Beyond Culture

Great read if you're interested in self-awareness. This book presents concepts and perspectives that are crucial for understanding cultural differences. It was thought provoking and it definitely caused a shift in my way of seeing and experiencing myself in relation to others. I enjoyed the stories and the overall way in which the book delivered the information. Despite the relatively small size of the book the author was able to touch on so many topics, while showing their interrelatedness and keeping things marching with the main concept of the book, which for me was a better understanding of myself, within the context of my own culture and how my assimilation affects my own perception. There's a wealth of knowledge here for those seeking deeper understanding of themselves and others.

I ordered this book on November 29 and received it on December 9—ten days from California. The book's condition is perfect: neat pages, clean cover, nice colours. This delivery has made my day. Thank you!

This book had so many "YES!!!" moments for me that I hardly know where to touch down. The way Hall describes how to recognize the differences between low and high context cultures is awesome. This guy clearly was a heavyweight having been all over the world and studied this stuff for decades.If you need to learn why someone from another culture is so different from you, this book is an excellent tool. It's in plain and understandable English and there are a lot of examples to explain the concepts he puts forth. All of it just makes complete sense. Great great book!Edward Hall is officially my hero when it comes to cross-cultural issues.

Beyond culture is a classic in cultural and anthropological literature. The book was originally written in 1976 and part of the content and research is somewhat dated at the time of this review (2010). I found it a hard to read book (mainly language-wise) but still worth reading. The book had average parts mixed with truly insightful parts and stories.The book explores a broad amount of subjects and discusses how they are all interrelated -- from depletion of resources to misalignment of education and the human body. These are all driven by culture and the disability of people to recognize the impact culture has on their thinking and behavior. People become more aware of their own culture when interacting with other cultures... in fact, perhaps understanding of your own culture is perhaps the key learning when studying other cultures.The book consists of 15 chapters, all relative short. Chapters sometimes cover completely different topics, yet always relate back to the main thread of the book... transcending culture by better recognition of your own culture. The first couple of chapters introduce concepts which are used throughout the book. A key concept introduced is the idea of humans creating 'extensions' (tools) which perform functions that previously were performed by the body. The extensions are able to develop faster than the human body.Early chapters cover differences in cultures related to different experience of time (S-time and P-time), different experience of rhythm and different experience of space. Edward Hall is well-known for the concepts of low-context and high-context cultures, which are introduced in six to eight.Later chapters discuss human and culture from different perspectives. Chapter ten introduces the action chains which provide a way of analyzing cultural situations. Later chapters cover the functioning of the brain and how this relates to education, cultural irrationality, and identification.The language in the book was hard to read (which is interesting as the author several times criticizes language). At times, the author used too much words or jumped too fast from topic to topic (for me). Still, parts of the book were truly insightful. Because of the language and the out-of-date-ness, I was doubting between 3 and 4 stars, but as the book is truly insightful at times, I decided four stars. Recommended for people looking for interesting cultural insights.

If you're reading this, you will really appreciate Beyond Culture.It is a most annoying book. A lot of books have a hook, clearly displayed on the cover, which is described repeatedly from every angle throughout the book.This one has deep thoughts time and again. You read a page, perhaps two, and put down the book to feel how it relates to your life and experience. Then you must pick up the book again to look for the next nugget. And there - another set of thoughts that resonate with you.If you are still reading this review, I cannot overly recommend that you embrace this book.

I've always found Hall's books to be interesting and relevant to my life from business to spirituality and this book has lived up to that same expectation. In this book Hall, discusses inter-cultural communication patterns and raises up concerns about the tendency to focus toward using external resources as opposed to examining and utilizing internal, behavior skills. I find this relevant in an age where more than ever the focus is on using technology to communicate, with all the inherent problems that brings, especially when relying on text only to interact. This is a useful book for exploring cross cultural communication and examining the increasing role of technology in communication.

Love the book! Much of the ideas still ring true now though it was written 40 years ago. A great book to reflect upon one's own culture or cultural identity!I purchased the book when I was looking for the source of "cultural iceberg", which is said to be first used in this book by Edward Hall. Well, Hall never ever used the term in this book, or words related to this metaphor, even though he did mentioned visible and invisible culture. It’s amazing how often we take so much hear-and-say for granted.