Sign-In
Cart
Lines, Queues & Pauses: A Cultural Study Of Waiting Around The World
Paperback
AnthropologyGeneral World History
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Nov 21 2025
Pages: 90
Weight: 0.29
Height: 0.19 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Why do the British queue with military precision while Italians seem to ignore lines altogether? What does the way we wait reveal about who we are?
From the orderly train platforms of Tokyo to the chaotic coffee bars of Rome, from Nordic personal space bubbles to American fast pass culture, Lines, Queues & Pauses takes readers on a fascinating journey through one of humanity's most overlooked rituals: waiting.
Dr. Nils Gergman, a cultural anthropologist who has spent decades observing human behavior across six continents, reveals the hidden rules, unspoken hierarchies, and surprising psychology behind how different cultures wait. This is not simply a book about standing in line. It is a window into patience, power, social order, and what it means to be human in a world that increasingly demands everything right now.
You will discover:
- Why queue jumping is Britain's ultimate social crime and why Mediterraneans do not even recognize the concept
- How Japan engineered waiting into an art form of respect and precision
- The American obsession with skipping the line and what it reveals about cultural values
- Why Scandinavians maintain two meter distances even before the pandemic
- How digital queues changed everything and nothing
- What ancient monks and modern mindfulness teachers understand about the lost art of patience
Witty, surprising, and deeply human, this book will forever change how you see the grocery store line, the airport security queue, or the virtual waiting room. Whether you are a traveler, a people watcher, or someone who has ever been frustrated by a slow moving line, Lines, Queues & Pauses offers a fresh lens on the everyday moments that quietly shape our cultures.
Perfect for readers who loved The Culture Map, Watching the English, and The Geography of Bliss.
Also from
Gergman, Nils
Beneath the Radar: A Journey Through the Shadow Economies Where Billions of Dollars and Lives Hang in the Balance
Gergman, Nils
Paperback
Also in
Anthropology
The Language of the Face: Stories of Its Uniquely Expressive Features
Gonzalez-Crussi, Frank
Hardcover
China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power
Wudunn, Sheryl
Kristof, Nicholas D.
Paperback
Family, Fields, and Ancestors: Constancy and Change in China's Social and Economic History, 1550-1949
Eastman, Lloyd E.
Paperback
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017
Khalidi, Rashid
Paperback
Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us about the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Paperback
How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words
Galer, Sophia Smith
Hardcover
The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins
Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt
Paperback
How to Build a Haunted House: The History of a Cultural Obsession
Blackwell Baines, Caitlin
Hardcover
This Book May Cause Side Effects: The Curious and Dangerous Power of the Nocebo Effect, Placebo's Evil Twin
Pilcher, Helen
Hardcover
Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: Tight and Loose Cultures and the Secret Signals That Direct Our Lives
Gelfand, Michele
Paperback
Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive
Stein, Eliot
Hardcover
Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream
McGowan, David
Paperback
The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-Of-The-Century America
Baron, David
Hardcover
Unproven, Unlikely, and Firmly Believed: Why We Fall for History's Most Seductive Conspiracy Theories, and How We Rediscover Reality
Phillips, Tom
Elledge, Jonn
Paperback
The Rules That Make Us: How Culture Shapes the Way We Act, Think, Believe, and Buy
Sweet, Oliver
Hardcover
Mothering the Mother: African American Postpartum Traditions, Recipes and Healing
Monroe, Shafia
Paperback
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
McDougall, Christopher
Paperback
Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are
Boyle, Rebecca
Paperback
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
Lukianoff, Greg
Haidt, Jonathan
Paperback
Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us about the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Hardcover
Magic from the Hilltops and Hollers: Folk Witchery, Superstitions, and Healing Practices from Appalachia
Middleton, Leah
Paperback
Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge a Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution
McKenna, Terence
Paperback
Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology (Second Edition)
Aguilera, Kelsie
Paperback
Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being
Berman, Marc
Hardcover
All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work
Campbell, Hayley
Paperback
Wilmington's Lie (Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize): The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy
Zucchino, David
Paperback
Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation
Mead, Margaret
Paperback
The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy
Graeber, David
Paperback
A Brief History of Japan: Samurai, Shogun and Zen: The Extraordinary Story of the Land of the Rising Sun
Clements, Jonathan
Paperback
Humanish: What Talking to Your Cat or Naming Your Car Reveals about the Uniquely Human Need to Humanize
Gregg, Justin
Hardcover
Japanese Stories for Language Learners: Bilingual Stories in Japanese and English (Online Audio Included)
McNulty, Anne
Sato, Eriko
Paperback
The Healing Wisdom of Africa: Finding Life Purpose Through Nature, Ritual, and Community
Some, Malidoma Patrice
Paperback
Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of
Tedlock, Dennis
Paperback
True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradis
McKenna, Terence
Paperback
The Weirdest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
Henrich, Joseph
Paperback
Combating Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best-Selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults
Hassan, Steven
Paperback
Stone Lands: A Journey of Darkness and Light Through Britain's Ancient Places
Robertson, Fiona
Hardcover
The Essential Questions: Interview Your Family to Uncover Stories and Bridge Generations
Keating, Elizabeth, PH. D.
Hardcover
Playing Well with Others: Your Field Guide to Discovering, Exploring and Navigating the Kink, Leather and Bdsm Communities
Williams, Mollena
Harrington, Lee
Paperback
In Praise of Addiction: Or How We Can Learn to Love Dependency in a Damaged World
Roberts, Elizabeth F. S.
Hardcover
Language and Life on Ocracoke: The Living History of the Brogue
Reaser, Jeffrey
Wolfram, Walt
Gaskill, Candy
Paperback
Ra Y El Camino de la Unidad: Un Viaje Hacia La Unicidad, La Luz Y El Despertar de la Conciencia
Gonzalez, Dalia Margarita Aldana
Aldana, Margarita
Paperback
Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being
Berman, Marc
Paperback
Apaga El Celular Y Enciende Tu Cerebro: Manipulación, Control Y Destrucción del Ser Humano
Muñoz Iturrieta, Pablo
Paperback
The Body Digital: A Brief History of Humans and Machines from Cuckoo Clocks to ChatGPT
Chang, Vanessa
Paperback
NKJV Study Bible, Leathersoft, Brown, Comfort Print: The Complete Resource for Studying God's Word
Thomas Nelson
Hardcover
Lost on Planet China: One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation
Troost, J. Maarten
Paperback
Reír en el Callejón del Cuajo: Sátira, cultura popular y memoria en La familia Burrón
Fabián Acevedo, Lidia
Paperback
The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter
Henrich, Joseph
Paperback
Finding Your Third Place: Building Happier Communities (and Making Great Friends Along the Way)
Kyte, Richard
Paperback
Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping--Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond
Underhill, Paco
Paperback
Everything Evolves: Why Evolution Explains More Than We Think, from Proteins to Politics
Vellend, Mark
Hardcover
The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why
Nisbett, Richard
Paperback
Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond
Lee, Martin A.
Shlain, Bruce
Paperback