Summary of Ben Coates's Why the Dutch are Different

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The Netherlands was the most logical place to build an ark. With more than a quarter of the country lying below mean sea level, canals, rivers, and lakes were almost as common as trees.

#2 The Netherlands is a country that was built on land that was reclaimed from the sea. The country is known for its flatness and its windmills, which were used to pump fields dry. The Dutch also have a deep-seated belief in the need for hard work and order, equality, and cooperation.

#3 The Ark in the Netherlands is a half-size replica of Noah’s Ark that was built in 2005. It was built by a well-off building contractor, and it cost well over a million euros to build. It has taken passengers on a tour of London during the 2012 Olympic Games, but British authorities have refused it permission to visit because they are worried about a fire hazard.

#4 I visited the Noah’s Ark attraction in Dordrecht, which was similar to the one in Zoetermeer. I had an hour to spare before the ferry departure, so I explored Dordrecht.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jul 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822546615

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Insights on Ben Coates's Why the Dutch are Different

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Netherlands was the most logical place to build an ark. With more than a quarter of the country lying below mean sea level, canals, rivers, and lakes were almost as common as trees.

#2

The Netherlands is a country that was built on land that was reclaimed from the sea. The country is known for its flatness and its windmills, which were used to pump fields dry. The Dutch also have a deep-seated belief in the need for hard work and order, equality, and cooperation.

#3

The Ark in the Netherlands is a half-size replica of Noah’s Ark that was built in 2005. It was built by a well-off building contractor, and it cost well over a million euros to build. It has taken passengers on a tour of London during the 2012 Olympic Games, but British authorities have refused it permission to visit because they are worried about a fire hazard.

#4

I visited the Noah’s Ark attraction in Dordrecht, which was similar to the one in Zoetermeer. I had an hour to spare before the ferry departure, so I explored Dordrecht.

#5

The city of Dordrecht in the Netherlands was once a wealthy and powerful place, but its prosperity was not to last. The growth of waterborne trade proved to be its undoing, as it became more and more crowded.

#6

I went to the riverfront to find a row of small cafés, each with the high glass screens the Dutch like to sit behind whenever they have to go outside. A young waitress hustled past carrying a tray of traditional Dutch bar food: greasy bitterballen hot snacks with mustard, and small glasses of beer wearing thick foamy hats.

#7

The Waterbus ferry service to Rotterdam was already waiting when I arrived in Dordrecht. I had the boat to myself, and it was a strange destination at this time of year: a long haul on a vessel that was too slow for commuters and too cold for tourists.

#8

The landscape around the ferry was almost completely featureless. The high dikes blocked the view from the river, and behind them lay not much to see anyway.

#9

The Netherlands was once connected to Britain by a land bridge known as Doggerland. It was destroyed by a mega-tsunami around 20,000 years ago, and Britain became an island. The landscape of the eastern part of England and the southeastern Netherlands remained similar for thousands of years.

#10

The Dutch began to drain