Analyzing what her compatriots consider the “comme-il-faut” or not when it comes to clothing, etiquette, conversation, work and behavior, and for what reason exactly, the author uncovers a whole series of complicated subconscious rules that may either help us better understand the mysterious English soul… or rethink one’s own.

While not exactly claiming to be a serious academic opus, the book still had the effect of a grenade explosion on the English society (especially from the side of Liverpool residents who claimed their identity to be absolutely different) and spawned a multitude of copy-cat titles centered on the French, the Chinese, the Spanish, etc.

What makes Kate Fox’ work stand apart from the indigenous follower is several important advantages. Namely, her book:

- is written “from the inside”, that is – by a representative of the studied nation itself, 

- is as far from a satiric parody as possible (despite the author’s healthy dose of self-irony),

- is based on the several years of sociological research, 

- and never feels boring at that.

In 2017, the world has finally seen the much-needed rules of handling our own compatriots. The book “Watching the Russian: the Hidden Rules of Russian Behavior” was written by the Doctor of Philological Sciences Vladimir Zhelvis, therefore it is dedicated not to the everyday observations but rather to where the mysterious Russian soul comes from, and consequently includes a deep analysis of traditions, proverbs and fairy tales.

One may wonder what has had a more prominent impact on the format and content of those two books, - the respective fields of their authors’ academic interest, or the inherent laws of national thinking and behavior themselves?