There are many books about the Netherlands,

my goal is to find them and read as many as I can. For now I have put together a small collection. I have bought some myself, others were gifted by some friends.

Of course the collection is, and will be, composed by books in different languages. Yes, including Dutch! But in this article I put the stress on a specific one originally written in English.

¨Why the Dutch are different¨

The title was the reason why I bought the book, it defintely caught me. My first thought was ¨different from who?¨

Another reason is because it is written by an expat and it is, then, based on real facts and real feelings. The English author, Ben Coates, tells us his story, starting from his arrival in Rotterdam, how he felt and why, the friends he got there and  then he goes a bit deep in analysing the Dutchie, as well as some traditions. For example there are many pages dedicated to the Carnival, which is a ¨big thing¨ in the South of the Country.

The book is also historical, so by the time you read, you´ll learn something you might don´t know yet.

I don´t always agree with the point of view of the author, we definitely have different perspective regarding Rotterdam for example, and sometimes I had the feeling he was talking for too long about a specific topic, but in general the book is well written and it really covers a lot of the reality of being an expat in the Netherlands.

Would be interesting to know if you have read this book or you will after my advise, and what do you think. Feel free to reach me out via email or Instagram to let me know your point of view.

Bonus for the ones that are reading this article, and understand Italian as well. The book in the italian article is a different one, you might want to have a look. Click on the flag to change the language and enjoy the reading

Cheers

Rossella