Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny and very insightful guide to the Swiss, June 28, 1998
By A Customer
I work in the U.S. for the Swiss. This little book (you can read it in an hour or two) is very funny and fun to read. At the same time, it is amazingly insightful with regards to Swiss culture, customs and people. I sometimes give it to others doing business with the Swiss. On the whole, it paints the Swiss in a positive light, but also offers up good fodder for ribbing my Swiss colleagues. For a more serious and scholarly treatment of the Swiss, check out Steinberg's "Why Switzerland".
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A funny tongue "firmly" in cheek little gem..., May 16, 2005
This book is laugh out loud funny and has many truths, though the Swiss may not want to admit it. All countries have their quirks and Switzerland is not immune either. A a Swiss dual national married to a Swiss, I heard about all these little quirks that all cultures and countries have and always teased my spouse that he was exaggerating regarding Switzerland. Then I spent time in the country and just recently I experienced the "self sustaining bureacracy" at work when the Swiss Govt. charged me $50 for a very fancy piece of paper to tell me what my address is, the state in the US I was born, the date when I got married and who my parents are-that's it, no really that's all it says-nothing more. I am convinced that the $50 was to pay for the fancy paper-that's how fancy it really is. So as the author himself notes on this very subject of family papers...I guess it's in case I forget these facts about myself. Needless to say I howled over this.
Read this book with humor and take into account that it isn't a traditional travel book nor an ultra accurate account on Swiss manufacturing and tourism or the countries stats. But there are some real truths here relayed with great wit. The author himself is Brit married to a Swiss and has made some genuinely funny observations on Swiss culture. I finished reading this book thinking the author genuinely loves and respects his adopted country, but gosh they do some funny things sometimes. A little joshing and humor never hurt anyone-even the staunch Swiss. We should always be able to laugh at ourselves and that's what this book sets out to do, and to my thinking, it succeeded.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More than just yodelling, April 4, 2001
By A Customer
This is really not a guide book in the traditional sense. That is, you can't find out where to get a decent hotel, day excursion, or meal in Switzerland by reading this book. Rather Bilton, an Englishman, comments on the culture he learned after marrying a Swiss woman and living in her country for the last 10 years or so. His insights into the Swiss people, particularly their attitudes, behaviors, and societal structure are insightful and often hilarious. Switzerland is surprisingly diverse and too often overlooked by those studying European history and culture. It's easy to not look beyond the image of banks, watches, and chocolates to get to know the people behind the stereotypes. This witty book cuts to the chase and is at times quite irreverant, though certainly not offensive. It's one thing to eat rösti. It's another to understand the röstigraben. This book explains both. Like the author, I too am married to a Swiss woman and read this book prior to a two-month trip to Zurich to study German and learn more about my wife's parent culture. I found this little book a surprising and entertaining resource. Time and time again, I found my experiences meeting and getting to know the Swiss strangely reminiscent of the pages of this book. I even loaned it to Swiss friends who concurred that its observations was right on the money. So I read the book again at the conclusion of the trip--and laughed aloud even more the second time. It's a quick read, for more detailed insights from Bilton, see his diary "the Perpetual Tourist", which covers similar ground.
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