ONE KISS OR TWO?

A book about how people from around the world greet each other in different ways, and the anxieties that can create in us all. Part personal quest, part anthropological study and part global guide, ONE KISS OR TWO? is the first book to explore, in all its complexity, this crucial and fascinating – but little understood – social custom.

In 2008, Prime Minister Gordon Brown stretches out his arm for a regular handshake, but George Bush goes in diagonally for a hip-hop style clasp, catching Brown off guard. The result is an awkward tangle with three of Brown's fingers sliding up Bush's shirt. Photos are immediately shared across the world showing the act in full detail, as two personalities and cultures collide. Back home, an already struggling Brown is mocked for ‘losing his grip.'

From tortured tales of half-kisses with the boss to inter-cultural fumbling, everyone has an awkward or embarrassing story to tell. In an increasingly global and connected world, our ways of saying hello have become more confusing than ever. In ONE KISS OR TWO?, Andy Scott takes us on a journey into the world of greetings and the people who study them, exploring how different cultures tell each other hello.

Here, we learn that first impressions involve a complex and multi-sensory range of signals. What people say is also important, but it's the physical act of greeting that often makes the biggest impression, with research suggesting that our body language carries around five times the impact of what comes out of our mouths. All of which is enough for business leaders and politicians to have commissioned scientific studies into finding the perfect handshake. After all, jobs and even elections have been lost because of the wrong grip.

ONE KISS OR TWO? is essential reading for anyone working in the cross-cultural, modern age. Perfect for readers of Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Henry Hitchings's Sorry! The English and their Manners or Joe Moran's Queuing for Beginners.

ANDY SCOTT has lived and travelled in over fifty countries. In his work as a diplomat for the UK Foreign Office, greetings have been part of his profession. He completed his PhD in history at the University of Cambridge and went on to hold visiting fellowships at Yale University's Centre for International Security Studies. His first book, ALLIES APART: Heath, Nixon and the Anglo-American Relationship (Palgrave, 2011) was praised by reviewers for being an engrossing read. He is 37 and, when not overseas, lives between London and Suffolk.