How to be an Alien

It poked gentle fun at the English and their relationship with foreigners, written from his perspective as a fresh immigrant from Hungary. 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. 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).