Go by the book

The holiday fling has become a cliche. You meet someone, probably snog, possibly go a bit further and then almost definitely never hear from him/her again. It's as predictable as a Jeffrey Archer novel.

If you want to buck the trend and find your perfect match on the beach this summer, you should stop looking at legs, bums, boobs and pecs. Ogling a person's book is a much smarter way to size up the object of your desires.

That's according to a group of experts from business psychologists Nicholson McBride who believe that reading material is the most accurate indicator of character. After an extensive study, they've come up with the ground-breaking discovery that certain types of personality are drawn to certain types of books.

It doesn't take a genius to work that out. And you don't need a psychology PhD to know that a Terry Pratchett reader with greasy long hair and an Iron Maiden T-shirt will not be beating away the ladies with his hardback. Similarly, a loudmouth girl reading One Hump Or Two: The Frank Worthington Story will not be exuding man-eater vibes. So, is this study just stating the obvious?

In some ways, yes. Reading material is just one of many pointers - such as clothes and accent - we use at a subconscious and conscious level to make personality judgements from first impressions.

But, according to these psychologists, a book gives a much more accurate insight into its reader's persona than other external indicators.

They identified three key influences that affect people's personality types: stress, confidence and life philosophy. From these, the psychologists identified 18 personality types, each of which is more likely to read certain types of book over others.

For instance, a highly stressed, pragmatic and not very confident individual is likely to read Bridget Jones's Diary or a Jilly Cooper novel while on the beach. Alternatively, a low-stressed, confident idealist would be more inclined to take on Tolstoy or Dostoevsky from the comfort of their sun recliner.

'We may not be able to judge a book by its cover,' says Nicholson McBride's Stephanie Wyman, 'but a quick glance will tell you all you need to know about the reader. For instance, a girl reading Bridget Jones's Diary has "I'm single" written all over her.'

So, if you don't want to look desperate, don't read Fielding. But if you want to look clever, should you give Tolstoy a bash on the beach? According to Wyman, it depends what image you want to project. 'War And Peace falls into the ego-booster category,' she says. 'There are several personality types who'd read it but they can all be identified as people who are on the pull and pretentious at the same time.'