Reading people? Easy. Well, it depends on you. Would you let yourself read their problems, personality or twisted thoughts? Reading people starts with a blank mind. For example, a baby. Newborn, completely blank. Per day, no, per mili-second their brain picks up new thoughts, memories and feelings. It fills up the blank space. Think of it as learning to read; you will learn letters and words, so you can write them down for yourself or others to read. You read, you write, others read, others write. And that's exactly the thing with reading people. You read them, with the words you read before. You recognise the feelings from them, that you've had before. Someone says they like the taste of a donut, for example. If you've never had a donut, you can't imagine the sensation you can have while eating it. But if you have had a donut before, you can relate to them and read exactly what they feel, taste and smell. Now, somebody has social anxiety, for example. If you're an outgoing person, you probably won't understand the deal, because you have different feelings that you can not replace with theirs. If you do, or had, you just relate, instead of replacing their sensations with yours. Some people who don't think about it very often, or think they don't do it, do it unnoticed by themselves. Every human being does it, it's not only in your mind, but in your feelings and emotions too. This is not a text explaining everything about it, because you already know. Maybe not in words, but you know. This is only a pitchstart to your thoughts; or feelings. Only a little pitchstart.
Nice first post; welcome to Steemit! You may also want to try an #IntroduceYourself post which are popular here.
Your post reminded me of one of my favorite boos, The Blank Slate, by Steven Pinker.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blank_Slate and a summary article at http://stevenpinker.com/files/pinker/files/the_blank_slate_general_psychologist.pdf
Human nature, and how we learn and react to others are fascinating things to contemplate! It is true that you can't really understand a person until you "walk a mile in their shoes" but if you have had similar experiences, you should be able to relate enough to empathize to some degree. For example, if you never had a donut before but you've had a cherry turnover and someone tells you the ways in which they are similar, you'll have some level of understanding of what a donut is. Or if you are outgoing but get locked out of your house in your pajamas, you might get a little insight into social anxiety. :P
Just throwing out some thoughts to add to the discussion. Best wishes to you, and I hope you post more here at Steemit!