Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 28 Nations, Clusters of Nations, and Continents

Book Description

Click 'Additional Materials' for downloadable sample chapters

“In summary, this is a significant book . . . for a multitude of audiences, including scholars, practitioners, students, expatriates, travelers, and those who are simply interested in culture. . . . This book is also an ideal reference tool, since the metaphors are easy to remember yet rich in contextual value, and are presented in a logical structure for quick consultation. Overall, this book is enormously appealing, genuinely useful, and a worthy addition to any collection.”

—THUNDERBIRD INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW, 2002

In Understanding Global Cultures, Third Edition, the author presents the cultural metaphor as a method for understanding the cultural mindsets of a nation, a cluster of nations, and even a continent. This title emphasizes that metaphors are guidelines that helps such outsiders to quickly understand what members of a culture consider important.

New Features of the Third Edition:

Develops a cultural metaphor for the base culture of China (the Great Wall), showing how it influenced both a unifying cultural metaphor among the large Chinese Expatriate communities living in various nations (the Chinese family altar) and the cultural metaphor for Singapore (the Hawker Centers).
Provides a description of cultural metaphors for two continents, Africa and Australia
Groups cultural metaphors by book parts into overriding themes or general types of cultures such as Authority Ranking, Equality matching, Market Pricing, Cleft, and Torn.

Instructor’s Resources on the Web:

There is now a Web site where instructors can obtain over 100 concepts, applications, and exercises to enrich the learning experiences associated with the Third Edition. Visit the authors website at www.csusm.edu/mgannon, or click here.

Customer Reviews:

A practical approach to other cultures.......2007-05-15

This book uses metaphors as tools to engage with other cultures. And very useful tools they are, indeed. I have been using this book with students for several years now, and the biggest initial obstacle is that people mistake the metaphors for stereotypes. Once this obstacle is overcome, a very creative and productive examination of the reality of another culture can occur.

Antropology is a must.......2006-01-30

Very exciting journey using the strenght of metaphores. Just be careful that metaphores are a representation of reality, not exactly that!

Book Description

Often lost in the study of people management is the crucial skill of relationships management. It is not simply the study of how to help people "get along," nor is it the same as managing compensation, for example, but it is infinitely more volatile, complex, and difficult to do. Snider sees it as the key to success in new and growing organizations of almost any kind (he refers to these relationships as "partnerships") and in his challenging new book proves that in any high-growth company, people really are partners. He explores the dynamics of such groups, their social and psychological aspects, and shows how to use the concepts that emerge from these understandings to manage a real world enterprise. What happens if it fails? Snider, a clinical psychologist with experience in couples therapy, shows that the dissolution of a business can be likened to the breakup of a marriage and "managed" the same way. This book is engrossing, essential reading for entrepreneur executives in all types of companies--new, growing, even mature ones--but also for venture capitalists and others on the way up, with financial or personal career stakes in them. Snider defines the types of partnerships found in almost all kinds of businesses, and identifies the variables that are crucial to managing them successfully. He examines concepts familiar to social psychologists, then relates them to the specifics of business culture and probes their influences upon it. He discusses hands-on topics like team management, the use of power, the place of values and beliefs, the very real cost/benefit implications of any human relationship in a work setting, and the critical role played by interpersonal communications. Of special interest to entrepreneur-executives is his discussion of the dynamics of managing transitions, as organizations move from one stage of development to the next, and also the use of delegation. Dr. Snider then tackles the all-important problem of how to keep a business healthy, and how to notice and identify early signs of trouble. But if everything fails and a break-up becomes inevitable, it may actually prove the best thing. Far from being a confidence-shattering crisis, Dr. Snider shows how it can be a learning experience, and how it can benefit everyone the next time around.

Customer Reviews:

Explains it Better Than My College Textbook.......2000-03-29

Invaluable to the astronomy student with little or no scientific background. Each topic (with a catchy title) is covered on the open two pages, with lots of photos, diagrams, and visual analogies (see the push broom on page 134). Excellent topical cross references on each right-hand page. The most difficult concepts for a non-physics major made simple, such as "hyperbola" demonstrated by a golfer on a putting green. I logged on Amazon to order this book since I've renewed it from the state library as many times as they will allow. I wish it was in print!

Epitaph For A Desert Anarchist: The Life And Legacy Of Edward Abbey
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Epitaph to a Great Writer

Another treasure of the Southwest is found ... J. Bishop!

A superb, well-researched analysis of Edward Abbey.

Epitaph For A Desert Anarchist: The Life And Legacy Of Edward Abbey
James Bishop
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Edward Abbey: A Life

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One Life at a Time, Please

ASIN: 0684804395

Book Description

Through Abbey's own writings and personal papers, as well as interviews with friends and acquaintances, Bishop gives us a penetrating, compelling, no-holds-barred view of tile life and accomplishments of this controversial figure.

Customer Reviews:

Thank you for playing, please try again later.......2002-11-03

I am sorry that the money was spent to give this book to me as a gift. It is not well researched and not well written. If you have bought everything that Abbey wrote, read it all, bought everything else, read them all, gone back and read at least Desert Solitare and Down the River again, then have to be able to say "I've read everything by and about Abbey"; well then you might, but only might, consider this book. Even then try to borrow it. In fact, I'll send you mine if I haven't tossed it. I have been an Abbey fan for years, not always agreeing but always admiring the point of view. This book was truely not worth my time, I am somewhat amazed that three other people thought it was. Oh well, just as you can say this about me I'll say it about them, there's no accounting for taste.

Epitaph to a Great Writer.......2001-04-06

What a wonderful book! Reading it was like sitting with the author and talking about Ed Abbey over a couple of beers. Bishop's style is so smooth and relaxing. He could give a lesson to all current biographers: we don't need to know everytime the subject had tea with someone or tied his tie over the course of 800 pages! It was just the right mix of disscussion of his life and his books. The last chapter, "Farewell..." was very moving. Edward Abbey was a man I would have loved to have known personally because he was so interesting and caustic, and especially because I don't always agree with him, which makes an interesting mix. I have read 2 novels and 1 book of essays of Abbey's and look forward to reading everything else he has written. A real nice job by the author.

Another treasure of the Southwest is found ... J. Bishop!.......1999-08-26

James P. Bishop, Jr. has created a vivid and real picture of a great man who was as human as the rest of us. I most enjoyed how Abbey's contrariness has been captured. After reading this book, not only do I feel I've come to know of Abbey in some small way, it has given me a greater appreciation for the American Southwest and the need to speak out against government intervention. Written with frank truth and compassion ... a rare combination.

A superb, well-researched analysis of Edward Abbey........1999-07-13

"We shook hands once, but I never knew him personally, and I have mixed feelings about that. I would have liked to argue with him over cheap cigars and good tequila by a blazing river campfire under a sky full of stars. But then, this would have been a different book, more of a personal memoir." James Bishop, Jr. Despite misgivings of not knowing Edward Abbey personally, Bishop has written a superb book on the legend of desert anarchist Cactus Ed. It is a well-researched, no-holds-barred, truthful expose of the mind, musings and legacy of an outrageous, outspoken man who was devoted to preserving the American Southwest wilderness for himself and a select few who would truly understand, preserve and love it unequivocally. Bishop, a polished and professional writer of many years with Newsweek, leaves no saguaro thorn or blossom untouched in his thorough and objective rendering of the subjects life, personality, writings and still living legacy. Often labeled the "Thoreau of the American West," the talented and tenacious Abbey was the promoter of ecodefense and ecosabotage; advocating anarchy to prevent the government and tourist industry from ruining the wilderness. In his twenty-one published books, the most popular being "The Monkey Wrench Gang" and "Desert Solitaire", Abbey shows to have been a determined, cantankerous, frustrated and angry, yet unique and colorful persona. Many detested him; especially those who were to receive financial gain from developing, paving or civilizing the west for tourism or the development of power plants at the cost of damning nature, pun intended. Abbey, certainly a master wordsmith as well, expounds a continuous theme: a surly hatred of progress and dogmatic devotion to wilderness preservation. If the admirable and perplexing Abbey could be summed up in one word, it would have to be curmudgeon; applying his wrath and logic at will depending upon mood and provocation, yet one with a delight of stirring motions within others and then impishly standing back to watch the results. Abbey's theme and writing niche was discovered early in life; the constant rebellion to progress, pomp and formality were seemingly intentional. Despite his denial and distaste for finances, both theme and writing paid well. "Love of wilderness" Abbey wrote in Desert Solitaire, "is an expression of loyalty to the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only home we will ever know, the only paradise we ever need --- if we only have eyes to see." In his constant struggle to protect the environment from the government, developers and ourselves, Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang implies his fictional delight in openly seeking to enrage others to the point of "monkey wrenching" the governments Glen Canyon Dam Project by damaging equipment or floating dynamite-filled boats to the dam while the ribbon cutting ceremony was taking place. As long as no one got hurt and he, admittedly the one who didn't have the courage to pull the plug or press the handle setting off the dynamite, it was fine with him. So open was Abbey in his determination of stopping progress that the FBI had agents assigned to watch and report on him for most of his adult life. Alas, the struggle of Abbey and his devotees to prevent what many called necessary "growth and progress" was as futile as those who in present day blame Columbus for the genocide of native Americans and eventual take over of two entire continents by Europeans and others. It was and is, inevitable. If Columbus didn't do it, someone else would have. The environs of Abbey's Southeast Utah stomping grounds of the 1950s, resembles little of what it is today, and, regretfully, nothing of what "growth and progress" will deem its state and existence a hundred years from now. We come, we see and, for environments demise, we conquer. Anyone interested in understanding more of Edward Abbey, need only read Desert Solitaire, written in 1968 from essays he wrote in the mid-50s while working as an isolated National Parks employee in Arches National Monument near Moab, Utah. "This is the most beautiful place on earth." Abbey wrote, yet he ended his employment there after two seasons due to the monument becoming "developed and improved so well that I had to leave." The reader seeking complete insight of the unique and complex Edward Abbey should read Epitaph of a Desert Anarchist. "Any writer who is dead and still raises hackles must have done his work properly," eulogized fellow writer and friend Chuck Bowden. Abbey and Bishop have both done their work well.

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Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist
Edward] Bishop, James, Jr. [Abbey
Manufacturer: Atheneum, 1994
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ILHO14

Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist: The Life & Legacy of Edward Abbey

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Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist: The Life & Legacy of Edward Abbey
James Bishop
Manufacturer: Berkley Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0614147263

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Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist
Edward). BISHOP, James, Jr (ABBEY
Manufacturer: Atheneum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VARY0S

Epitaph For A Desert Anarchist The Life and Legacy of Edward Abbey

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Epitaph For A Desert Anarchist The Life and Legacy of Edward Abbey
James Bishop Jr.
Manufacturer: Atheneum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PHSEME

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Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist.

Manufacturer: 0
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ICPL4K

Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist: The Life and Legacy of Edward Ab

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Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist: The Life and Legacy of Edward Ab
James Bishop; Epilogue Charles Bowden
Manufacturer: ATHENEUM
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WTMMTG

Pa-Kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self-Defense
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Pa-Kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self-Defense
Robert W. Smith
Manufacturer: Kodansha International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J52B4Y

Product Description

Illustrated throughout with over 400 black and white photos, also few drawn diagrams of foot movements.

Pa-Kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self-Defense

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Classic Text

Pa-Kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self-Defense
Robert Smith
Manufacturer: Blue Snake Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Sports | Subjects | Books
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The Fundamentals of Pa Kua Chang: The Methods of Lu Shui-Tien As Taught by Park Bok Nam Vol. II(Fundamentals of Pa Kua Chan (Unique))
Chinese Boxing: Masters and Methods

ASIN: 1583941711
Release Date: 2006-07-20

Book Description

Originally published in 1967, Pa-Kua was the West’s first look into the esoteric Chinese martial arts. It has been a valued and sought after text ever since. It was put out of print in the 1970’s, but since that time interest in the martial arts have continued to skyrocket. Pa-Kua gives an introduction to the little known mystical martial art from China, Pa Kua Chang (also known as Ba Gua Zhang), translated as "Eight Trigram Boxing." Smith describes its history, profiles its great practitioners and gives a series of unique exercises, illustrating the solo practice and their fighting applications.

Customer Reviews:

Classic Text.......2007-03-29

This book came out during a time when martial art books in English were generally short on information. After myself spending a bunch of time learning both Baguazhang and Xingyiquan, I must say that Mr. Smith did a fine job. He learned much from an almost overwhelming number of teachers. Here, he concentrates on what we now know as Gao Yi Sheng's linear forms, and the Sun Lu Tang circling forms demonstrated ably by the late Paul Guo. While some newer books have advantages in that they present more material, or spend more time on translated segments featuring key concepts of the style, nonetheless this book still has wonderful pictures which give a very good feel for the body actions in this wonderful art. The opinions given by Mr. Smith are often presented quite bluntly, which can be difficult to take for a relatively inexperienced reader unable to see what is behind them. Some of Mr. Smith's opinions have changed a little since the book was written, but nonetheless, the presentation stands the test of time, still giving the key ingredient: authentic flavor.

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Pa Kua Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self -Defense
Robert W. Smith
Manufacturer: Kodansha America, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WT7PYI

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pa-Kua : Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self-Defense
Robert W. Smith
Manufacturer: Kodansha International Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RHEOUS

Pa-Kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self-Defense [1967 1st Edition]

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Pa-Kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness and Self-Defense [1967 1st Edition]
Robert W. Smith
Manufacturer: Kodansha International Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NHZBQS

Reading for Life: The Learner As Reader
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Reading for Life: The Learner As Reader

Manufacturer: Richard C. Owen Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Reading for Life: The Learner As Reader
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Reading for Life: The Learner As Reader
Learning Media
Manufacturer: Richard C Owen Pub
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Samurai Girl Set 1-3: The Book of the Sword; The Book of the Shadow; The Book of the Pearl
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Samurai Girl Set 1-3: The Book of the Sword; The Book of the Shadow; The Book of the Pearl
Carrie Asai
Manufacturer: Simon Pulse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MSBRAW

Product Description

The first three volumes in the Samurai Girl series. 218 pages; 214 pages; 229 pages

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