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Title: Expect this one in the discount bin soon.
Review: This book is merely an anthology of tall-tales and tittle-tattle dressed up as a serious reference book. He recounts scandal after scandal and attributes them to something dark and nebulous called 'culture'. He makes curious comparisons with Western 'culture' (the headlight story above, and the 'do unto others' theory so eloquently and quickly debunked by Frank Ching in the Far Eastern Economic Review') without a single mention of thousands of western business scandals, not least in Backman's own country, where, during the 1980s, there was a string of scandals involving businessmen like Christopher Skase and Alan Bond. They weren't Asian, but quite readily scooted off with millions of dollars of other people's money. Backman has clearly researched and written this book with a set of conclusions already in mind, namely, Asians are innately devious and slippery. Save your money and your time. Give this book a miss.
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