Book excerpt: Cheiro remains one of the most widely respected and studied figures in the world of futurology. His predictions were astounding and his accuracy amazing. For instance, no one believed his prediction that Prince of Wales would one day become King Edward VII of England and would die in his 69th year, yet history proved him right. The genius of Cheiro was startling to others as well. He told one Mrs. Leiter that her daughter would marry a man who would rule a country in the East; she married the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. Even sceptical Mark Twain was surprised with Cheiro’s readings. He visited the palmist incognito; the former did not know who the visitor was. Reading his hands Cheiro predicted that he would become a famous writer, and that his real name started with S; the author’s real name was Samuel S Clemens. Wrote Mark Twain after the visit, “Cheiro has exposed my character to me with humiliating accuracy. I thought that I would say nothing about his penetrating genius, but in the end I had to accept it.” He warned Oscar Wilde of his future disgrace; told Lord Russel that he would become the Chief Justice of England three years before he did so. Reading the palm of William Pirrie, chairman of Harland and Wolf, builders of the Titanic he predicted a major crisis with the ship. In this book the author shares his life experiences on how and where he learned Palmistry and his experiences of reading hands in England, America and Europe.