I didn't have a clue before reading this book. I just thought I did. It all makes sense to me now! Having a "cold climate" background, various "hot climate" friends and family often left me confused and bemused. An excellent bridge to understanding different cultures and the reason they are different. In the melting pot that is America, this should be required reading for EVERYONE! All teachers and politicians especially but also required reading for high school and college students. Misunderstandings can arise from the everyday little things that we take for granted and yet another culture does not. Do your part to promote world understanding and unity! Get this book! Easy to read and common sense (which is anything but common)!

(I notice that a lot of tags seem to belong to missionaries but this book has absolutely nothing to do with religion, no mention whatsoever, and everything to do with communication and understanding. So don't let the tags mislead you.) ( )

Fascinating guide to working multi/cross-culturally. ( )

Foreign to Familiar is a short book that introduces some differences between hot and cold climate cultures. The material presented is easy to understand theoretically, but more challenging to take on in a practical sense to relate to others in their own contexts. It’s worth reading more than once. ( )

Easy to read and very necessary for anyone working in an international context ( )

Although somewhat of a simplistic analysis, Foreign to Familiar provides a very practical set of questions to ask in any cross-cultural encounter. Distinguishing between hot and cold climate cultures, Lanier offers a key – mapped out through years of cross-cultural experiences – to understanding and navigating a variety of cultural traits: relationship or task oriented; direct or indirect communication; individual or group identity; inclusion or privacy; low and high context cultures. In addition to these, Lanier explores cultural differences in understanding time and hospitality. While clearly not a great anthropological work, it is an immensely useful and approachable book. B- ( )