The UnDutchables

While I was in The Netherlands, my best friend there (and my only truly close Dutch friend), Bas van Schelt not only spent some time with me, but also was generous enough to give ME a gift (hell, in my initial plans, I was supposed to be staying with him, in which case I was certainly indebted to him, not the other way around). Anyway, the gift was a very popular English-language book about Dutch culture called The UnDutchables. While I was actually living in The Netherlands, I was in fact aware of this book, but I never ended up checking it out.

Well, flattered as I was that Bas gave me this totally uncalled-for gift, I took it upon myself to start reading it on the trip almost two months ago, only recently finally finishing it (it's rare when I actually prioritize reading). Fortunately, the book was easy to pick up and put down whenever I wanted, as it's written more as a collection of observations about Dutch culture (from an English-speaking perspective), each of which is a more-or-less self-contained (and brief) article.

Now, while the book certainly did have some chuckles, I would say a good bit of the humor was lost on me, as I often found myself defending Dutch culture from the often grossly exaggerated simplifications the book made instead of just taking them as humorous accounts of culture shock. Perhaps I just didn't end up living in the NL long enough to allow me the time to experience all of the small quirks the book so painstakingly describes, or perhaps it really was just a question of differing senses of humor. Regardless, I did enjoy the book and am thoroughly grateful that Bas shared it with me.

I wonder if there's a similar book I could give him that is instead a Dutch account of crazy Americanisms...?