Multicultural Manners : New Rules of Etiquette for a Changing Society

Rating:
Summary: Gnerally helpful but not well organized and dismissve
Review: "Multicultural Manners" was an interesting cruise through the often dauniting seas of custom and manners. Dresser provides succinct vignettes of real world cultural clashes that lend an air of reality to the many differences between peoples. Its easy to read format and small narrratives made for a quick read. I actually found myself in need of some of the information I had gleaned from the pages. The work, however, is disappointingly shallow. It fails to explore the underlying principles of cultural variations in favour of a brief glance at surface phenomena. Dresser's attitude toward non-western medicine was both uninformed and arrogantly dismissive. She would have done well to avoid the issue altogether rather than flaunt her raging ignorance before the world. All in all "Multicultural Manners" was a fun read, worth the time and investment.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and succint
Review: Coming from a college student with a high number of international friends, I found this book interesting and succint. The book helped to explain many of the reasons for some of my friend's behaviors because of cultural traditions. Overall, I give this book a nod of approval.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and succint
Review: For decades I thought it was because some prankster had been on just before me. All that wasted time while no one got on or off had begun to bother me. Now that I know the reason behind it, I smile. So glad to have this and other cultural differences explained. Thank you Norrine Dresser. This one's on my gift list. (Bonus (not in book): Did you know that if you ask someone who is deaf to have lunch and they give a big frown as they nod yes. that it means YES VERY MUCH! The deaf tendency to frown to emphasize has led to a lot of misunderstandings.

Rating:
Summary: Know why the elevator stops on every floor?
Review: For decades I thought it was because some prankster had been on just before me. All that wasted time while no one got on or off had begun to bother me. Now that I know the reason behind it, I smile. So glad to have this and other cultural differences explained. Thank you Norrine Dresser. This one's on my gift list. (Bonus (not in book): Did you know that if you ask someone who is deaf to have lunch and they give a big frown as they nod yes. that it means YES VERY MUCH! The deaf tendency to frown to emphasize has led to a lot of misunderstandings.

Rating:
Summary: Useful, readable, accurate, respectful
Review: Norine Dresser's work is an invaluable guide to helping people navigate the dangerous shoals of intercultural intersections. From the varying significance of yellow flowers through the opposing attitudes toward salt to the values of folk remedies, Dresser gives excellent and respectful advice.

Organized by clear and useful categories, the book offers interesting anecdotes to illustrate the cultural clashes sparked by apparently small things like the color of the flowers in a thank-you gift. Where I have the experience to know, I find her information accurate. She is invariably respectful of all cultures, and offers explanations of cultural beliefs which may on the surface seem irrational to our Western perceptions.

The book is written in language and style which is available to readers as young as junior high school, but there is no condescension either to the reader or the described cultures.

This is fine and valuable book, helpful to international businesspeople, school teachers, travelers, and neighbors. I recommend it to anyone who comes in contact with people from other countries, either here or abroad.