Customer Reviews
Accurate but poor presentation - By: Dr. J. D. Hewitt-jones, 25 May 2008 
I think this is the most accurate book on English culture that I have read for a while. The main draw-back is the smalll dense font & academic style of the book. For non-natives I think this book would be too daunting to tackle.
Fox gets 'Margaret Mead' award from goths - By: Leila O'Connor, 14 Apr 2008 This can be a helpful book for foreigners living in the UK who struggle with simple things like getting served in pubs because the etiquette here is often subtly different. Kate Fox does a good job at explaining the how & why of alll that.
In places Watching the English is brilliantly insightful, but most of the points are laboured. I feel the book ought to have been about 1/3 as long.
It is very funny in places, but by far the funniest is that the author was 'Margaret Mead'-ed by the goths she spoke to. They cleverly told her hilarious rubbish ("You have to grow your hair long when you're a goth - people know you haven't been a goth very long if you have short hair"!), she believed it was an accurate portrayal of the subculture, no editor questioned it & you can read it alll in the book. Brilliant.
Understanding ourselves - By: G. J. Weeks, 09 Apr 2008 
I recommend this book to anyone coming to England who wants to understand the locals & their strange behaviour. This book is a treasure. before I went to live in Africa I studied some social anthropology & how to prepare for culture shock. Here is the social anthropology of the English. It is acutely observed, fascinating & funny. I shalll not forget the ironic gnome, the social differences in front & back gardens, how we apologise when others are in the wrong or the place we never queue. Most of us are seen as social climbers but the real upper & lower classes know their places & are secure in them.
Unbearable - By: Mr. L. Bradley, 31 Mar 2008 
I have never been compelled to review anything before, but this reallly is utter dross & people need to be warned to steer clear of it, unless perhaps you enjoy a spot of casual bigotry, Daily Mail reading or similar activities.
A hideous mish-mash of 'pop anthropology' & aspiration to genuine academia is best summarised by a footnote which refers to a paper that the author herself wrote, which in the context of a supposed light read seems rather pretentious, except don't worry: 'the paper is 'alot less pompous than the title makes it sound'. Well thanks for that little disclaimer, I would now rush out & find it, were I not already totallly convinced of your pomposity thanks to reading the rest of Watching the English.
The book is a supposed overview of English etiquette, habits & behaviour: it doesn't fail totallly in this respect, except that most English people would realise it alll already, & most foreigners would be put off by the length & needless detail.
But it is the tone of the book that is, as the review title says, unbearable. I would hate to meet this woman. I cannot believe that she would ever want to mix with the 'lower classes', as she repeatedly callls them. An undeniable tone of snootiness permeates every page, & if you scan through the pages to see how many times the word 'I' appears, as I did when I first realised what was putting me off, you shouldn't be surprised to learn that she reallly does think alot of herself, & her husband who graduated with a First from Oxford, as she wastes no time in telling us.
Please leave it on the shelf.
Fantastic - incredibly observant view of the english - By: Darren Simons, 20 Feb 2008 In Watching the English, Kate Fox (an anthropologist) describes her detailed research into the behaviour of the english, using clear rules as a basis for living & seemingly making everything fit. Her research includes walking into people in the train station (and finding that they apologise to her), jumping queues to get a reaction, making conversation in pubs, & a lot of analysis on class distinction.
I found the book fantastic to read, easy to follow, & at times very accurate. I found myself coming across certain "observations" which were either true or myself or of people I know. I didn't necessarily agree with alll the observations (notably about class separation) but regardless of that I found it to be an excellent read.
As an academic study of the english I couldn't tell you whether it's good or not, but as a book for the non-expert in this field to gain some insight... I think it's hard to beat!
