Meet the Germans - Hardcover

Cason, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1434384470 ISBN 13: 9781434384478

Publisher: Authorhouse UK, 2008

Synopsis

Probably more than any other nation on earth the Germans are a nation judged by stereotypes. Countless times, I have played a game with friends and acquaintances, asking the question: "When you think about the Germans, what spontaneously comes to mind?". The same answers are repeated time and time again. The rest of the world thinks they are efficient, serious, honest, and are a nation famed for curious customs - Ledenhosen, Sauerkraut and Ommpah bands. But how much truth really lies behind these stereotypes? Here I have taken an irreverent view and tried to peel back the layers to reveal a humorous side to modern Germans, after 15 years of living amongst them; a nation with unusual habits that include men and women who go naked together in the sauna, a passion for driving on highways with no speed limits, drinking copious quantities of mineral water and beer (not together!) and holding quaint beliefs that modern medicines should be avoided because they are full of harmful chemicals. In addition, they have developed the worlds most unusual design in toilets, everyone sleeps in passion-killer beds, the women have great figures but sometimes neglect to shave their armpits and the authorities don't bother to install barrier controls, they trust their citizens to pay on public transport. They produce the world's best detective series, but nobody has ever heard of Tatort outside the country and they are a nation with a sharp incisive wit despite a deep-seated British prejudice that their language is blunt and they have no sense of humour. This truly is a country worth getting to know better.

About this title

About the Author:

David Cason, born in 1957, was raised in South Africa of British parents. The family emigrated when he was five years old and he spent his childhood initially in Cape Town, then Johannesburg, completing his schooling and entered the University of Witwatersrand in 1977. He studied biological sciences finally gaining a Ph.D. ten years later. During this time in Southern Africa he traveled extensively and started to collect material for short stories and book that he would later write. He moved back to the UK in 1988 where he continued his studies, completing post-doctoral research at Oxford, after which he decided he academic life did not suit him and found a job with Proctor & Gamble based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He started to learn German as a challenge and by lucky co-incidence, three years later was offered an international assignment in Germany. His work required extensive travel to the Middle East, Morocco and Egypt. The experience gained here was woven into a series of short stories based on life in modern Saudi Arabia and Southern Africa.His first book, One Mans Journey, followed, a novel set in the height of the Apartheid era in South Africa during the 1970s dealing with the tensions of love across the colour bar. Meet the Germans, his second book, naturally evolved out of the many insights into the minutiae of details that make up daily life in the country. Germans invariably approached issues from a completely opposite angle to Anglo-Saxons, even down to small details like how to tip a waiter. His wife, who is German, her family and their friends have in large part being an unwitting laboratory its development, so do not be surprised if they occasionally appear in the book.

About this edition

• Publisher: Authorhouse UK
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1434384470
• ISBN 13: 9781434384478
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 148