Why Some Books are Difficult to Read

Some books on Social and Cultural Anthropology can be difficult to read. There are too many technical terms and they are written in a way that takes a long time to understand the content. That’s not a good experience for the reader.

It’s the main reason many of them give up. I give in the next paragraph an example of how some scientific institutes sometimes fall into the trap of making their subject matter a poor learning experience. In my writing, I strive to avoid this.

Before I moved into cultural anthropology, my career was in applied mathematics. At their annual formal dinner, the members of a rival institute made the toast, “To pure mathematics, may it never be of any use to anyone”. I’m not sure if they still do this. It was, anyway, a bit tongue in cheek. Applied mathematics owes a lot to the rigorous theorems developed in pure mathematics.

My stories, blogs, and books provide an alternative. They are easy to read and in everyday language. Focusing on real life examples of Thai culture and lifestyle, I draw on my experiences over the last 15 years that I have lived amongst the Thais and responses I have had when lecturing in universities in Thailand.

I have not been able to find out from Medium whether I can mention the titles of my books and how they can be obtained online. The 365 entries in my most popular book, A Thailand Diary, are written from actual observation of true events which I have experienced first-hand. Sometimes with some humour. Often comparing and contrasting the cultural points which are so different from those of western countries.