I Can Read You Like a Book

CHAPTER 2

Culture: The BigExternal Influence

Ruthless Celtic kings and their chiefs had body language that defined them. A nasty, belching bunch, they could easily be identified by “hands twitching to the sword hilt at the imagined hint of an insult…wiping the greasy moustaches that were a mark of nobility,” in the words of anthropologist Stuart Piggott in Ancient Europe (Edinburgh: The University Press, 1965, p. 229).

This is a description that highlights features of the Celtic warriors’ culture, but every culture has the same binding elements: beliefs, traditions, behaviors, and rules. These elements work together to engender security within the group and keep people riding in the same direction. In its most primitive sense, culture separated ...