New age body language and mind expert Allan Pease doesn't like to mince words. For four decades, his brand of life skills have helped rock stars and Prime Ministers coast through. Fona Frnandez attempts to get into the mind of Mr Body Language

You started young: as a ten-year-old you sold rubber sponges from door-to-door. What lessons did you learn from that time? Do you apply any of these today?
I started even younger. It must have been 1956 -- Dad was an insurance salesman and I would tag along with him on his rounds. I learnt a lot by watching people. By the time I turned 10, it held me in good stead. Things haven't changed since the 1950s -- gestures are still linked to emotions and behavioural influences are easy to gauge even today.

What led you to write Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps?
The origins of the book go back to 1991. I wife Barbara and I were close to getting divorced. We couldn't live with or without each other. As a part of self-therapy we worked on lists where we spelt out a list of things about each other. Three years before that, in 1989, the world's first brain scan targeted men and women's mindsets and came out with quite a few logical ways of explaining man-woman relationships. It provided enough fodder for this book.


Allan and Barbara Pease

It's been published in 52 languages across 160 countries. The content struck a chord in each of those countries such that every reader believed that a local wrote it. The problems are exactly the same. For example, all that Botswana's Bushmen want to do at the end of the day is to chill in front of a fire at home while the wife would want to talk to him about the day. Likewise, in India, most men prefer sitting in front of the tube, remote control in tow. It's the same everywhere.u00a0u00a0