Can anyone recommend a good book that will teach me about different world cultures?

Answer 1

No book can truly teach you about different world cultures.

You have to go and experience them yourself. You could read 20 books about Italy, but go to Italy yourself for a week, and you'll know more than you could ever get from reading the 20 books cover to cover.

If you read a book, you get someone's opinion. First hand contact is the best teacher.

Answer 2

I'm not going to give you a plot synopsis for the list I will give you. But every single book is a gem unto itself, whether for its historical implications or its place in understanding a culture.

House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Funny in Farsi by Firooze Dumas
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Night by Elie Wiesel
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
One Hunderd Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez


The above list: Two books about the immigrant experience in the US. Two books about war and its victims
Two long-range books on the cultures of Chile and Colombia.

The following list is more historical fiction, but well researched, and helps explain the development of modern day England and Wales.

Here Be Dragons
Falls the Shadow
The Reckoning, all three by Sharon Kay Penman.

These next are by Morgan Llewellyn, and again are from an English perspective, and depict different periods in English and Irish history.

Lion of Ireland (history of Brian Boru)
Wind from Hastings (history and repercussions of the Battle of Hastings).

For a more wide-ranging view, you can read anything by James Clavell.

Shogun
King Rat
Tai Pan

For the King Arthur fan:

The Skystone
The Singing Sword
The Eagle's Brood
The Saxon Shore
The Fort at River's Bend
The Sorcerer
The Lance Thrower

These are all historical fiction, posing the hypothesis that Camelot was a colony of people who saw the end of the Roman control of Britain and made a world forthemselves before chaos descended. The first two are told by Publius Varrus, the fictitious great-grand uncle of Arthur, and grandfather to Merlyn. The next four from the point of view of Merlyn himself, and the last one being the story of Lancelot. These are based more on assumptions, with a lot of military research. Very speculative, but entertaining. It's not all magic and mysticism, as often is the case with Arthurian fiction.

Happy readings!!!!

Answer 3

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is an excellent resource for learning about the effects of colonialism in Nigeria. Anything by James Joyce is a good source for Irish history as are the works of J.M. Synge Yeats and Lady Gregory. For a modern perspective on Ireland, the works of Roddy Doyle or Eavann Bowland or Seamus Heaney. However, it is better to interact with people of different cultures directly than learning through a culture's literature alone.

Answer 4

Hmmm... tough cause there's so many good responses already... I'd say, pick a continent, find the Lonely Planet travel guide that corresponds to that continent, save some money and start ticking off cities as you see them.

Actually getting out there and experiencing the cultures you'd like to learn about instead of reading about them through the author's biased perspectives is the only way to truly learn about them.

Remember... a book can never explain what it smells like inside the Sistine Chapel as you're looking up at those beautiful frescoes. It can try, but are you going to take someone else's word for it?

Answer 5

The patent answer is a culture covering cd, designed by you.
At the United Nations HQ I do some work in France, talk about
cultural people, here the actual work of the embassies for
education gets a jump start and a lot of publishers. From all
the meetings I have worked at I would say that a private service
like Steven Models hooked on phonics, can tell you where the
cds are ordered. Keyword cd services. First get your nations
selected by being sure on two columns, one that it is a Peace
nation at this time, not too primitive or militant, second that the
product status is something you would shop for, this assures
you that the reports are within studies you have knowledge in.
Hope you find some great reading, it is the most relaxing and
healthful hobby of all.

Answer 6

"Shadows in the Sun" by Wade Davis. Beautifully written collection of essays about various cultures around the world. All the cultures visited tend to be more tribal and/or closer to their earthly roots, so it shows a greater contrast than most books between Western society and these cultures. Very well written, with a sense of appreciation and wonder about other cultures...also very detailed. Davis is also the author of the fames "Serpent and the Rainbow"

Answer 7

Geez, Louise.. this is a popular question, isn't it? Wow..

The book you might want to discover is taken from a PBS program hosted by Bill Moyers when he interviewed Joseph Campbell. It's called The Power of Myth.

All cultures are built on their traditions and the traditions of most of our experience are built on Mythology.

Campbell's book is colorful and insightful and the amazing thing is that it compares people from all over the globe showing how similar we all are.

Being the last answer to a question isn't really my style. However, we sometimes save the best for last, don't we?

Keep asking questions. It's the only way to grow.

vc

Answer 8

The Boxer Rebellion is a great book to read. It provides a lot of great insight into the development of China and the developments that led to the start of WWI.

It also explains where the term "Old Betsy" came from.

The author provides a very descriptive account that makes you feel like you are almost there at the turn of the century 1898-1900.

The Boxer Rebellion involves probably the first world collaberation of troops (the US, Great Britain, Japan, Prussia (Germany), France, Italy, etc.) all of which invaded China to rescue hundreds of their citizens stranded in the middle of China surrounded by thousands of Chinese soldiers. The story even involves then upcoming US president Herbert Hoover helping storm the walls to rescue the people who were trapped.

Answer 9

Try "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down"

It is about a Hmong girl and how Hmongs are dealilng with living in America. The Hmongs, who migrated to Laos from China, helped the U.S. fight the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. They lost nearly a generation in the war then were betrayed by the U.S. In the late 80s and 90s they began emigrating to the U.S., mostly in California. The story is not pretty

Answer 10

the best way to learn a culture without boring yourself silly is to start by reading folktales they teach you a lot in a short space of time giving you background on subjects that you won't learn reading books by so called experts you will learn about their humor and what is offensive to them very quickly that way as well as a little bit about how they look at things from there you can go on to the present day facts about how the society works if you want but you will be able to see how misunderstood they were by the experts folktales and nursery rhymes / tales legends of all sorts will give you more than any book of facts

Answer 11

The Culture Shock books are great and go country by country. The best I've read so far was Culture Shock! France, which really helped me understand the French better.