before drawing any inference.

2
RULE 02 OF 03

Baseline first, deviation second.

Watch how a person looks when nothing is at stake. The signal is the change from that baseline, not the gesture itself.

3
RULE 03 OF 03

Context can flip the meaning.

The same behaviour can read as confidence, deception, comfort, or fatigue depending on the situation. Read the room before the body.

OWN IT

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HARDCOVER
Print · Case laminate · 283 pages
£29.99

The shelf version. Sturdier binding for daily reference.

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ABOUT

A note from the author.

SIGNAL was built because every book on body language is either pseudoscience dressed as confidence, or a textbook impossible to use in the room. This book treats the reader as someone who needs to look up a behaviour during a meeting, not someone who wants to memorise a system. The reliability marks are honest. The cross-references are real. The illustrations earn their place. It is a reference book, made the way reference books used to be made.

RYAN STORRIER · 2026

STAY IN SIGNAL

Notes from the editor.

Behavioural observations, occasional book updates, no spam. One short email a month.