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Love the book! Much of the ideas still ring true now though it was written 40 years ago. A great book to reflect upon one's own culture or cultural identity!
I purchased the book when I was looking for the source of "cultural iceberg", which is said to be first used in this book by Edward Hall. Well, Hall never ever used the term in this book, or words related to this metaphor, even though he did mentioned visible and invisible culture. It’s amazing how often we take so much hear-and-say for granted.

Great read if you're interested in self-awareness. This book presents concepts and perspectives that are crucial for understanding cultural differences. It was thought provoking and it definitely caused a shift in my way of seeing and experiencing myself in relation to others. I enjoyed the stories and the overall way in which the book delivered the information. Despite the relatively small size of the book the author was able to touch on so many topics, while showing their interrelatedness and keeping things marching with the main concept of the book, which for me was a better understanding of myself, within the context of my own culture and how my assimilation affects my own perception. There's a wealth of knowledge here for those seeking deeper understanding of themselves and others.

This is an older book I bought for reference. Am not even half-way through it, as I got into another hugely interesting area with other Amazon books. However, it does have some essential information even at this juncture, and I am glad I got it, even if as peripheral reference. I don't worry about "obsolete" any more. Just give the human knowledge base a month or so, and the whole thing is bursting at the seams, in every direction. Wherever it goes, even the older books and materials will have some value.

Although I do not agree with Hall about the evolution of man, his treatise of culture as the "bottom line" is certainly right on. A must read for anybody who deals with people in other micro or macro regions of our planet.

Previous reviewers have said it well -- this should be required reading for everyone. I've read and re-read this book. There are notes, highlights, underlines and dogeared pages all over my copy. It's one of the rare books I'd like to buy copies and hand out to everyone I know.

The insight this gem offers to our modern world and how we function in society are invaluable. The light it sheds on our subconscious behavior is priceless. As an educator, I reference BEYOND CULTURE regularly in classes, and have been known to pull it out in regular conversation to quote Hall! Most recently with this tidbit about what I'd call generalizations and how they, "satisfy the public's need for highly specific answers to complex questions for which there are no simple answers."

Beyond culture is a classic in cultural and anthropological literature. The book was originally written in 1976 and part of the content and research is somewhat dated at the time of this review (2010). I found it a hard to read book (mainly language-wise) but still worth reading. The book had average parts mixed with truly insightful parts and stories.

The book explores a broad amount of subjects and discusses how they are all interrelated -- from depletion of resources to misalignment of education and the human body. These are all driven by culture and the disability of people to recognize the impact culture has on their thinking and behavior. People become more aware of their own culture when interacting with other cultures... in fact, perhaps understanding of your own culture is perhaps the key learning when studying other cultures.

The book consists of 15 chapters, all relative short. Chapters sometimes cover completely different topics, yet always relate back to the main thread of the book... transcending culture by better recognition of your own culture. The first couple of chapters introduce concepts which are used throughout the book. A key concept introduced is the idea of humans creating 'extensions' (tools) which perform functions that previously were performed by the body. The extensions are able to develop faster than the human body.

Early chapters cover differences in cultures related to different experience of time (S-time and P-time), different experience of rhythm and different experience of space. Edward Hall is well-known for the concepts of low-context and high-context cultures, which are introduced in six to eight.

Later chapters discuss human and culture from different perspectives. Chapter ten introduces the action chains which provide a way of analyzing cultural situations. Later chapters cover the functioning of the brain and how this relates to education, cultural irrationality, and identification.

The language in the book was hard to read (which is interesting as the author several times criticizes language). At times, the author used too much words or jumped too fast from topic to topic (for me). Still, parts of the book were truly insightful. Because of the language and the out-of-date-ness, I was doubting between 3 and 4 stars, but as the book is truly insightful at times, I decided four stars. Recommended for people looking for interesting cultural insights.

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