Saudi Arabia - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

'Culture Smart' Series Review:First, I am a culture junkie and am a big fan of the 'Culture Smart' series with seven guides thus far in my growing collection. * Germany, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Cuba, Croatia, Brazil and Morocco * This series offers a compact look into the cultures of the world: their customs, attitudes and behaviors, etc. These books provide perhaps as close of understanding to many of them as a reader will have. It also does not hurt that I take in fun/unusual facts like a sponge. I highly recommend this series before traveling to another country or just to further your knowledge of other cultures.

I enjoyed this handy little book that was published in 2008. The book contains lots of good information. As someone who has visited Dammam, Riyadh, Jeddah, and Buraida with visits to the country since 2010, I found the book to be informative. Information about the drinking of tea, doing business there, the need to be patients and not engage in a single-minded rush to do business, among many good points made. When I visit countries abroad I like to work at speaking some of the basic phrases and greetings. This approach is helpful in Saudi Arabia. I liked the fact that the relatively brief section on language mentioned both the formal and less formal approach to basic greetings and how a Saudi may or may not respond (with appropriate responses or even with rudeness.) My concern is the book needs to be updated. Many things have happened since 2008 including the passing of King Abdullah and succession by King Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the profitability of oil.

This is an interesting guide, however, once you get to Saudi and live here, you realise what you read and what actually happens are two very different things. I really love this place. So interesting and full of contradictions.

A QUAD primer on Saudi culture. I found it very helpful and nearly all of it was correct (at least according to my hosts). Well done and thanks.

Much of the information the author shares is useful, but almost all of his observations seem to come from a culturally biased perspective (and doesn't that fly in the face of the purpose of the "Cutlure Smart!" series?), a view that seems unable to see beyond the obvious. Although the author apparently lived in Saudi for a time, I was shocked, repeatedly, by how many things he gets wrong. Just two simple examples: he talks about camera phones being banned in KSA. Not true, and according to my inquiries, has never been true. He says that Saudis are generous tippers. What?!! Tipping is not cutomary here, anywhere I've traveled (and I've traveled extensively around the country), and is viewed with bemused skepticism. Saudis rarely tip, and if they do, it is verrrrry grudgingly... even when they're in western countries where it's expected. These are minor things, but they are indicative of a pattern of statements that runs throughout the book. Because many readers may know nothing about KSA, they will accept the author's statements as facts. But he is frequently wrong. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, maybe these things were misunderstandings, or he heard them from unreliable sources; perhaps they were quirks of the neighborhoods where he lived (in Jeddah, a city on the western coast)... but that seems doubtful. Regardless, if you're presenting materials as accurate truths, especially about a place as distant, misunderstood, and politically sensitive as Saudi Arabia, shouldn't we expect better?This is my first Amazon review, but I feel compelled to set the record straight, or at least, straight-er, in response. I'm a westerner, currently living and working in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia; I've been here for 2 years. I can't in any way call myself an expert about this cutlure, but I have worked very hard to meet and befriend Saudis, venture far beyond the boundaries of western haunts, and open my mind to as untainted a view of the place as one can manage. I'm not always successful, and sometimes I hate it here -- but I try to see the world around me as clearly and honestly as I can. The creators of this book do not seem to be feel the same responsibility.

Short and concise, but great for a 10 day visit. We went for a school trip and it was helpful and informative

This was a quick read for me prior to my second trip to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It helped fill in some of the cultural basics that were not readily apparent from business interactions. I felt more confident this time around and thought that perhaps I understood a little more about my hosts. The book doesn't cover anything in depth, but I recommend it for anyone who has to go there on business.

very happy