By Michael Booth
I enjoyed this. It’s the kind of infotainment I appreciate. Booth covered the realities of the Nordic/Scandinavian people with a sense of humor. They received credit for the things they are doing well, but also criticism for the less fun parts of their culture and geography. I picked up the book because I’m familiar with the myth. I’ve heard stories about how wonderfully functional and egalitarian the Swedes are. I envy the first class bike lanes of Copenhagen. Booth acknowledges those things while pointing out their conformity and anti-social public behavior. It’s worth considering how we can borrow some of the good parts without giving up some of our own strengths. They don’t have everything figured out any more than we do, their problems are just different flavors than ours. There was one mention of Finnish death metal. I would’ve liked more coverage of extreme metal in the region. I know that’s not Booth’s lane, but Norway’s black metal and Sweden’s death metal are interesting exports for nearly perfect people. I was also a little surprised not to see the criminal justice system addressed. I see that as an interesting difference between the US and Scandinavia.