The Art of Crossing Cultures

I have been an expatriate myself and i found the book extremely effective and well written, and most important: easy to read. I think everybody should read it before expatriating to avoid the first, most of the time negative, impact with another culture. The author makes you really understand the most common feelings, mistakes and fault you may do once you move in a new country, new culture. Most of all, he makes you understand how rich and full of challenge is an experience in another country. I think that most of the expatriates do not even acknowledge how brave they are in living in a different culture. However the book is useful for everybody, as our world is more and more crossing cultures oriented.

Using humorous anecdotes, this book gives the reader a framework for adapting to other cultures, not a step-by-step guide to "here's what to take the hostess in Bulgaria." The stories of British colonists in India may seem irrelevant if a reader is looking for that level of detail, but they do present basic guidelines that are applicable to any culture in the world. I would recommend this as one book among many that a person should read prior to moving to an overseas assignment.

THIS BOOK WAS SO AWFUL, I GAVE IT TO THE GOODWILL WITHOUT EVEN FINISHING IT.IT KEPT SAYING THAT IT IS REALLY HARD TO STAY ABROAD FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME WITHOUT KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT THEIR CULTURE. (NO KIDDING) SOMETHING THAT WE DO THAT OTHER CULTURES DON'T ,COULD MAKE US SEEM RUDE OR IN EXTREME CASES EVEN GET US KILLED. IT GOES ON TO TELL TALES OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE HAD TROUBLE BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T UNDERSTAND IT. AND THAT'S IT. THEY NEVER GO INTO ANY OF THE OTHER CULTURES TO TELL US WHAT IS AND IS NOT PROPER EDIQUETTE. I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT THE BOOK WAS GOING TO GO OVER ALOT OF OTHER CULTURES AND TALK ABOUT THEIR WAYS.THIS BOOK DIDN'T TELL ME ANYTHING THAT ANY HALF WAY INTELLIGENT PERSON DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW. NOT WORTH BUYING.

I am a totally way-too-confident, know-it-all travel partner, but I admit to having lost it while living in Eastern Europe last year with my husband (not his fault). Simply put: this book kept me from going home early SEVERAL times because Storti lets you moan and groan a little and then points out how you might have had a part in creating the cultural "misunderstanding" that plagues you. Trust me...if this book could help someone as stubborn as I am...it might be responsible for world peace someday.

This book remains a great source of wisdom and comfort, still needed after 15 years living abroad. The cultural differences aren't obvious any longer -- they can be deceptively subtle -- now that language and the daily facts of life are no longer an issue. However, I still trip over matters which I later realize to be cultural differences, and I assume others in similar situations do as well. And then I pull down Mr. Storti's book from the shelf and put it all into some sort of workable perspective.

Highly recommended to others, even those who have no intention of going abroad but would just like to have a better understanding of the cultural differences in this world -- something sorely needed these days.

By the way, Western women so quick to judge the 'sad' reality of women in Arab societies might do well to read this quotation from Harriet Martineau:

"[The women of the harem] pitied us European women heartily, that we had to go about travelling, and appearing in the streets without being properly taken care of -- that is, watched. They think us strangely neglected in being left so free, and boast of [how closely they are watched] as a token of the value in which they are held."

It should be a sobering reminder that it's a fools' game to judge, and certainly to pity, the reality of a person from a culture foreign to ours.

Thank you for your efforts and insights, Mr. Storti.