Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Where Do These Techniques Come From? Why You Should Learn This In daily life, I use the tools covered in this book when I don¡¦t trust someone or when I need to get the upper hand for a purpose. Using them constantly to manipulate loved ones and business associates would make me a sociopath. Using them wisely means that I understand I have entitlements¡ the right to humane treatment, honesty, fair play. In your daily life, you have a range of choices about where you go and what you do; that allows you to operate with certainty. When I use the tools of interrogation, I create dilemmas so that prisoners have only two ugly options.

They find themselves having to choose between doing something in their nature that they don't want to do, or doing something against their nature that they want to do. For example, truthful people divulge secrets even though it means betrayal of comrades, and loyal soldiers defect because they want to stop the bloodshed. In the first case, I force them to solve a problem by putting their needs over the needs of the group, and in the second, I push them to put the needs of the group over that of an individual. All I've done is exploit the human tendency to take the path of least resistance. This ability is an integral part of what you will learn. Being an interrogator is a little similar to being a playground bully: finding somebody¡¦s soft spots and pushing on them. That's why you have to be careful practicing the skills of an interrogator. Your life isn't a war, so don't go around treating your kids and business associates as though they¡¦re enemy combatants you'll never see again.

Your goal is to insist on honesty or detect stress so you can use it to get the result you want, not to manipulate those around you for sport. Very few people know how to use the techniques described in this book¡ consciously, that is. Most of these skills exist in your repertoire, but you can't necessarily draw on them at will or use them in conjunction with related talents. Even most of the so-called interrogators who handled terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay were really questioners who did not have the training to influence human motivation, read body language, and orchestrate interrogation techniques. Asking good questions is one of the skills you're about to explore, but it's only one of many. So, when you learn how to combine tactics of interrogation effectively¡ baseline, read body language, minimise, and so on¡ you will be unique. Unique because you bring a different set of experiences and traits to the game from me or anyone else who reads this book. When you understand the mechanics of stress and master the 12 basic approaches to manipulate someone¡¦s fears and dreams, you will be powerful.

You may not be adept with these tools as soon as you put the book down, but give yourself time. This skill set grows over the years as does the human mind.