Good Information but Poorly Arranged

I found this book to have a major flaw in it's organization. There is a useful information about the customs and mannerisms of people from various cultures, but it is arranged by subject rather than by location. For instance, information about people from Taiwan might be located in several sections throughout the book, within sections such as "Greetings", "Holidays", etc. Each of these sections contains very brief information about the topic as it pertains to people from a few (not all) different countries. I find this layout to be very problematic. If I am in need of information about a different culture, most likely because I am either travelling to a certain country or will be interacting with a person from a certain country, it would be much easer to have information organized by location. One section on "Taiwan", etc., rather than having to look in multiple places throughout the book for what ends up being a sentence or two worth of limited information.

Educational

Williams "ana elena" (Phoenix, AZ) - )

I teach a cultural psychology class and this book is a wonderful reference for the class. I also read excerpts to the class as we discuss the various topics in their text. If you are a traveler to other countries, this book is a must.

The most important part is just being aware that there are differences

I wish that everyone would read this book, just to be aware that different cultures have different mores, and if someone is "foreign" to you, their manners may seem very odd. It is necessary not to jump to conclusions. Of course, since so much of communication is non-verbal, it's also difficult not to.

Obviously, one cannot adopt a single set of manners that would suit all people since people often have opposite customs. I worked with one group of people that hated to have money left on the counter, and another that preferred to have money left on the counter, and it was hard to remember to switch. Dresser notes that not all people from one country have the same customs, and as people live in the US for a few generations, they may forget ethnic customs. She tells a story on herself: visiting Hmong-Americans, she insists on removing her shoes, only to find out that the family has dropped that custom. Fortunately, I think most people appreciate the attempt to be polite, even if one stumbles from time to time.

The book is told mainly in the form of anecdotes about cultural miscommunications, with explanations of customs of various societies. After this is a section listing many, although not all individual countries. This is followed indexing is erratic. If one is looking for Iranian customs, one also needs to look up Muslim and Middle-Easterners, but there are no cross references for this, although there are for some entries.

A useful book, if one is going to be interacting with a known group of people. Otherwise, at least a reminder that customs vary.