Culture Shock! Sweden

Rating:
Summary: A Must Buy!
Review: A very accurate description of what to expect, what to do (swedish etiquitte), how to act and assimilate gracefuly into a deliteful culture. This book prepares your mind to be watchful of all the intricacies that make Sweden a unique and fascinating place. Without having read this book in advance of my arrival in Sweden, the Swedish details might have escaped my notice. This book is a definite buy - well written and very accurate.

Rating:
Summary: Culture Shock! Sweden.
Review: Hey everyone. I'm going to be an exchange student, leaving for Sweden on July 31, 2000, and coming back sometime in June/July 2001. I recently bought this book and loved it. It's got everything you need to know about staying in a counrty for a long period of time, it gives you histroy of the cournty, laws, things you never thought about bringing, and what not to bring, what the people are like, just an amazing wealth of knowledge. If your going to be spending time in Sweden, this is an awesome book to read.

Rating:
Summary: The book is funny and very well to the point
Review: I am a swede myself and I really enjoyed reading this book - I had some great laughs. The author does a very good job in balancing funny anecdotes or cliches with matter of fact descriptions of what Sweden is really like. I highly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: Swedish Culture Shock!
Review: I have had many Swedish friends during college, and I've been to Sweden twice. This book has proven itself a very good resource book, and an fun read. It helped me a lot to understand the dos and don'ts when interacting with Swedish people. I highly recommend this book : )

Rating:
Summary: Great preparation for anyone studying, working, or...
Review: planning to spend an extended amount of time in Sweden. I came here to study abroad and constantly found things to be much like how I expected after reading the book. Now that I've been here for a few months, I read it again and found myself constantly nodding my head in agreement with the author's descriptions. It tends to describe the history and politics of the country a little too much, but all in all I've found this book to be very helpful! I would highly recommend it to anyone who plans to spend more than just a vacation here! It is a quick and easy read.

Rating:
Summary: Great preparation for anyone studying, working, or...
Review: planning to spend an extended amount of time in Sweden. I came here to study abroad and constantly found things to be much like how I expected after reading the book. Now that I've been here for a few months, I read it again and found myself constantly nodding my head in agreement with the author's descriptions. It tends to describe the history and politics of the country a little too much, but all in all I've found this book to be very helpful! I would highly recommend it to anyone who plans to spend more than just a vacation here! It is a quick and easy read.

Rating:
Summary: good information, but..........
Review: the information gained by reading this book is very good, and should be useful for anyone living in or visiting Sweden for a long time. It will be somewhat useful for my proposed short trip this summer, particularly since my partner will be involved in academic issues and a conference during our trip. I suspect there is a better book to prepare for a short visit, but I haven't found it yet.

Some parts of the Swedish character as portrayed ring *very true*, especially the idea that they have the best way figured out. I've seen that my whole life with my relatives who are first generation American from Sweden, and it even persists into the second generation. (but maybe that's me too! :-) )

The writing style strikes me as being written for a simpleton. I can't figure out why, since the vocabulary is not excessively limited. The reading level may be lower than that to which I am accustomed, but I'm not even sure if that's it. Maybe the author is out of practice with English, and she is from Britain, making the style seem stilted to my US ear? I read a lot, so that doesn't seem possible either....

It is, none-the-less, a worthwhile read and is inspiring me to get going on the rest of my Sweden research!