Was reading this compilation book my mother foisted on me today, with select stories from very good authors...

Read 'the vanished man' by jeffery deaver, about a killer who was trained in magic (the sleight of hand, illusionist, card tricks kind, not the cast fireball and manatap kind...)

Anyway, one part of it mentioned 'body reading', which reminded me of something i learnt about a long while back from god-knows-who. It is a very 'jian' method of getting a person to relax and feel comfortable around you, similiar to reading and mimicking body language, but more deceitful.

So firstly, you mention or talk about topics that let u steer the conversation to finding out personal details about the person, without actually asking.

We'll use the context of trying to pick up a girl, in this instance, because i'm a horny bugger, and so are most of the people who read my blog.

For example: "Break ups are usually hardest on the girl, because some guys can really be jerks."
 
Note: If u dunno how to read body language, facial expressions and gestures, don't bother reading the rest of this post. 
 
Soooo... if that statement has a visible effect on the girl, you should be able to estimate if she has had a bad break up or something too... That's when you...uh.. make up stuff about your own bad relationships.

The point is to preempt the person when talking about yourself, so that she'll go "Oh yeah, me too!" and find that you two have alot in common, or at least, appear to. Generally, people tend to feel more relaxed among people they can relate to.
 
Evil right? short-term also.... to be used only for one night stands or smth... cos' anot sure will find out 1...unless you're very careful what you lie about. :P