The hand is divided up into areas or mounts, like a geographical map, so that areas of the hand can easily be identified. The markings on the hand consist of the major lines, the minor lines, sister lines, little markings (like triangles or squares) and some thin hairlines coming from other lines. Imagine that the hand is a country with high and low hills (mounts) and the lines flowing in and out of the country like rivers. The following is a checklist you can use when examining someone's hands:

1. What is the shape of the hand (e.g. square or rectangular, thick or thin)?
2. Are the mounts flat or fleshy? Which one(s) seem dominant?
3. How soft is the flesh when you press into it, and how does it bounce back when the finger is withdrawn?
4. How flexible are the fingers (bending them backward)?
5. What is the shape and length of the fingers?
6. What is the shape of the fingertips and nails?
7. Look at the main lines - are they long or short, singular or branching, deep or shallow, broad or fine-lined, clear and distinguished or hardly distinguishable?
8. Look at the shape and direction of the main lines - are they straight or curvy, do they go towards the finger or down the palm?
9. Finally, examine the dermatoglyphics - are there any loops or other patterns between the fingers or elsewhere on the palm? What are the fingerprints?

Reading hands is learned by examining as many different hands as possible and comparing them, until you get a feel for what is normal or unusual. You might notice that the fingers are very long, or the hand is incredibly soft, or that one of the lines is unusually pronounced, or wobbly, or broken, or connecting to other lines, and so on. Although there is no such a thing as a 'perfectly normal hand', you will start getting a feel for what is peculiar to a person after examining many hands. Obviously, you will learn more the better you know the person whose hand you are examining, but strangers are best to test your handreading skills.

Even for a non-handreader it is quite interesting to make an inkprint of your hand and look at the pattern it makes - they are quite likely more interesting than you think.
For further information on the art of handreading, check the 2 introductory articles below.