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Principles of Palmistry: A Self Learning Manual
One of the easiest and logical system of palmistry that i ever Sophie (Gaurav's Student) The best thing about this book is that it is written by a teacher of palmistry so he knows what it takes to make students Michael Nelson (Gaurav's Student) This book is better than the most other books for learning palmistry because this book is written for the sole purpose of teaching the palmistry in a scientific and rational manner to new learners. The most of the other books available in market were not meant for teaching; they were not written for learners. All the available books on palmistry lacked a systematic approach with simplified principles for teaching. For this reason this book ‘Principles of A Self Learning Manual’ was written. This contains the principles and the system of palmistry that he developed for his students over the years. While reading this book student will feel like talking to the author in his class. Every fact is explained with reason and ample (125) illustrations. This book aims to enable the students to learn the system and principles of palmistry for applying on everyone's hand with confidence. Author of this book Dr. Gaurav Agrawal is the instructor of palmistry at the Indian Palmistry Institute, Rishikesh, India. While teaching he realized that there was not a single book of palmistry that was helpful to new students. For his simplified and logical system he was very much appreciated. Moreover being a clinical psychologist he had used and taught palmistry as a tool for understanding human personality. This understanding is also incorporated in this book. Surely it will be helpful for new learners and also for all those palmists who know the subject but still want to learn it systematically with a logical approach.
148 pages, Paperback
First published August 5, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 6, 2014
As a professional in the science field, I was a little skeptical of this book before I read it. As it stands, I'm still a little unsure, but Dr. Agrawal's Palmistry book was a fascinating introduction to a subject I know next to nothing about.
The author takes you through each section of the hand one by one. He includes many visuals, for which I was very appreciative.
I actually found a large percentage of the readings on my own hand to be in line with my personality, something that truly surprised me and frankly, was quite a lot of fun.
As a beginner, there were a few times I was unsure of what I was seeing, but ultimately this is a great guide to start out with.
I am passing this book along to a friend who practices Aryurvedic Medicine and she is very excited to read it.
If you have a serious interest in Palmistry or want a basic introduction, this book would serve you both. It's a fun read for the non-believers and quite a thorough manual for those wanting to practice on a deeper level.
The author takes you through each section of the hand one by one. He includes many visuals, for which I was very appreciative.
I actually found a large percentage of the readings on my own hand to be in line with my personality, something that truly surprised me and frankly, was quite a lot of fun.
As a beginner, there were a few times I was unsure of what I was seeing, but ultimately this is a great guide to start out with.
I am passing this book along to a friend who practices Aryurvedic Medicine and she is very excited to read it.
If you have a serious interest in Palmistry or want a basic introduction, this book would serve you both. It's a fun read for the non-believers and quite a thorough manual for those wanting to practice on a deeper level.
March 2, 2014
Prior to reading Agrawal's book, I had always assumed that palmistry was fluff, a leisurely pastime. However, Agrawal was quick to bust this myth of mine. The real goal of palmistry, he asserts, is to “recognize the hidden potentials of an individual and help him to bring them out. It's not only good for this person but it is also very beneficial for society that its members make good progress.”
Furthermore, Agrawal mentions Prof. Dayananda Verma's theory about how lines form in our hands: “these lines are formed by our subconscious brain. Whatever our subconscious thinks about us is recorded and these calculations of the brain are sent by electric signals to the whole of our body. They appear as lines in our hands, forehead, and feet.”
Agrawal builds upon this theory by stating that the lines formed are not what actually happened but “rather they reveal what influences [the event] made upon you and how you felt at that moement.” So what appears on our hands are not self-fulfilling prophecies. We are ultimately still left with choices about how we would like to venture off into the future. This perspective about palmistry won me over, hands [pun intended] down. I was hooked for the rest of the book.
I stepped away from this book with a respect for this highly organized art form with its own logic. Agrawal easily convinced me, a beginner and former non-believer, that palmistry can be learned and can benefit anyone. Definitely as I was reading this book, I started looking for myself in the book. What did my palm say about me? What do the palms of those around me say about them?
I found myself noticing which palm was someone's active palm, what the shape of their fingernails told me about their personality tendencies, the length of their fingers, how they usually shook my hand... Then my mind began swimming with all the planetary mounds, the twelve kinds of lines, the 17 major lines and what they all stood for.
Agrawal even devotes an entire chapter on telling what kinds of diseases a person is prone to having—all by looking at the hands! Although he also covers fingerprints, palm prints, and the timing of the Luck Line, the Sun Line, and the Health Line, he never fails to assert the power of our free will: “What you choose is Karma and whatever problems and rewards come are Fate.”
So although I stepped away a better informed beginning student of palmistry, I still understood that I am fully responsible for the choices I make for my life despite what lines have formed and may form in my hands.
Furthermore, Agrawal mentions Prof. Dayananda Verma's theory about how lines form in our hands: “these lines are formed by our subconscious brain. Whatever our subconscious thinks about us is recorded and these calculations of the brain are sent by electric signals to the whole of our body. They appear as lines in our hands, forehead, and feet.”
Agrawal builds upon this theory by stating that the lines formed are not what actually happened but “rather they reveal what influences [the event] made upon you and how you felt at that moement.” So what appears on our hands are not self-fulfilling prophecies. We are ultimately still left with choices about how we would like to venture off into the future. This perspective about palmistry won me over, hands [pun intended] down. I was hooked for the rest of the book.
I stepped away from this book with a respect for this highly organized art form with its own logic. Agrawal easily convinced me, a beginner and former non-believer, that palmistry can be learned and can benefit anyone. Definitely as I was reading this book, I started looking for myself in the book. What did my palm say about me? What do the palms of those around me say about them?
I found myself noticing which palm was someone's active palm, what the shape of their fingernails told me about their personality tendencies, the length of their fingers, how they usually shook my hand... Then my mind began swimming with all the planetary mounds, the twelve kinds of lines, the 17 major lines and what they all stood for.
Agrawal even devotes an entire chapter on telling what kinds of diseases a person is prone to having—all by looking at the hands! Although he also covers fingerprints, palm prints, and the timing of the Luck Line, the Sun Line, and the Health Line, he never fails to assert the power of our free will: “What you choose is Karma and whatever problems and rewards come are Fate.”
So although I stepped away a better informed beginning student of palmistry, I still understood that I am fully responsible for the choices I make for my life despite what lines have formed and may form in my hands.
November 4, 2014
Principles of Palmistry: A Self Learning Manual is an intriguing introduction to the art and science of hand reading. As promised in the Foreword, the book presents a simple and systematic way to learn the rudiments of this ancient art, as well as the logic and reason behind its various interpretations.
As a confession, I spent as much time looking at my hands as reading the text as the author, Dr. Gaurav Agrawal, an assistant professor in the Clinical Psychology Department at Dev Sanskriti University in Haridwar, India, walks the reader through the basic concepts of palmistry. Starting with the size and shape of the hand and fingers, then moving on to various regions, or mountains, of the palm, and finally to its network of lines and markings, Dr. Agrawal does an outstanding job of explaining the hand reading process.
Most effective is the final section in which all the concepts of the book are brought together. Here, the book reproduces a real human hand in all its textural complexity and then it’s “read” by the author in a detailed two-page assessment.
Much more than “fortune telling,” the author insists that palm reading can be used as “tool of assessment of the personality traits and mental state of an individual. For him a hand reader’s job is a lot like that of a counselor and an understanding of palmistry can help one to see the world as the subject himself does.”
Of course my rational mind wrestled with the built-in skepticism that one’s hand can be a looking glass into their entire history and psychological profile, but that is beside the point of the book. The author’s aim is to simply introduce an ancient and fascinating art/science to a novice audience and let the reader do his or her own research by trying to apply its principles to one’s own hand and to the hands of others.
In my case, I didn’t find much connection between the features of my own palm and the interpretations contained in the book, but I’m not an expert and, as the author points out throughout the book, features of the palm can be open to many interpretations.
One minor quibble is that I noticed that various features of my hands did not match up, and the book doesn’t address such discrepancies or which hand to trust!
That aside, if you know nothing about palmistry but have an affinity for such disciplines, this is the book for you. The writing is clear, conversational and well organized.
As a confession, I spent as much time looking at my hands as reading the text as the author, Dr. Gaurav Agrawal, an assistant professor in the Clinical Psychology Department at Dev Sanskriti University in Haridwar, India, walks the reader through the basic concepts of palmistry. Starting with the size and shape of the hand and fingers, then moving on to various regions, or mountains, of the palm, and finally to its network of lines and markings, Dr. Agrawal does an outstanding job of explaining the hand reading process.
Most effective is the final section in which all the concepts of the book are brought together. Here, the book reproduces a real human hand in all its textural complexity and then it’s “read” by the author in a detailed two-page assessment.
Much more than “fortune telling,” the author insists that palm reading can be used as “tool of assessment of the personality traits and mental state of an individual. For him a hand reader’s job is a lot like that of a counselor and an understanding of palmistry can help one to see the world as the subject himself does.”
Of course my rational mind wrestled with the built-in skepticism that one’s hand can be a looking glass into their entire history and psychological profile, but that is beside the point of the book. The author’s aim is to simply introduce an ancient and fascinating art/science to a novice audience and let the reader do his or her own research by trying to apply its principles to one’s own hand and to the hands of others.
In my case, I didn’t find much connection between the features of my own palm and the interpretations contained in the book, but I’m not an expert and, as the author points out throughout the book, features of the palm can be open to many interpretations.
One minor quibble is that I noticed that various features of my hands did not match up, and the book doesn’t address such discrepancies or which hand to trust!
That aside, if you know nothing about palmistry but have an affinity for such disciplines, this is the book for you. The writing is clear, conversational and well organized.
November 17, 2014
This book initially piqued my curiosity because where I live palm reading is often considered superstition or hocus-pocus, yet the author has a PhD in Psychology. Fascinating, I thought, someone with a background in “hard science,” who believes in and speaks to the validity of palm reading as an “art that can be learnt with a logical and reasonable mind.” I only grew more intrigued as I read. I enjoyed the tidbits about the history and tradition of palmistry, found the allusion to different types of body reading interesting, and appreciated the conversational tone and practical intent of the book.
The descriptions of how hands themselves reveal a lot about us, before the lines on our palms are even considered, was amazing to me and made a lot of sense, and I had great fun working through the book, practicing what I was learning to look for in the hands of family and friends close to me. The most helpful thing I learned was that the aim of true palm reading isn’t so much to tell the future as it is to recognize “the hidden potentials of an individual and help him to bring them out.” I was also highly interested in the fact that the lines on our hands aren’t static; they change, grow, and develop new characteristics just like we do. I was torn about the idea that palms show what diseases we are predisposed to have, but still found the information worth considering.
In the end, I don’t know that I am completely convinced palmistry really delivers all the truths and insights into people that the text suggests it does—yet I am persuaded that it’s worth considering and shouldn’t be disregarded as “silliness” either. At the very least, it’s one more tool for people really interested in knowing, empathizing with, and helping other people to consider adding to their toolbox.
This may not be the right book for someone seeking an in-depth history of palmistry (or at least not the only book), but for anyone doing general research, or, even more so, those interested in learning how palms are read, or perhaps wanting to learn to read palms him/herself in a “logical and systematic way” this is the book.
September 11, 2014
The Principles of Palmistry: A Self-Learning Manual is a thoroughly engaging book. It has been very well written by an author with a PhD in clinical psychology who has applied his social science expertise to palmistry.
The author's approach is highly original as he sets out a very clear argument that there is both science and a rationale behind palmistry. Palmistry, he states is based on logic and reason. If this art becomes logical, instead of being mystical (which is what I thought it was before I read this book), one can learn it with ease and without any need of clairvoyance. I had never even considered palmistry before in this light and I really felt I learned something new here.
There is then some context and backstory to the ancient art of palmistry. It originated in India and the reason it is still alive, the author argues, is because palmistry has made a positive contribution to human life. Then he states that the goal of palmistry is to recognise the hidden potential of an individual and help bring them out. I really liked this positive message.
The author clearly loves his subject matter and his expertise is evident in every page. Sometimes academics struggle to make their work accessible to the general reader, but this is not the case here. He's an engaging writer who writes very clearly. This book has been edited and proofread. There is an index and illustrations with easy to follow diagrams. The instructions for palm reading are extremely easy to understand without being simplistic in any way.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The author's approach is highly original as he sets out a very clear argument that there is both science and a rationale behind palmistry. Palmistry, he states is based on logic and reason. If this art becomes logical, instead of being mystical (which is what I thought it was before I read this book), one can learn it with ease and without any need of clairvoyance. I had never even considered palmistry before in this light and I really felt I learned something new here.
There is then some context and backstory to the ancient art of palmistry. It originated in India and the reason it is still alive, the author argues, is because palmistry has made a positive contribution to human life. Then he states that the goal of palmistry is to recognise the hidden potential of an individual and help bring them out. I really liked this positive message.
The author clearly loves his subject matter and his expertise is evident in every page. Sometimes academics struggle to make their work accessible to the general reader, but this is not the case here. He's an engaging writer who writes very clearly. This book has been edited and proofread. There is an index and illustrations with easy to follow diagrams. The instructions for palm reading are extremely easy to understand without being simplistic in any way.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
October 23, 2014
This non-fiction book on palmistry is interesting, informative and written in plain, simple language. There are visuals of palms and hands interspersed throughout to assist the reader. The author, Guarav Agrawal encourages people to view more than one hand as they work through the book. Agrawal wrote this tool with the goal of teaching people how to read palms.
I was surprised a palmist reads palms using the entire hand. Of particular fascination was how the top of our hand means something. For instance the size and color of our nails, the shape of our fingers and whether or not our fingers are straight, bent towards one another or very crooked has different meaning.
There is much more to palmistry than the long lines that run horizontal and vertical. There are stars, branches, crosses and more that cross our health, luck and relationship lines for example. These tell a story about change, attitude, the adjustments we’ve made in life, tension, troubles and the list goes on. It was interesting to note how the bracelet lines on our wrist have to do with medical health such as childlessness in the hand of a woman or troubles with urinal system, kidney or prostrate in men.
I found this book fascinating. I highly recommend Principles of Palmistry: A Self Learning Manual to readers who are interested in pursuing the subject of palmistry. I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
I was surprised a palmist reads palms using the entire hand. Of particular fascination was how the top of our hand means something. For instance the size and color of our nails, the shape of our fingers and whether or not our fingers are straight, bent towards one another or very crooked has different meaning.
There is much more to palmistry than the long lines that run horizontal and vertical. There are stars, branches, crosses and more that cross our health, luck and relationship lines for example. These tell a story about change, attitude, the adjustments we’ve made in life, tension, troubles and the list goes on. It was interesting to note how the bracelet lines on our wrist have to do with medical health such as childlessness in the hand of a woman or troubles with urinal system, kidney or prostrate in men.
I found this book fascinating. I highly recommend Principles of Palmistry: A Self Learning Manual to readers who are interested in pursuing the subject of palmistry. I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
March 15, 2014
This is not the type of book I would pick up on my own to read. I was given a copy for review. Although I don't believe in palmistry, I will address the layout and information presented here.
Dr. Agrawal begins the book with a chapter entitled "Science and Rational Behind Palmistry". He gives a short history of palmistry and its evolution. The rationale is clear, however, this chapter does not convince the reader that palmistry is a science.
Dr. Agrawal promises to present a methodical and clear method of palmistry that can be learned by a beginner. In this regard, he does deliver well. Step by step, he leads the reader through the principles of lines, personality, fingers, and interpretation. I was intrigued and decided to follow the first third of the book. Unfortunately, what was written in my hand did not correspond very well to the personality or experiences listed in the book. It is up to the reader to decide if Dr. Agrawal's interpretations are correct.
The book ends with an exploration of karma and fate. Dr. Agrawal likens our lives to a videogame. This metaphor holds up fairly well, but the reader will have to share some basic beliefs with Dr. Agrawal in order to benefit from his proposals.
My rating reflects the delivery of this knowledge and not the content. If you are interested in palmistry, this would be a good basic book.
Dr. Agrawal begins the book with a chapter entitled "Science and Rational Behind Palmistry". He gives a short history of palmistry and its evolution. The rationale is clear, however, this chapter does not convince the reader that palmistry is a science.
Dr. Agrawal promises to present a methodical and clear method of palmistry that can be learned by a beginner. In this regard, he does deliver well. Step by step, he leads the reader through the principles of lines, personality, fingers, and interpretation. I was intrigued and decided to follow the first third of the book. Unfortunately, what was written in my hand did not correspond very well to the personality or experiences listed in the book. It is up to the reader to decide if Dr. Agrawal's interpretations are correct.
The book ends with an exploration of karma and fate. Dr. Agrawal likens our lives to a videogame. This metaphor holds up fairly well, but the reader will have to share some basic beliefs with Dr. Agrawal in order to benefit from his proposals.
My rating reflects the delivery of this knowledge and not the content. If you are interested in palmistry, this would be a good basic book.
April 28, 2014
Dr. Agrawal has written a book that is not only informative, but also sensitive to misinterpretations or worries that an inexperienced reader might develop on a first pass. He presents his knowledge with enough understanding of average skepticism to convince a neigh-sayer like myself there may be some root in centuries of this study. I can't say I now think this is an unarguable science, but I can't pass it off as fluff after reading this book. It was also not boring in its technical content. In fact, I actually enjoyed it. It was fun and easy to understand. My husband was a great sport letting me tug his hand through the whole book to compare and contrast our lines. There were great illustrations throughout that made the signs very clear.
The only aspect I was confused with was how the lines of the hand relate to the age of a person's life. The life timeline was discussed near the end of the book and I found it difficult to understand the connection to each path within the hand. It is clear that this is an introduction to an "art form" that probably takes a long time to truly understand.
The only aspect I was confused with was how the lines of the hand relate to the age of a person's life. The life timeline was discussed near the end of the book and I found it difficult to understand the connection to each path within the hand. It is clear that this is an introduction to an "art form" that probably takes a long time to truly understand.
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