Living Among the Swiss [Paperback]

Michael Wells Glueck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2002

This book describes the author's experiences during the past eight years of living and working among the Swiss. It examines several aspects of the Swiss banking system from the viewpoints of consumers, investors and employees. It depicts cultural differences as well as the practical difficulties confronting the new immigrant as he seeks to put down roots. It seeks to edify the vicarious traveler as well as those seriously considering relocation here. Finally, it celebrates in some detail the beauty of this relatively simple and honest land, with especial emphasis on the cantons of Berner Oberland, Graubünden and Wallis, as well as the environs of Zürich. While the observations focus on the German-Swiss, they are surprisingly applicable to the French-and Italian-speaking cantons as well.This book falls somewhere between a travel guide and a book of reflections and memoirs, and thus is an unashamedly open and frank reaction to a foreign way of life. Michael Wells Glueck's gaze falls on many aspects of Swiss existence and it never loses its particular, unique focus. Living Among the Swiss will provide much information for the reader, who in the process will learn much about the world of Switzerland and beyond, and also be privileged to form a distinct picture of Mr. Wells Glueck himself.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A satiric jewel of a memoir that captures the beauty and peacefulness of Switzerland and its inhabitants' glacial stolidity. -- Rita Kasper, wife of a Swiss kitchen designer

This witty author has a background in Latin and a large English vocabulary. I learned much about places in Switzerland. -- Dr. Vollrat von Deichmann, former Professor of Forestry at Arizona State University

From the Publisher

This book falls somewhere between a travel guide and a book of reflections and memoirs, and thus is an unashamedly open and frank reaction to a foreign way of life. Michael Wells Glueck's gaze falls on many aspects of Swiss existence and it never loses its particular, unique focus. 'Living Among The Swiss' will provide much information for the reader, who in the process will learn much about the world of Switzerland and beyond, and also be privileged to form a distinct picture of Mr. Glueck himself: a former Woodrow Wilson Fellow who taught English and Classics at Columbia and other U.S. universities for several years before entering the investment business in 1969.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 178 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse; 4th edition (August 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595241719
• ISBN-13: 978-0595241712
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,399,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have a master's degree in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University, where I was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and I was an instructor of English and Classics for five years at Columbia, City University of New York, and other universities. For 25 years I was an investment analyst, writing and editing investment reports for several companies in the U.S. and Switzerland. In both academe and business, I have always been regarded as an articulate writer and a superior editor. In fact, I am listed as an editor in both the online (under the name of my website, EditAndPublishYourBook.com) and hard-copy (under my own name) versions of Literary Marketplace, which vets its listings quite thoroughly. I can provide references upon request. Recent projects include editing Flatlands, a novel written by Susan Sims Moody of Tennessee and published in November 2003 by iUniverse.com; Mercy, Mrs. Moody's second novel, published in February 2006 by iUniverse.com; Dealing With Builders by Christopher A. Dorris, and The World Heavyweight Champions by Poncho Rocky Kid, both published by iUniverse in 2005; arranging online distribution for Donald E. DeMarco's Nantucket Taste Memories: The DeMarco Restaurant Cookbook, self-published in October 2007; and writing and editing reviews for the Fictional Rome website linked to The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, as well as posting a significant number of book reviews on the leading online booksellers' websites.
I myself am a published author: my memoir (depicted at the top of this page) is entitled Living Among The Swiss, and it is itself listed on the leading online booksellers' websites, including both paperback and an updated Kindle editions on Amazon.com, as well as updated paperback and downloadable e-book versions on Lulu.com. In January and June, 2007, my second and third books -- What I Learned At University, and The Trial Of Thomas E. Toolan III -- were published and are now similarly listed. My monograph, The Retirement Home Experience, is listed on Lulu.com. My most recent work, Neil Entwistle's Day In Court, is also listed on all sites and at all bookshops. All of these titles are also available as Kindle editions on Amazon.com's website and as downloadable ebooks plus paperback or hardcover editions on Lulu.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An honest, unsparing, accurate assessment of the Swiss, May 21, 2005

By 

Maria Seiler (Zermatt, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living Among the Swiss (Paperback)

This work touches a sensitive nerve for Swiss readers like myself, because it captures the natives' xenophobia, chauvinism, insularity, fear of assimilation by their German neighbors to the north, and general feelings of inferiority and prejudice. The Swiss are not known for great works of art or music or for educational accomplishments outside the fields of medicine and biochemistry/pharmacology or for feminism or even sensitivity to women, and so a book by an American author that pokes fun at these deficiencies serves only to aggravate its subjects' phobias. This is reflected in the negative, often imperfectly literate comments below, which should therefore be not only discounted but also taken as testimonies to this volume's trenchant effectiveness.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely not a whitewash, May 21, 2006

By 

Natalie Biner (Zermatt, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living Among the Swiss (Paperback)

Are you considering a job offer in Switzerland? This work provides fair warning about the obstacles that you and your spouse will face as an immigrant: a chauvinistic, closed society of incomprehensible, dialect-speaking burghers obsessed with money and reluctant to trust foreigners even after years of acquaintanceship; high rents and prices for inferior food -- especially beef and chicken -- clothing, and automobiles; undisguised resentment that you are denying a job opportunity to a Swiss citizen; discrimination in career advancement and promotion. Most expatriates leave after a year in order to preserve their marriages. Take these caveats to heart before succumbing to the temptations of Alpine skiing and clean, fresh-water swimming. And read this book before deciding whether to accept the job offer.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Arrogance at its peak, March 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Living Among the Swiss (Paperback)

I bought this book on the basis of two reviewers who said it was witty, humourous, and useful. I could barely stomach reading the book since the author is arrogant and continually looks down his nose at not only the Swiss whom he portrays as uneducated and stupid but also others from his own continent. He does not experience the culture, but rather overlays his own prejudices and expects you to buy them as cultural sensitivity. At moments when he actually begins to provide useful information or interesting insight (such as the treatment of women), he quickly dissolves into feeling quite full of himself and gives witty repartee. You can just feel him surge with pride about how witty he is. I almost quit on page 28 where, while discussing the train system, he states, "And in second class you will frequently enounter not only the harrowingly unpleasant odors of the great unwashed and undeodorized but also the harsh and loud voices of children and adults afflicted with Down's syndrome, who are seldom institutionalized here." It's too bad I waited too long to read the book and cannot return it.