Why you should pick up “Why the Dutch are different”

Welcome welcome, I hope you’ve missed our “What TNW is reading” posts.

If you’re not familiar with them, at the beginning of the year we set some news year’s resolutions among which was reading more regularly. To help us keep this resolution, we released a weekly post featuring TNW’s favorite reads.

Resolutions are unattainable promises bound to be broken so we admit to skipping a week or two. But, we are back and kicking things up a notch!

Let’s get real, you weren’t really taking our recommendations into account were you? We thought so…That’s why we now feature one read and one team member per week. This more personal approach will give you a deeper look into the content but most importantly into the reader so that the review feels more authentic. Basically, we want it to feel like your best friend’s telling you about his or her latest read!

Our first guest is Laure Albouy, our lovely Parisian girl who speaks flawless English. Laure is the Content Marketing and PR intern for Index. She tries to read all year long but usually crams her yearly reading quota into her summer vacation, far away from internet’s distractions. Still, she recently picked up a good book she wanted to share with you guys!

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Having recently moved to Amsterdam, Laure was pretty clueless about the country’s history and curious about Dutch culture in general. So when she found the book “Why the Dutch are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands” by the British author Ben Coates on a bookshelf in Rotterdam, she was sold.

As a fellow expat, I totally get where she’s coming from and that title is completely relatable: the Dutch are a lovely but sometimes odd bunch.

Basically, it’s a modern take on the history of the Netherlands from a British perspective. The author travels all over the Netherlands exploring how each place is connected to an important aspect of Dutch culture. For example, if you’ve always wondered about the importance of the color orange and the love (obsession) for dairy, Coates found the answer.

Don’t fear the historical genre of this book, Laure attests it’s a very light and fun read. Plus, she’s now a Dutch-history-buff and could probably outsmart all her Dutch TNW colleagues (except Jelle, of course).

If you’re not convinced, keep in mind that the Dutch once ruled the world.

This is a #TNWLife article, a look into the lives of those that work at The Next Web.