For cold reading the best book I've read is The Full Facts book of Cold Reading by Ian Rowland. A lot of great books can be downloaded for free at
www.scribd.com
It can be massively cheesy to apply this stuff in field. I've seen guys do palm reads etc. and it's so cliche.
In SA the way cold reading is best used is to just call it as you see it. So if a girl in a group is annoying you, say 'You're the annoying one', if a girl in the group is smilie say 'You're the smilie one' etc.
Peace