Secret Language of Stuff

the long version

A provocative look at how our private spaces--from boardroom to bedroom--reveal our personalities. For ten years psychologist Sam Gosling has been studying how people project (and protect) their inner selves. By exploring our private worlds (desks, bedrooms, even our clothes and our cars), he shows not only how we showcase our personalities in unexpected--and unplanned--ways, but also how we create personality in the first place, communicate it others, and interpret the world around us. When it comes to the most essential components of our personalities--from friendliness to flexibility--the things we own and the way we arrange them often say more about us than even our most intimate conversations. If you know what to look for, you can figure out how reliable a new boyfriend is by peeking into his medicine cabinet, or whether an employee is committed to her job by analyzing her cubicle.--From publisher description.