Newcomer's Handbook for Moving to and Living in the USA

The Newcomer's Handbook is an excellent reasource for all the information you need before moving to the USA either as a student or to work for a local company/organization. Written well enough so it can be read as you would read a novel, it covers all the important aspects of the American culture, society, business, goveranment and day to day life. If you read only one book before moving to the USA, make it this one!

Newcomer's Handbook For Moving To and Living in The USA Mike Livingston First Books, Portland, OR ISBN0-912301-57-0 2005 US$23.95 Travel/Relocation Reviewed by Frederick Noronha http://goabooks2.blogspot.com/ Who wouldn't like to migrate to the USofA? As one of the few citizens of this planet who wouldn't -- the migration virus has gotten out of my system -- this reviewer has to concede that Mike Livingston's is a fascinating book. Across 337 tastefully-designed pages packed with information, the freelance editor and writer based in Takoma Park, Maryland brings us a wide range of useful information. For someone who has never ever visited the US, this book offered new and insightful tips into how this society works. One would have taken years to fathom out the logic of the real-estate system. Or, how do you deal with your kids entering schooling in quite another world. Even understanding etiquette -- Americans, we're told, are informal, value their privacy, they're conscious of time and tend to be competitive -- could be a challenge without inputs from someone in the know. Based on our own experiences, we make assumptions about how societies work. But these simply don't work across societies. Needless to say, this book doesn't get stuck with cliches and trivalities. First Book seems deep into the Newcomer's Handbook series. They have publications for Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St Paul, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC. Each deals with a range of information -- from finding a place to live, to getting settled, money matters, communications, useful websites and more. If I ever change my mind tomorrow, this is a book I'd probably treat as my Bible. And if I don't, this is a kind of book which I wish would be published for my home-region. After having lived here for donkey's years, there's still a lot of systematically-arranged information which one needs access to.