How to be an Alien

     The outline of this book is a typical English introduction from a foreigner.
The title of this book is translated as "Introduction to English" in Japanese.
When I first saw the title, I thought of an extraterrestrial life. Like ET.
However, this book describes a little strange character of the British.
While reading, I was confused because I couldn't understand the strange behavior of the British.
According to this book, weather is the most important topic in England.  As a Japanese, I'm bored with the topic of the weather, but in England the weather is an interesting and exciting topic and I have to talk well about the weather.
     What I found particularly interesting was Chapter 21 “How to plan a Town”.

2 Never build all the houses in a street in a straight line. The are free to build their houses in they British are free people circles.

3 Make sure that nobody put the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7 on one side of the street and 2, 4, 6, 8 on the other side of the street. The small numbers always from the north or west. In England they can find the houses. European people start start the numbers at one end of the street, then suddenly stop and continue the numbers on the opposite side going back the other way.

In this way, I thought it was strange to intentionally create complicated streets and towns.  However, local people will love it because it is hard to live in.
   To me as a Japanese, there were many customs and features that I could not understand, but it was very interesting to read compared to my home country.

How To Be An Alien by George Mikes(1966-01-04) 著者 : George Mikes Penguin UK 発売日 : 1777 ブクログでレビューを見る»