Customer comments on this selection.
 Delivers the goods
Clotaire Rapaille delivers the goods in this outstanding exeplanation of what makes people tick. In my 20 years working in marketing and branding, I've spent more time studying psychology, sociology, anthropology, and politics than much of the standard marketing fare.
At the core, marketing is about understanding the messy world of human interaction - what drives and moves us, what frightens and stops us.
This book - and Dr. Rapaille's work - reveal the power in undesrtanding these principles. In my own work, this book has opened intellectual doors through which I continue to explore how to better understand the audiences we address in growing our business.
 Once in a great while...
... someone will introduce you to positions or ideas that on some level you already know, but in a way that makes you say wow. Now I get it. This is one of those books. Filled with insights that are both revolutionary and obvious, it is a book that will make you re-think the way you talk with your product developers, frontline staff and creative department.
fascinating
Although the writer mainly does his (extremely highly paid) work for marketing and advertising purposes, the book gives an unusually deep insight into the underlying meanings of certain concepts for various cultures.
Based on the learning of the particular culture as constructed in early childhood, he defines (for instance) what the word "love" means to several different cultures - and backs up his claims. He says that to the Americans (an adolescent culture) "love" really means "false expectation"; that in France "love" and pleasure are intertwined; the Italians expect love to contain strong dimensions of pleasure, beauty and (above all) fun (and that for them true love is maternal love); and for the Japanese (an older culture) love is a "temporary disease".
No, it's not terribly well written, but most of what he says resonates as true (I have lived for more than a decade each in Western Europe, US and Japan). He provides valuable insights and I'd love to read more on this subject by this author.
The human condition by culture....
We are products of our environment, rearing and experiences. This book may have value from a marketing stand-point. It is not why I read it.
Culture Code is insightful as to the behavior of people based on their life experiences. Our values as a society are reflected in our actions and our purchases. We do what is accepted by the majority and reject many things that are unpopular.
When a culture embraces a behavior we accept it as we grow within that culture. Sometimes it makes sense, other times, it does not.
If you are interested in why things are accepted as relevant for no seemingly good reason, read this title.
 Arbitrary conclusions; difficult to read
There aren't many books I just don't like, but this was one. Rapaille comes across as an elitist who's tricked everyone into believing he's a guru. I would compare his book to a work of art where some know-it-all expert at the gallery is raving about the artist's use of light, color, and internal meaning, only to find out later that the painting was done by an elephant with a brush in its trunk (i.e. waaaay too much meaning assigned to random things). The same is true here. Rapaille's conclusions are ambigious and unproveable, and you or I could spout the same arbitrary theories. For example, because Americans consume a lot of hamburgers, I hereby declare that the culture code for America is a cow. See? It's easy. This type of random link between unrelated things (and the unsupportable claim that they're not random and they ARE related)is what you get with this book. Rapaille's only genius is in convincing corporate America that he is one.
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