A good overview of what makes the Swiss...erh...tick. Like the Swiss the book is well-ordered and easy to navigate. The author's light, cheeky humor keeps the more tedious topics of history and politics engaging. It is a book similar in style and character to T.R. Reid' book on Japan "Confucius Lives Next Door." A perfect book for gaining insight to Switzerland either before or after a visit.

An entertaining introduction to the country. I don't know of a name for these sorts of book: not travel guide, not travel book, not history, not Bill Bryson. But about the country now, drawing on history where relevant, and particular of interest by contrasting with the author's original home, the UK. Investigates what you think you know about the country, but with plenty more detail on the everyday details. ( )

Having read Swiss Watching I found myself agreeing somewhat with 'Chatterboxs' review below. The style of the book is very much one of telling you about the Swiss backed up by loads of (well) researched facts and figures. All facts, figures, quotes and verifiable information is referenced against a sizeable list at the back of the book. Although the author knows his subject, I still found it all a little dry with some rather 'cheesy' (ho! ho!) puns liberally scattered throughout the text. Bill Bryson the author is certainly not!
I rather wished I could have heard from some of the Swiss themselves (although it probably would not have been called Swiss Watching then.
A pleasant enough book, but limited to a fairly small audience I would imagine ( )

If the quality of travel writing can be measured by the strength of desire it inspires in a reader for travel to that destination, then Diccon Bewes's Swiss Watching is very good. The book is part travelogue and part introduction to popular culture. The more I read of it, the more eager I became to make a return trip to Switzerland. (In my college years, I spent a couple of days in Switzerland on a camping trip from London to Italy's Adriatic coast.)

Bewes is a UK citizen who now lives in Switzerland. He's been in Switzerland long enough to notice things about Swiss culture and geography that most short-term tourists wouldn't notice. His writing is mostly complimentary, and the occasional criticisms have an air of affectionate amusement rather than arrogant superiority.

The book is heavy on cultural comparisons between Switzerland and the UK. I lived in the UK for several years, so I had no difficulty with the British English and cultural references. Americans with less exposure to British English may be puzzled by references to places/things like Sainsbury's, OBEs and Clapham Junction.

"Extras" include maps hand drawn by the author, an alphabetical list of cantons with demographic, geographic, and cultural statistics, and a recommended reading list helpfully divided between books about Switzerland, books set in Switzerland, and books by Swiss authors available in English translation.

Recommended to readers looking for popular travel writing a step above a basic travel guide. Since Bewes writes as an outsider, readers interested in a deeper study of Swiss culture will want to balance it with books written by cultural insiders.

This review is based on an electronic copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley. ( )

The great title pun of Swiss Watching reveals also the book's main weakness: As a watcher, Bewes discovers and describes only the (somewhat) obvious surface. His language skills do not allow him to distinguish between the peculiarities of German and Swiss German which shaves off much of what constitutes "Swissness".

Nevertheless, the book offers a good overview of Swiss history and its political system as well as its Top Ten touristic sights. Do not expect to find the gems and real insight into the Swiss character, as it takes years to even grasp the enormous differences of this little country. Switzerland went to the Sevilla World Expo with the paradoxical, post-modern slogan "Switzerland does not exist" which is a semantic Schrödinger's cat. The differences of languages, regions, religions and cultures makes anything typical atypical for some if not for most. Switzerland contains multitudes that defy stereotypes. Switzerland was one of the first countries to allow women to study at universities and had one of the last local holdouts against female suffrage. Swiss banks relied upon excessive formalism to deprive Jewish holocaust survivors of their money. Yet Switzerland took in more Jewish refugees than the United States of America and has rigorously examined its failed wartime banking policies (which both Wall Street and Israel have yet to do too.). A land of extreme openness, protected by a plethora of local monopolies. Switzerland is both extremely progressive and modern, and rural and conservative. Market research is thus ridiculously expensive to do in Switzerland, yet if a product survives on the Swiss market, it will usually do well in most rich markets. After all, Switzerland is a miniature version of Europe. Given his British origin, Bewes sees Switzerland as an island in a European sea. It might be more accurate to describe Switzerland as a Mandelbrot fractal joint of its neighbors.

Overall, recommended with caution. Also best bought abroad as in Switzerland the book costs more than twice the book's price in Euros. ( )