How to Survive Holland by Martijn de Rooi

How to Survive Holland Reviews

• 
  Bill

  Occasionally amusing, but the writing is often poor and the translation is worse.
• 
  Ines Planinsic

  Quite funny book to read and quite accurate at some points. The book itself is bit outdated (2007) but still a lot of fun to read and laugh. It got some history in it specially at the beginning and some people will find this boring but that's how things were/are and are part of the book. I know i will read it again just for some fun parts as one below:
  
  ...''the modern visitor is aware that not every Dutch person grows flower bulbs, drags a few sandbags up to the dike now and then, and sits down in the evening as high as kite to decorate a Delft Blue ashtray with a brush made from cow's hair''...
  
  
• 
  Denise Senmartin

  It helped, and a nice read.
• 
  Giuz

  3.5 stars. There are some less entertaining passages here and there, but overall a self-deprecatingly funny collection of facts and considerations about the Netherlands.
  
  ***
  
  What dark forces must have consumed a people
  who see fit to adorn its toilets with a stage for its own bowel movements? How intensely filthy must the collective trauma be to manifest itself in such an extreme form of self-chastisement?
  The standard explanations for this fine specimen of Dutch design make no impression whatsoever on the despairing house guest. The toilet user's buttocks are spared from splashing? Well, yes, that is important! A clever invention so that one can study the stools of poorly children? Haven't you people heard of hospitals? The disbelief has given rise to a range of groundbreaking theories around the Dutch instrument of torture they call the toilet bowl. According to some, it has originated from the deep seated Dutch mania for ordering and keeping everything. Others are convinced that it has to do with the ingrained penchant for water management.
  "There's no doubt about it”, an American who has lived in the Netherlands for years confided in me. “I know the Dutch. If they can't see land protruding above water, they are inconsolable.”
• 
  Kerry

  A good read before my trip, got me ready to go. There was too much history at the beginning. Some of it was great, but it got way to detailed and nuanced to keep my attention. The last 4-5 chapters are the best with the most interesting and relevant cultural information. I did not particularly enjoy this authors writing style, although cannot really articulate why. Biggest question after reading this: does Chris M's love of the color orange stem from his time studying in Amsterdam?
• 
  Natya Nauri

  A book about Dutch culture, written in more serious way than the other ones with the same content. What I like from this book is the historical context in every aspect of Dutch culture. Some people find it boring, but this provide more objective and valid explanations for Dutch culture, not just shallow stereotype. Also, the history part makes the reading experience more enjoyable, like reading a novel with exciting storyline :)
• 
  Melissa

  Rubbish writing, but a few interesting observations.