Going Dutch in Beijing
Mark McCrum
Profile Books, €15, ISBN 9781861978622
For those of you who never knew that 'coffee brewed from beans vomited by weasels' was a prized Vietnamese speciality or that it is a major faux pas to take a bottle of wine to a French dinner party, this is an amusing and useful guide to cultural do's and don'ts across Europe and beyond. Amazingly it would seem there is only one international sign that means the same (rude) thing wherever you are, a gesture dating back to the Roman era: the raised middle finger. Yet even here there is a cultural difference – Arabs generally do it with the finger pointing downwards. JK

The Global Business Leader
J Frank Brown
INSEAD Business Press, €28, ISBN 9780230522152

The push for globalisation has put companies under increasing pressure to develop transcultural methods of working. Brown, dean of INSEAD, focuses on the idea of the transcultural leader. Usefully, Brown isn't just an academic, having had a 26-year career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and it shows. Concise and clearly structured, the book is an intelligent, well-written and jargon-free primer on basic leadership as well as the additional skills necessary for survival in a global environment. RL

The Handbook of Personal Wealth Management
Edited by Jonathan Reuvid
Kogan Page, €60, ISBN 9780749449520

Now in its third edition in as many years, this volume must be a cash cow for the publishers – it's liberally sprinkled with ads from all the people who want to get their hands on your money. Despite appearances, however, it is comprehensive and expert, albeit at the expense of an easy read. Everything is in here – from Baltic forestry and coloured diamonds, to philanthropy and regular securities. Read it to learn and you won't go wrong. RL