"Korea Unmasked"

My most recent success in my recently developed "reading while I walk" routine is reading the comic book, "Korea Unmasked" by Won-bok Rhie, originally written in Korean and later translated by Jung Un and Louis Choi. I remember a former colleague telling me about this. At that time I was much less interested in reading. I didn't see how reading could make a difference in the way I think about Korea. One day, my wife was at Kyobo Bookstore, the Barnes & Noble of Korea, and she stumbled across this book in English and apparently my name was written all over it so she bought it for me. At that time, I wasn't quite convinced of my need to read more so I put it on a shelf. Also, I've never been interested in comic books to that degree which didn't help me in reading it as soon as I could have. After I finished the book about Boston which I posted about on this site I was desperately trying to find something I could read while walking to and from my office. So I grabbed "Korea Unmasked" and it turned out to be much more fascinating than I originally thought. The author of this book did a fine job of being frank about the strengths and weaknesses of Korea. One of the things I found helpful was the way in which the author compared Korea with China and Japan. I've always tended to think that the countries were basically the same but now I know the error of that way of thinking. Who would've thought that one country could be so monotheistic (Korea) while another could be so polytheistic while also being individualistic? Perhaps the parts I found the most intriguing were about church, education and the reunification of North and South Korea. There were times when I wanted to shout an Amen and there were other times when I must have been laughing hard enough on my way to work or home that students who saw me may have thought I was paranoid. It's really difficult to criticize a book like this. Naturally, being translated into English by non-native English speakers, the expressions were sometimes slightly unnatural and there were a few typos along the way. But I didn't find those shortcomings to be hindering in terms of my own understanding. I also think the book sometimes errs on the side of exaggerating but I think that is necessary to make the point to people from other countries. Now of course there are some aspects that make their way into conversations with Sinae, which she sometimes wishes I didn't remember and sometimes reminds me that is a generalization. But I think that just makes my point stronger that this book is worthwhile not only for people living in Korea but for people who want to know about Koreans who seem to be scattered throughout the world.