How to be an Alien was the second book by George Mikes

George Mikes

George Mikes was a Hungarian-born British author best known for his humorous commentaries on various countries.- Life :...

 and is the most famous of the 44 he wrote. By its 32nd impression in 1966 it had sold over 300,000 copies. It poked gentle fun at the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and their relationship with foreigners, written from his perspective as a fresh immigrant from Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. The book is characterised by much humour, affection and a total lack of rancour or bitterness. Mikes demonstrated not only his knowledge of English society but an insight into the English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

.
It is in two parts. The first part "How to be a General Alien" deals with such important English topics as the weather, tea, how not to be clever (since it is considered bad manners), how to compromise, and queueing (according to Mikes, the national passion). The chapter entitled "Sex" is in its entirety as follows.

Continental people have sex lives: the English have hot water bottles.

The second part, "How to be a Particular Alien" describes particular occupations from Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury

-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...

 Intellectual to bus driver, finishing with how to be a Naturalised citizen, which includes the eating of porridge

Porridge

Porridge is a dish made by boiling oats or other cereal meals in water, milk, or both. It is usually served hot in a bowl or dish...

 for breakfast, and alleging that you like it.

It was adopted for English language teaching in the Penguin Readers series. A UK television programme based on the book and with the same title was broadcast in 1964, featuring Frank Muir

Frank Muir

Frank Herbert Muir was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wrote BBC radio's Take It From Here for over 10 years, and then appeared on BBC radio...

 and Denis Norden

Denis Norden

Denis Mostyn Norden CBE is a former English comedy writer and television presenter. After an early career working in cinemas, he began scriptwriting during World War II. From 1948 to 1959, he co-wrote the successful BBC Radio comedy programme Take It from Here with Frank Muir...

, with the voices of Ronnie Barker

Ronnie Barker

Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...

 and June Whitfield

June Whitfield

June Rosemary Whitfield, CBE is an English actress, well known in the United Kingdom since the 1950s for roles in radio and television comedy series....

.

Editions

• 1946 First Edition: Andre Deutsch (UK) hardback with illustrations by Nicolas Bentley
  Nicolas Bentley
  Nicolas Clerihew Bentley was a British author and illustrator famous for his humorous cartoon drawings in books and magazines in the 1930s and 1940s...
  
  
• 1973 Penguin Books (paperback)
• 1999 How to Be an Alien (Penguin ELT Simplified Readers: Level 3: Pre-Intermediate) (Paperback)