Expert: Emoor - 7/7/2010

Question
I’m looking for a good, accessible book to help a foreigner understand better what British people are like. For example, what is British understatement? Is British humour different from what we saw among American people?
Previously I read an interesting book by Kate Fox called Watching the British.
Could you pls recommend some good books on this topic?

Answer
Get a copy of "Notes From A Small Island" by Bill Bryson.  Bryson is an American who married an English woman and lived for years in England, returned for a few years to America, and then returned to England where he now lives with his family.  This book was voted the best description of the English by the English, and it is a very funny book.

There is no good book that I know which actually explains British humour (which is the way they spell it).  The best way to learn about it is to see it.  Rent or buy the DVDs of all of the English comedy series called "Fawlty Towers".

Ed