The first book to bring together the many different everyday gestures that are used all over the world. Desmond Morris has travelled to over 60 countries while making field studies of human body language, and made notes of hand gestures and facial expressions. The result is a fascinating reference book of over 600 different gestures from Europe, the Middle East, North & South America and the Far East. The book is arranged alphabetically under the part of the body used with Meaning, Action, Background and Locality and each gesture is illustrated with a line drawing. The World Guide to Gestures complements Desmond Morris's bestsellers Manwatching and Bodywatching.

Desmond Morris appears regularly on television. He is well known as the author of The Naked Ape, now published together with The Human Zoo and Intimate Behaviour as The Naked Ape Trilogy (and individually in paperback by Vintage). His best-selling 'watching' series has been translated into many languages.