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With over 300,000 copies in print, Survival Kit for Overseas Living: For Americans Planning to Live and Work Abroad remains one of the most popular books ever published on an intercultural subject. This indispensable handbook provides the reader with straightforward information about the challenges of moving to a new country: culture shock, stereotyping, misperceptions, misunderstandings, and the tools needed to overcome obstacles and prepare for a rewarding and successful experience. Readers learn how to set objectives for an overseas experience, how to become foreigners with style and understanding, how to combat culture shock, and how to prepare for and deal with reentry. Written in a fast-paced format with do-it-yourself instructions, Survival Kit for Overseas Living is ideal for everyone, from businesspeople moving to Japan to college students visiting Europe for the first time.
Anonymous
Posted September 26, 2007
This was easily the most disappointing book I have read about moving or traveling overseas. Although published in 2001, I thought that is still 'recent' in publishing terms. This book assumes that the reader is a moron living outside of the realm of tv and the internet. The first 6 chapters would do better in an anthropology textbook rather than something titled 'survival kit'. The book is so outdated. It says it was updated in 2001, but I saw no evidence of this book undergoing a significant rewrite since the 1970's. There is not a single website as a resource. Instead it recommends writing your local embassy or consulate (rather than registering online), keep your credit cards in a safe deposit box at home (rather than use them overseas), convert currency at home (rather than use an ATM), and read many additional outdated books to do research on your host country (rather than review websites, blogs, magazines, etc.) The picture on the back tells it all. I believe this author, although probably very intelligent and well traveled, is out of date with the current state of international affairs.
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Posted August 3, 2004
This book, first published in 1979, is still timely and useful, though it shows a few signs of age. It's hard to believe that any Americans in the CNN age are quite as ignorant of the world abroad as they were in the 1970s. However, diversity training and exposure to Thai and Mexican cuisine only goes so far to inoculate Americans against their own inherent cultural assumptions. Yes, this is written for people from the United States and addressed to them directly, but it would be useful to any sojourner trying to shake off hometown assumptions and adapt to life abroad. This volume treats every reader as a neophyte, a Dorothy in the Land of Oz. Author L. Robert Kohls offers a useful series of self-tests and questionnaires, psychological and anthropological frameworks, and practical guidance on routine matters. The book, which is engagingly written, with a wry and sometimes ironic touch, also contains useful appendices. We believe that it merits a place in the library of anyone, particularly any American, who is taking an overseas assignment, however brief.
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Overview
With over 300,000 copies in print, Survival Kit for Overseas Living: For Americans Planning to Live and Work Abroad remains one of the most popular books ever published on an intercultural subject. This indispensable handbook provides the reader with straightforward information about the challenges of moving to a new country: culture shock, stereotyping, misperceptions, misunderstandings, and the tools needed to overcome obstacles and prepare for a rewarding and successful experience. Readers learn how to set ...