The Korean Mind: Understanding Contemporary Korean Culture Paperback – June 10, 2012

This book really teaches Korean culture by focusing on key words that make up the collective unconscious of Koreans. There is a lot of history here, as well as explanations of Korean philosophy (both the abstract philosophy and how it was actually implemented in society), the interactions Korea had with Japan, China, Manchuria, the U.S., Russia, France, etc. etc. and how those interactions affected the Korean psyche.Some folks here have unfairly maligned the book for two reasons that to me do not make sense.1. The charge that the book has repetition:The fact is that since each word/concept is supposed to be explained completely in its own section, some measure of repetition is necessary to make that entry complete. Also, the authors never merely repeat the same information. Each time Boye Lafayette de Mente expands upon the information or presents distinct examples, history, ideational corollaries, etc.. So it is never pure repetition, even if similar information has to appear in a distinct section for that section to fully succeed as an explanation of the word/concept. Also the book is very thick (I was happy to get so many pages of information for my money), so the author did not skimp on information. I learned a lot from this book that is not explained or is not explained as well in other books.2. Critique that the Hangeul is wrong:First off, there is now a new revised edition of the book edited by Laura Kingdom who received a degree in Korean from Yonsei University in Korea (similar to Yale in the U.S.; Harvard being Seoul National University) and lives/works in Korea. She has authored or co-authored numerous books on Korean grammar. Also, the book was reviewed by many other Korean colleagues/experts, whom the author, de Mente, thanks in the acknowledgements section. If any inadvertent errors exist, they should be brought to the publishers attention, but it was not the fault of the author. Boyd de Mente (and Kingdom in her revision 2017 of Mente's book) made every effort to ensure the Hangeul was correct. Also, the concepts are explained superbly, even if the Hangeul or English romanization of that Hangeul word is off. IF YOU OWN AN EARLIER EDITION OF THIS BOOK, FOR EXAMPLE YOU ORDER AN OLD USED COPY, THAT MAY ACCOUNT FOR YOUR ENCOUNTER OF MISPELLED HANGEUL. I BELIEVE THOSE HAVE MOSTLY BEEN CORRECTED IN THIS REVISED EDITION. IF NOT, CONTACT TUTTLE AND THEY WILL REVISE THE BOOK IN THE FUTURE SO THAT IT IS PERFECT.In summary, if you judge this book for what it provides you, it is really a very very strong 5-star rating. I can't imagine learning Korean culture without it. My girlfriend is a native Korean with a Ph.D. (her paternal grandfather was one of the foremost Korean linguists in Korea: the top in his field, actually) and she says the cultural explanations are absolutely correct.In short, this is a great book. I suspect many who have rated the book below a 5, or at worst 4, have not actually read it. I have, and it's a wonderful indispensable book for the Korean culture learner.

This is easy to read and the information that I'm interested in

A long read, but very useful info and understanding this culture better.

This is an interesting approach to describing a foreign culture, and it's a good complement to other resources.A friend of mine has a natural law of copyediting: There's always one more typo. Sure enough, on p. 346 (2017 edition), the hangeul for yatpoda is wrong. Other reviewers have pointed out errors. You can take the view that this is a defect in the book, or you can use it to test your knowledge of Korean.

Broad understanding of Korean history and culture - provides some level of perspective prior to arrival. Recommended knowledge base prior to reviewing contemporary travel guides or language training. Enjoyable.

The book appears to be a series of free standing articles, each based on a Korean word. The word is translated to English, the spelled in the Korean alphabet and the phonetic pronunciation is given. There is then a several page discussion of why this word is important to the Korean culture or people. There are three problems with the book. First, in the discussion, most words are related to Korean history or laws base on the teachings of Confucius. This is repetitious and changes little from word discussion to word discussion. Second, there are too many words discussed. Half as many would be a lot. Third, the author concentrates too much on differences. My experience in Korea lead me to believe that Korean people (or any people for that matter) can figure out your intentions and overlook mistakes in dealing with their culture. Reading this book would help in not making as many mistakes.

It's helped me understand the intricacies of the language and culture of the people I live around in NYC.Thank you

My grandson married a Korean girl this year. She is a lovely person and I met her family a few months ago at the wedding reception. I bought this book in order to help me understand the Korean Culture.The book format seems unusual because it basically defines more than 200 words that have cultural significance. I will be giving this book to my grandson and get some feedback about its usefulness.My overall impression is that is an excellent introduction to this topic.

Esta estructurado como un diccionario de conceptos coreanos, es completo en cuanto a la forma de ser delos coreanos, pero no es muy ameno ni fácil de leer

Adorei este livro! Apresenta um panorama da cultura coreana organizado por palavras importantes no vocabulário do país. Uma porta de entrada para conhecer um pouco da história, cultura e sociedade daquele povo. Leitura agradável e direta. Recomendo!

When I visit Korea there are always lots of things I don't understand. This book is very good at explaining why the Korean people do the things they do.

This book is well written, interesting, super amusing and compares North American, Japanese and Chinese Cultures to the Korean Culture to help you fully understand Korea. I will be looking into what other books Boye Lafayette De Mente has written.

Its perfect