Luc Jones
The 3rd edition of ‘Why Russians don’t Smile’ was published following positive reviews on the first two editions as a no-nonsense guide not only to doing business in Russia/CIS but to reading about what it’s actually like moving to, and living here. The international media continues to portray Russia as an arch-enemy and an aggressor without ever even trying to offer a balanced view, yet as always life goes on as normal in Russia, whatever the definition of ‘normal’ might be.
As the largest country in the world, Russia will always be relevant, regardless of international events, both from a business and a political perspective. Bottom line, Russia ain’t going anywhere!
There is a famous Russian saying, that ‘there is nothing as permanent as temporary’ so continual updates to the book are crucial to letting the world know the realities of everyday goings on. 
The book now contains a separate section on the northern capital St. Petersburg, and I have expanded the chapter on Kazakhstan to take into account of the increased business in Central Asia’s largest & wealthiest country. Additionally, given Russians’ love of the internet, I decided to add a piece on social media and how its use differs from abroad, especially with Linkedin currently being blocked by the authorities (in theory at least).
Most importantly, the layout continues to be easy to navigate and the early chapters give basic, yet useful advice plus some of the most common myths and stereotypes surrounding Russia. It won’t be long before I begin putting ideas together for the 4th edition so if you feel that there’s anything missing, don’t agree with anything or would like to contribute some material, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me:
