Rating: 
Summary: Still very worthwhile to read
Review: A bit outdated in its factual material and old-fashioned in style (perhaps to the point of offending some modern day liberals), but still very informative and enjoyable. Mr. Patai knew a lot about the Arab world and explained it well.
Rating: 
Summary: FINALLY .....I HAVE CLOSURE!!
Review: Absolutely WONDERFUL. This is a great bloody book, and I feel ever soo lucky to have found it at all. [THANK YOU AMAZON.COM] It's HONEST, and answered soo many unanswered questions I had, . I finally have closure with soo many incidents that I couldn't understand when dealing with the arab population. By no means is this book racist. IT'S HONEST!! I HAD to live in both Iran and Egypt [against me will] and never really got over it, or what happened to me. After reading this book, for the VERY FIRST time in years, I felt at ease, as though a great weight had been lifted off me shoulders. More books like this should be read, and I'm sorry It's out of print. At points in this[not soo easy to read] book I cried, & in other spots I nodded me head in recognition of events I went through. It talks about sex [always a good subject ] to other heavy duty subjects. Now all I want to do is meet the author. HA-HA I'm a 28 yr. old British lass and speak arabic , to the point that this book , with it's wee references in arabic, I could quite well understand. Thank you.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply, racist and ignorant
Review: All I can say is wow! This book is so full of generalizations based on no facts. Thats all I can say really.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: An eye-opening book. Most people put the Arab personality down to Islam. THE ARAB MIND sets the reader right that the Arab personality is rooted in the Bedouin culture. It is not a racist book. The author confesses an extreme affection for Arabs. It's a wonderful book, and, frankly, let's you understand the Arab ... better. The author, incidentally, also wrote a book titled THE JEWISH MIND.
Rating:
Summary: Controversial
Review: Any book that makes rather broad sweeps is going to rile some bones. However, Patai builds his case w/ his sources (original documents, linguistic inferences, and Arab psychologists), and he corroborates his conclusions w/ specific instances. His strongest point is the description of the Honor-Shame cornerstone of Arab society, because he refers to the wires sent between Nasser and Hussein of Jordan -- Patai shows the need to "save face" in a historical context. I also appreciated the sections on the Arabic language, these chapters fit in conventiently w/ much modern philosophy, the Lackoff and Johnson "Philosophy of the Flesh" types. Other points are weaker (how entrenched is bedouin culture in urban Arab society?), but at least Patai sources his claims.The accusations of racism are unfounded. Racism is the belief that some people are genetically inferior to others. Patai does not tie genetics to the culture. There are good people from every culture, individuals superior to me or you. "Westernized" Arabs are oftentimes very successful in the West, yet the Arab world as a whole has gotten poorer the last 20 years, and it ain't Israel or the U.S.'s fault, and it ain't imperialism's fault (quite the opposite--Arab socialism has been a disaster), and the Arab world owns a near monopoly of the world's cocaine--oil. Patai outlines many of the cultural quirks that keep the Arab world from fullfilling its potential--the atemporality of the language, the overemotionalization of the language, the idealization of the past, the resistance to change, the honor found in exerting power...these are not "racial" issues, but cultural issues. This book helps to explain the outrage over the U.S. goings on in Abu Ghraib, yet the silence over Saddam's dismemberings and "Kill a Thousand prisoners today!" mass executions in the same prison.
Rating:
Summary: 10 / 10
Review: Aside from politically-correct dilettants who don't like anything that doesn't folow the rules of political correctness and are offended by any scientific analysis of common psychological cultural nuances - this book will be appreciated by the critical thinker.
Those that don't like the book hold on to the false idea that people from common cultures CAN NOT share any psychological commonalites. This sentiment is so absurd and contrary to any intelligent first-hand experience of anybody who comes from any given culture (ie: everybody).
If you are a critical thinker and an educated one with a comprehensive background in psychology, anthropology and the ME, this book will be appreciated.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but dry reading
Review: Being a female I found this book a bit difficult to read as growing up in the Western world my belief system and my cultural background is very different than it would be if I were an Arab woman. I found the book filled with information regarding cultural beliefs to be very unbiased, and clear and concise. I did find the style a bit dry, and at times found myself pushing to go forward.
He used many different examples of every day life to exemplify many different beliefs and customs. I feel the book is well researched, and very nonbiased. I feel since it was published originally in the early 1970s, and then updated in 1983 to be a bit dated for current use. It is twenty years out of date. Granted a culture would not change so greatly in the last twenty years, but I feel the book should be updated. For me it is difficult to validate points with social situations that are thirty years out of date, when current information is so readily available. Once again, a very informative book, well researched, but I personally found his writting style a bit dry, and at times felt frustrated that referrences were at times thirty to thirty five years out of date. A good read to start a research project, or to simply gather basic information regarding culture.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Overview in Understanding Arab Thinking
Review: I commend Mr. Patai for his thorough understanding of the Arab mind, and the way he presents it from its historical roots until the present day. The first chapter alone is worth the price of the book. The material in this book has been extremely helpful to me in teaching a class on Islam for my church. This is particularly true in light of the horrors of September 11. You definitely want this book on your shelf. Dr. Charles Roots
Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: I found this book fascinating. From language to art to character to politics, this book covers a great deal of territory in a very insightful way. I saw the 1 star recommendations and I was curious if we all read the same book. This book first went to press in the 1970's, so any illusions of current day political agendas being infused into this book are nonsense. It's a timeless analysis. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Inaccurate Racist drivel!
Review: I had heard that this is the book that those mind-bogglingly stupid neoconservatives and our enlightened US military consider to be the foremost depiction of Arab psychology. Due to the obviously bigoted nature towards arabs inherent in US foreign policy, I searched the book out to read. I refused to purchase a copy because I did not want to support such garbage. So I found a book store that carried it and read it over the course of a few weeks while sipping on coffee purchased at the book store. It's worse than I expected. This moron, Patai, makes general statements about a huge and diverse group of people in the middle east. If someone came out and wrote a book like this about Jews, blacks, or Asians, they would be torn apart. But this guy is hailed as an influential and accurate scholar and adored by the idiots that run the military, state department, and neo-conservative think tanks. This book reads like a how-to guide to the recent acts of torture committed at Abu Ghraib by the military (and the orders came from above, there weren't just a few "bad apples" doing it). I can't believe my tax dollars are going towards the purchase of this book at military training colleges. It sickens me as do most of our militaries policies.
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