A potentially fascinating book exploring the psychological and conceptual differences between the Western European psyche and culture and that of the rest of the world, and how this helps explain the rise and dominance of the West. He looks at all kinds of things - individualism vs. social and familial integration, social cohesion vs. individual perception and judgement, the locus of causality and guilt, and many others.
One interesting point that he makes is how the Catholic Church revolutionized social relations in the West by forbidding cousin marriage, thereby forcing people to reach out beyond their immediate familial circles to develop a wider web of relations.
Unfortunately, the book delves into the background, research and experiments a bit too deeply and it begins to drag. I would like to read a version with the main themes and conclusions and a simple summary of the background related to each. Because of this quality, I couldn't finish the book.
Try again, reading only the beginning and end of each section for the main points and themes.
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