This is the third book in Idries Shah’s best-selling and humorous trilogy on why the English are as strange as they are.
The Englishman’s Handbook examines the ‘baffling phenomena of the British and Britishness’.
It presents a manual of handy tips on how to be like a local and ‘muddle through’ as a visitor to English shores, while also providing information to Brits on outsiders and ‘how to deal with them’.
Drawing on anecdotes, cultural observations, and examples from the press, the book contains extraordinary information on how to confuse visitors with the incomprehensible logic that is sheer Englishness.
An illuminating and often hilarious read, The Englishman’s Handbook is just as valuable to the British as it is to foreigners.
Foreword
1 The Questions They Ask
2 Aversion Therapy
3 The French
4 The Spanish
5 The Americans
6 The Lights – and the Dogs!
7 Masterly Inactivity
8 Teapoys and Boiled Potatoes
9 Say It Loud Enough and They Won’t Believe It...
10 Travelling, Visiting, Empiring
11 Not a Person, But...
12 Culture at a Distance
13 Dealing With Foreigners I: Disinformation
14 Dealing With Foreigners II: Scaring Them
15 Joining the Third World
16 Contrary to Expectation
17 Mr Thomas’s Fruit
18 Doublethink or Doublespeak?
19 The Foreignness of Foreigners
20 How Horrid IS Abroad?
21 Loathsome or Lovable?
22 Can Foreigners Deal With the British?
23 Life in Britain
24 Alarm and Despondency
25 Secret Meanings, Hidden Hands…
Notes
From The Englishman’s Handbook by Idries Shah
Copyright © The Estate of Idries Shah
Idries Shah was born in India in 1924 into an aristocratic Afghan family. He was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition and is considered one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century.
Shah devoted his life to collecting, translating and adapting key works of Sufi classical literature for the needs of the West. Called by some 'practical philosophy' - these works represent centuries of Sufi and Islamic thought aimed at developing human potential. His best-known works include the seminal book The Sufis, several collections of teaching stories featuring the ‘wise fool’ Nasrudin, Reflections and Knowing How to Know.
Shah's corpus - over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and cultural studies - have been translated into two dozen languages and have sold millions of copies around the world. They are regarded as an important bridge between the cultures of East and West.