Culture Shock! Mexico

Rating:
Summary: Social and Cultural Mexico
Review: I read this after reading the US State Travel Dept. Info Sheet which tends to be overly conservative and makes places sound like demilitarized zones. This guide put a little reality back into it. The author gives some cultural tips mainly for the gringo (US citizen) to help mostly in social situations. Especially useful, were the tips on how to recognize a good Mexican restaurant, how to address people in social situations, and other Mexicanisms such as various commonly used slang. The author also describes regional differences and urban/rural differences you may come across. I feel this is a good guide to get a feel for the people and the place especially for the casual visitor going to the non-tourist areas of Mexico so you don't act like such a gringo. Not really a book to keep as a long-term reference to Mexico, I'd try to borrow it before buying it. The author does give minor Mexican differences in pronouncing Spanish, but I think he assumes most readers have a basis for Spanish, or will have a phrase book for this.

Rating:
Summary: What a Shock
Review: Not recommended. The biggest shock was the author's pedantry. The first third of the book is an obscure treatment of history which assumes too much knowledge on the part of the reader. The book needs a glossary with the pronunciation of unusual spanish words, names, and places. I found myself constantly stumbling over them.

Rating:
Summary: What a Shock
Review: Not recommended. The biggest shock was the author's pedantry. The first third of the book is an obscure treatment of history which assumes too much knowledge on the part of the reader. The book needs a glossary with the pronunciation of unusual spanish words, names, and places. I found myself constantly stumbling over them.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating anecdotes, but needs an editor
Review: This entry in the Culture Shock! series provides a wealth of information about Mexico, but the author's presentation is rambling and disorganized. Of course, one could take this as a metaphor for Mexico: things appear to be chaotic, but generally they can be made to work. Tips for doing business in Mexico and handling social occasions are generally well-presented. The section on personal safety, in which the author relates his attempts to stay overnight in the worst sections of two Mexican cities to tempt fate, is instructive (he emerges unscathed) but does leave me wishing the jacket carried a photo of this fearless adventurer. (See the review of Culture Shock! Japan for general info on the series.)

Rating:
Summary: we use it as a textbook!
Review: We teach a summer elective in Mexico for health professional students. Our 2 week in-country course focuses on learning the culture and language and health care systems of Mexico. This book is very useful because it gives a quick down and dirty synopsis of Mexican history (much longer and messier than U.S.history)that allows us, as teachers, to move into what we see as the aftermath, in the country today. It then moves onto the author's own experiences navigating the culture, with excellent tips, "to blend in" and understand what is going on around you. The details the author provides, such as going up to a stranger's house in the country, and asking "do you have any extra food today?" were true 20 years ago and are still true today. This provides the cultural context and informational detail we need, dealing with immigrants from these areas, in health care settings. It is not a guidebook. It is a hybrid...and very useful for those travelers who blaze their own paths, not the usual tourist tracks of Mexico.