Joe Lurie, Executive Director Emeritus, International House, UC Berkeley; Author

The Commonwealth Club is offering an encore performance of Joe Lurie's recent sold-out program in San Francisco. Inspired by a West African proverb that says “The stranger sees only what he knows,” Joe Lurie shares a feast of cross-cultural stories and misadventures, exploring the deeper cultural messages that escape people who hear largely what they’re used to hearing and see mostly what they’re used to seeing.

Gleaned from his years of research, travel and managing Berkeley’s International House, Lurie reveals how cultural filters distort perceptions of others in the worlds of immigration, diplomacy and business. One reviewer of Lurie’s book observed, “Already I can hear the reader calling out to a friend across the room, ‘Wait, you’ve got to hear this!’”