Costa Rica - Culture Smart!: the essential guide to customs & culture [Paperback]

Jane Koutnik (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2006 | Series: Culture Smart!

Culture Smart! provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships.

Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include


* customs, values, and traditions
* historical, religious, and political background
* life at home
* leisure, social, and cultural life
* eating and drinking
* do's, don'ts, and taboos
* business practices
* communication, spoken and unspoken


"Culture Smart has come to the rescue of hapless travellers." Sunday Times Travel

"... the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries." Global Travel

"...full of fascinating-as well as common-sense-tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas." Observer

"...as useful as they are entertaining." Easyjet Magazine

"...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world." New York Times

Editorial Reviews

Review

Culture Smart! has come to the rescue of hapless travellers, Sunday Times Travel - ...the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries, Global Travel - ...full of fascinating, as well as common sense, tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas, Observer - ...as useful as they are entertaining, Easy Jet Magazine - ...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world, New York Times.

About the Author

JANE KOUTNIK is a teacher, translator, writer, and craft jeweler who has lived in Costa Rica for nearly thirty years. After graduating in Philosophy and English from the University of California at San Diego, she traveled to Costa Rica, fell in love with the country, and decided to call it home. Over the years she has worked for mutual English—Spanish understanding in her local rural community, and has contributed to several guidebooks and tourist magazines. Her passion for the environment has led to intensive time and energy dedicated to conservation, working with the government, the local community, and environmental groups.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Kuperard; Reprinted edition edition (September 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857333241
• ISBN-13: 978-1857333244
• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 0.5 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #46 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Customs & Traditions
  • #91 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Etiquette > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars the same broad, shallow advice repeated chapter after chapter, June 19, 2010

By 

FixItInTheMix (NYC, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Costa Rica - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture (Kindle Edition)

As another reviewer said, any information of real value found here, is also posted on the web for free. But what bothered me even more, was that the exact same descriptions of how Ticos are laid-back, how mutually positive social relations trump most everything else, and how their sense of time or urgency is also very casual... is repeated nearly verbatim in every chapter, and in practically every paragraph of every chapter.

I really felt like even the Kindle price was a rip-off, there's a surprising lack of real substance here. The book could have been cut down to 1/2 to 1/4 it's length, and still lost nothing. It's basically an essay, fluffed-out into a "book." Very disappointing, though a few tidbits were interesting. I kept thinking I had somehow accidentally gone backward while reading, because I kept reading the same things over and over, and over again.

The first sections on the history of the country aren't original information either - just summaries of existing history books, covered in a simple time line.

I finished the entire "book" in two subway rides. And, it isn't any kind of reference guide I'd refer to again. The latest version is revised but it wasn't obvious to me (unless I overlooked it) what exactly has been updated. One or more chapters provided a list of web links, but in many places throughout the book, the year 2004 or 2005 was referenced.

So, I think even the revision was superficial and weak, yet again making me feel like I'd been had. Don't know if I can get a refund, but will be trying.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Costa Rican Culture Book Review, November 7, 2010

By 

collie02 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Costa Rica - Culture Smart!: the essential guide to customs & culture (Paperback)

This book is exactly what I was looking for. It provided all the cultural, political, historical, and tourist information I needed. I would recommend it for anyone planning on visiting Costa Rica.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Cute, but useless, March 28, 2010

By 

Frank Ruffa "calabro" (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Costa Rica - Culture Smart!: the essential guide to customs & culture (Paperback)

Little useful information ... just a cute little book with information you can get from any number of free Internet sources. Invest in a real guide!