Understanding the World's Cultures: A Practical Guide, Revised and Updated

by Craig Storti

A self-instructional training manual, this book is designed for anyone who wants help "figuring out" the behaviour of someone from another culture. The author takes readers step by step through the concepts that govern the process of intercultural communication and cross-cultural interaction and then offers creative activities that challenge readers to apply what they are learning.

Genres: Textbooks, Cultural, Nonfiction, College, School, Travel, Leadership

Unknown Binding

First published December 1, 1998

Reviews

[Christy Bartel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another read in preparation for my study abroad semester in Jordan. Was it a little daunting to see that Middle Eastern societies always (and I mean always) ended up on the opposite end of whatever cultural spectrum this book presented from the United States? Yeahhhh. But I'll be fineeeeee this is why I decided to live in Jordan for a full three months and two weeks so that I could really start to understand it.

I got this book on Kindle and used the highlighting and note-taking feature to fill out the workbook sections. I was worried that the prompts would ask me to write super long essays, but it was a lot of multiple-choice which drove home the lessons but didn't take me a long time to fill out...which is nice because I still have another whole book to read this coming week.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not pretend to have any kind of expertise in cross-cultural studies, but I thought that this book was a good way to be introduced to some of the elementary issues of the subject. The book seemed to be concise and yet contain a great deal of information. Rather than simply presenting all of the information in a lecture format, a lot of it was transmitted inductively through reading and participating in various exercises. I purchased the book in an electronic format which made interacting with the workbook aspects of the text frustrating but nonetheless helpful. Knowing myself, I would have probably had the same difficulty if I had a hard-copy of the book (I'm hesitant to mark tests in books for fear that I will want to take them again objectively later).
I did, however, find it frustrating that because each chapter contained the same kinds of exercises he used the exact same wording for the instructions and precautions for each of them throughout the book. This made it difficult to remain focused enough to re-read those paragraphs again a third and fourth time. Perhaps his goal is to reinforce the dangers of stereotyping but this may have been accomplished at the expense of sounding extremely redundant.
Overall, I appreciated the intent of the book and think he accomplished his goal of getting his audience to examine their own cultural assumptions and become aware of differing cultural assumptions. Throughout the book I found myself thinking, Wow, I would never have interpreted that behavior in that way. An eye-opening and practical introduction to interacting with those people who do not come from the same culture or who have different cultural values as you do.

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite this book's bizarrely insensitive title, it actually contains rather helpful information on navigating different cultural standards. It's tailored more to the business world than to general audiences desiring to improve cultural competency, but its contents (with ample concrete examples and exercises!) are a very solid theoretical framework for understanding how cultural assumptions shape people's reactions to everyday situations.

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little of this was new to me, but it had been a long time since I had read much on cross-cultural communication/interactions, so it was a good reminder to me, as well as a well-organized resource I can refer to in the future.

[Emma Bentley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for school. I learned a lot from it and found the exercises to be very helpful.

[Juliana Meding · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a practical and fun book! The quizzes and exercises on each page made it enjoyable, engaging, and had me understanding my own cultural bias much deeper!

[Amber Launstein · Rating 1 out of 5]

Written for old white men. Literally the most basic of basics “how to be cultured”

[Kate M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

(For school) Not a fan. Learned a lot, but I could have learned a lot more from other books with the same thickness that didn't try to reteach material to you over and over again in very vague ways.

[Darcey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great workbook (and it's designed as one) to help understand intercultural interactions, cultural building blocks & how to interact better across cultures. Providing examples of dialogues (such as from Storti's own Cross-Cultural Dialogues book), checklists, and situations, this will help any reader understand their own cultural values, and how to become a more effective intercultural communicator. An absolute must-read for anyone relocating, working in a multinational company, or dealing with multiple cultures on even an infrequent basis.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book introduces you to many concepts to help you realize that you need to be thoughtful about your approach to others. I found myself thinking that this would be helpful for all of my interactions and not just people from a culture other than my own. This book is just the tip of the iceberg; it is clear that successful communication across cultures is a skill that will only come with practice & time.

[Dennis Sy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A primer for sociologist

This is a very good introduction to cross cultural relationships and ministries. Reminded of my bachelors degree in sociology. Good book to read for missionaries and cross cultural workers

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, basic workbook for introducing people to the concepts of culture and helping them "see" from the viewpoint of another.

[Kharla Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great beginners guide to understanding various cultural interactions

[Len · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good textbook for learning about culture, its dimensions and various characteristics, as well as the cultural differences between cultures.

[Danette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my previous go-to book on cultures. Culture Map beat it.

[Алтынай Арынова · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was used with a course I took with LearnNC.