Nearly perfect people. The whole truth about life in Scandinavian Paradise. Michael Booth: Nearly perfect people. The whole truth about life in the "Scandinavian Paradise Almost Perfect People" Michael Booth

Nearly perfect people. The whole truth about life in "Scandinavian Paradise" Michael Booth

The whole world is crazy about Hygge, but is Scandinavian philosophy really that perfect? Read an honest book about real Scandinavians: you will learn the truth about their lives and understand why the Scandinavian countries have become so successful economically and socially.

English journalist Michael Booth has lived in the Scandinavian countries for more than 10 years and came to the conclusion that these countries are too idealized in the world.

Booth describes the Danes, Swedes, Finns, Norwegians, and Icelanders, explores their quirks and flaws, and paints a darker picture of Scandinavian reality than everyone is used to thinking.

Why are the Danes happy even though they have such high taxes?
What do Norwegians spend their incredible wealth on?
Is it true that the Finns best system education in the world?
Are the Icelanders really that harsh?
Why do they all hate the Swedes?

Quotes

Laws of Jante
Don't think that you are something.
Don't think you're as good as we are.
Do not think that you are wiser than us.
Don't imagine that you are better than us.
Don't think that you know more than we do.
Do not think that you are more important than us.
Don't think you're good for something.
Don't laugh at us.
Don't think anyone cares about you.
Don't think you can teach us something.

The Danes are distinguished by a calm attitude to work, with all its pluses and minuses. One of the benefits is life satisfaction. A potential disadvantage is the unwillingness to get down to business, rolling up your sleeves, for example, in the context of the global economic crisis. In this country, I rarely come across workaholics.

I dug deeper into the phenomenon of Danish happiness and found that there was nothing new in the report of scientists from the University of Leicester. In 1973, the first survey of the population on the feeling of well-being (“Eurobarometer”) was conducted in Europe, and even then the list of happy nations was headed by the Danes. More than two-thirds of the several thousand Danish respondents said they were "very satisfied" with their lives, according to the latest survey.

In 2009, Copenhagen hosted Oprah Winfrey, who later described how “people leave their babies in prams in front of cafes and are not afraid of being kidnapped… there is no endless pursuit of material goods.” This was declared the secret of Danish prosperity. And since Oprah proclaims only undoubted In fact, people believed that this was the case in Denmark.

By the time Oprah arrived, I had already left Denmark. My wife is tired of listening to my incessant whining about her homeland: the climate is harsh, taxes are monstrous, everything is monotonous and predictable ... A suffocating atmosphere of agreement to the minimum necessary and fear of standing out from the general background reigns in society ... Ambition is not valued, success is not approved, the rules of behavior in society is shocked ... Plus, a cruel diet of fatty pork, salted licorice, cheap beer and marzipans. But I continued to closely and slightly bewildered to observe the phenomenon of Danish happiness.

So, for example, I learned that this country showed the best results in a worldwide poll conducted by the Gallup Institute. Respondents over the age of 15 in 155 countries around the world rated their current quality of life and their expectations for the future on a ten-point scale. Gallup also asked other questions about social support (« Do you rely on the support of relatives or friends if trouble happens to you?"), freedom (" How satisfied are you with freedom of choice life path existing in your country?”) and corruption (“ How widespread is corruption in business life in your country?"). The results showed that 82 percent of Danes are "prosperous" while only 1 percent are "poor". For comparison: in Togo, which ended up on last place, the number of successful people was only 1 percent.

But you could ask the Somali immigrants in Iskhoi whether they are happy they, I thought, stumbling across similar polls and articles. It is unlikely that any of these researchers got out of the rich suburbs of Copenhagen.

And then came the climax, the finest hour of the story about happy Denmark. In 2012, economists John Halliwell, Richard Layard and Jeffrey Sachs brought together data from all modern studies on "happiness" - Gallup World Polls, World and European Life Values Surveys, European Social Survey, etc. The result was the first World ranking of the happiest countries under the auspices of UN. And who would have thought - the list was headed by ... Belgium! No, no, I was joking. Denmark was again the happiest country in the world, followed by Finland (second place), Norway (third place) and slightly behind Sweden (seventh place).

To paraphrase Wilde's Lady Bracknell, first place in one ranking may be considered a stroke of luck, but first place in all since 1973 is cause for serious research.

In fact, Denmark is not the only contender for the title of the coolest place to live on Earth. Every Scandinavian country has a reason to be considered a leader in terms of quality of life. Shortly after the publication of the UN rating, the magazine Newsweek said that best country according to this indicator - not Denmark, but Finland. At the same time, Norway topped the United Nations Human Development Index, and another modern study found that Sweden is the best place to live for women.

Michael Booth

“Almost perfect people. The whole truth about life in the "Scandinavian paradise", Eksmo, 2017

"Why are 'almost' perfect?" - the Swedish interlocutor asked the author offendedly. I, who studied in Stockholm, also did not immediately come to mind some shortcomings of the local system. Mr. Bout, who is married to a Dane, however, is fed up with the ooh-ahah about the internationally successful Nordic countries, and especially the cozy Danish hygge that has been striding around the planet. Remaining unconditionally fascinated by the Scandinavian realities, the author was able to show that something was wrong in both the Danish and Norwegian kingdoms (he poured the Swedes the most). Without questioning their achievements, he offers to look inside out.

In Denmark, the welfare state taxes the people up to 72%. Officially, the Danes only welcome this, but more than 20% of the working-age population do not work and live on generous benefits. The rest are not particularly overworked - most leave work at four-thirty-five. The crown prince and princess generally devote an average of about six hours a year to the performance of their official duties. More than half buy goods and services on the black market (there are no taxes). More and more people are turning to private rather than taxed doctors. In terms of the level of debt of citizens, Denmark is one of the first places in the world. Students are lagging behind many of their peers around the world in academic achievement, and the nation's health indicators are alarming. The Danes are xenophobic, and the notorious hygge is interpreted as escapism, the desire for a general compromise and the obsessive atmosphere of cheerfulness and carelessness are all signs of petty-bourgeois complacency. Copenhagen is against the death penalty, but guess who supplies lethal injection to the US? The defender of the ideals of the world, Sweden, the eighth in the world in arms sales, also looks strange. However, I'll leave it up to you to find out the little dirty secrets of the homeland of ABBA, as well as Iceland, Finland and Norway.

Although no, here's something about tiny charming Iceland: despite the small population (the local talent show was closed for the third season), it turns out that there is a terrible cronyism and nepotism. This is about egalitarianism. The British The Economist generally called Scandinavia - “a great place, but ... only for the average. The one who is outstanding will be crushed if he does not have time to emigrate.

Mark Manson

"The Subtle Art of Giggling: A Paradoxical Way to Live Happily", Alpina Publisher, 2017

It is not a rare case when the Amazon summer bestseller is promptly available in Russian. What is his success? Obviously, in the fact that no one has spoken to us like this for a long time: self-development without shusi-pusi, without “you are unique”. Understands what's wrong with these self-help mantras that 25-year-old "#1 personal growth coaches" regale us with: why is high self-esteem meaningless when there is no good reason for it? What is harmful positive thinking“open up to possibilities and say yes to everything”? Why shouldn't you try to find yourself? It is also recommended to filter the external background - from the media and social networks: "pornography of indignation", for example. This happens when there is a throw-in about something offensive, which in some provokes outrage, and in others causes a "secondary outrage" of this outrage.

In general, the book gives useful food for thought to those who really want to understand themselves, put their heads in order and find peace of mind, without sliding into auto-training "I am the most charming and attractive" and "I will become a millionaire in a year." Indeed, as the author notes, although self-improvement and success often go hand in hand, this does not mean that they are one and the same.

Neil Asherson

"Black Sea. Cradle of Civilization and Barbarism, Corpus, 2017

Russian publishers have prepared the right gift for those who are going to the Black Sea during the velvet season. With the exception of the coast of Romania and Bulgaria, its entire perimeter and historical depth are covered, and the time of writing - until 2014 - mercifully relieves discussion of the most recent events in the region. However, even without this, a lot of space is allocated to Crimea: the “black death” of the XIV century crept into Europe from here, decimated up to a third of its population, epic battles took place here, and the long-lived state of the region, the Bosporan Kingdom, was located right there. In addition to the peninsula, the author has something interesting to tell about the Cossacks and Amazons, Scythians and Greeks, Laz with Ubykhs and Pushkin with jellyfish-like creatures. The main shock, however, lies in wait for vacationers at the beginning of the book - it turns out that the Black Sea, unlike all other seas, is almost completely dead: below 150 m there are deposits of hydrogen sulfide. And the most, I'm sorry, rotten - there is by no means a hypothetical threat that these layers can change places.

Tim Harford

"Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy" Little, Brown Book Group, 2017

In recent years, there has been a fashion for the "microhistory" of things that have changed the world. Interesting and full of unexpected nuances, they nevertheless often leave behind the feeling that the author has had enough. Socks, of course, are a necessary thing, but in such a way that they radically change the course of history? Hardly. Tim Harford, Financial Times columnist for the Undercover Economist and several good books about the economy of everyday life around us, it seems that we managed to avoid myopia and mosaicism. All fifty selected inventions, from a plow to a cryptocurrency, do not hang in a vacuum, but are connected in a single fabric of new possibilities, both subsequent and previous ones. And to make it more interesting, Harford left behind a few already fed up ratings hits like a computer and a wheel. In addition to specific things (barbed wire, fertility pills, “TV dinner”, iPhone), these are concepts (consulting, property rights, the welfare state, banks), and technologies (radar, the Haber process, which still consumes 1% of all produced energy). The misadventures of inventors and initiators are a separate big bonus.

Michael Booth.

Nearly perfect people. The whole truth about life in Scandinavian Paradise

THE ALMOST NEARLY PERFECT PEOPLE

* * *

Dedicated to Lissen, Osger and Emil

Introduction

A few years ago, on a cold and cloudy April morning, I sat in my Copenhagen apartment wrapped in a blanket and dreaming of a real spring. And then, opening the newspaper, I was surprised to find that the Department of Psychology at the University of Leicester 1
University of Leicester University of Leicester) - state research university in Leicester, England.

I calculated a certain Index of Satisfaction with Life, according to which my new compatriots turned out to be the most happy people on the ground.

I looked at the release date of the newspaper - no, not April 1st. On the Internet, this news was also one of the main ones. All media from Daily Mail before Al Jazeera- they talked about it as about the revelation of the Lord. Denmark is the happiest country in the world! The happiest country? My new home? This cloudy, damp, dull plain inhabited by a handful of sensible Stoics who pay the highest taxes in the world? The United Kingdom was in forty-fourth place on the list. Well, since British scientists proved it, then it is so.

“But how well they manage to hide it. From the outside, they don’t seem to be the personification of cheerfulness and fun, ”I thought, looking out of the window at the city harbor in the pouring rain. Cyclists in reflective down jackets rolled through the streets, and pedestrians jostled on the sidewalks with umbrellas. Both of them tried to dodge the streams of water from under the wheels of trucks and buses.

I remembered my yesterday's misadventures. First, a gloomy cashier from the local supermarket, as usual, with an absent look, punched me a check for third-rate products at exorbitant prices. On the street, I crossed the road at a red light, for which I received a loud reprimand from other passers-by. There were no cars, but in Denmark not waiting for a green traffic light means blatantly violating decorum. Pedaling under a fine rain, I arrived home, where a letter from tax office with a proposal to get rid of most of the monthly earnings. On the way, some motorist promised to kill me - you see, I turned left where it was not supposed to (yes, he rolled down the window and yelled with a Bond villain accent: "I'll kill you!").

The evening TV program offered a show about fighting udder irritation in cows.

She was followed ten years ago episode of "Taggert" 2
English detective television series that aired from 1983 to 2010 (approx. per.).

And the program "Who wants to be a millionaire?". The name of the latter sounded like a mockery: a million Danish kroner is about one hundred thousand pounds sterling. What's left after paying taxes is only enough for dinner at a restaurant and going to the movies.

It should be noted that all this happened long before the beloved Danish series appeared on the screens, and the new Scandinavian cuisine turned our ideas about cooking upside down. Sara Lund 3
The main character of the Danish television series "The Killing" (approx. per.).

Hasn't charmed us with her sweaters yet, but Birgitte Nyborg 4
The main character of the Danish television series "Government" (approx. per.).

- tight skirts and a tough approach to right-wing politicians ... In a word, it was still far from the current craze for everything Danish.

I used to consider the Danes well-mannered, hardworking, law-abiding people who rarely allow themselves to demonstrate ... to demonstrate anything at all, and not just happiness. Compared to the Thais, Puerto Ricans, and even the British, they looked very reserved and prim. I thought that out of fifty nationalities, whose representatives I happened to meet, the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Finns belong to least cheerful people.

Perhaps, I told myself, their mindset was clouded by antidepressants. I read that in terms of the number of “happiness pills” taken, the Danes are second only to the Icelanders in Europe, and the consumption of these drugs is growing all the time. Maybe the happiness of the Danes is just a soothing oblivion into which Prozac plunges them? 5
The most famous trademark antidepressant fluoxetine (approx. per.).

So, for example, I learned that this country showed the best results in a worldwide poll conducted by the Gallup Institute. Respondents over the age of 15 in 155 countries around the world rated their current quality of life and their expectations for the future on a ten-point scale. Gallup asked other questions about social support (“ Do you rely on the support of relatives or friends if trouble happens to you?"), freedom (" How satisfied are you with the freedom to choose a life path that exists in your country?”) and corruption (“ How widespread is corruption in business life in your country?"). The results showed that 82 percent of Danes are "prosperous" while only 1 percent are "poor". By comparison, in last place, Togo had just 1 percent of the top performers.

But they could have asked the Somali immigrants in Iskhoi 6
Ishoy (Ish?j) is a Danish commune (administrative unit).

Are you happy they, I thought, stumbling across similar polls and articles. It is unlikely that any of these researchers got out of the rich suburbs of Copenhagen.

Paraphrasing Wilde's Lady Bracknell 7
The character of O. Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest" (approx. per.).

In fact, Denmark is not the only contender for the title of the coolest place to live on Earth. Every Scandinavian country has a reason to be considered a leader in terms of quality of life. Shortly after the publication of the UN rating, the magazine Newsweek said that the best country in this indicator is not Denmark, but Finland. At the same time, Norway topped the United Nations Human Development Index, and another modern study found that Sweden is the best place to live for women.

So what if Denmark not always first in everyone parameters of these studies of well-being, life satisfaction and happiness, it still ranks among the leaders. And when it is not in the first place, then usually it is some other Scandinavian country. Sometimes New Zealand with Japan (or Singapore with Switzerland) can fit into this picture. But the general message of the reports cited by the European and American media is clear and transparent, like a glass of ice-cold schnapps: Scandinavians are not just the happiest and most contented people on earth. They are also the most peaceful, tolerant, democratic, progressive, prosperous, advanced, liberal, highly educated and technologically advanced. On top of that, they have the best pop music, the coolest detective series, and most recently, the best restaurant in the world.

Each of these five countries - Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland - has something to boast about. Finland has the best education system in the world. Sweden is a prime example of a modern multicultural industrial society. Norway spends its colossal oil revenues on investing in sensible long-term projects rather than building goofy skyscrapers or escorting girls from Park Lane 8
The area where the most expensive escort services in London are located (approx. per.).

Iceland has the highest level of gender equality in society, the longest life expectancy among men and huge resources of cod fish. All Scandinavian countries are making great efforts to protect environment and generously fund their social security systems.

There is already a unanimous opinion in the world: in order to see a society living a happy, full, calm, healthy and enlightened life, you need to look north of Germany and to the left of Russia.

I went further. For several years I watched from the sidelines the triumphal procession of Danish happiness. True, my regular visits to this country for the most part confused me. Is the weather still bad? Exactly. Are you still paying more than 50 percent of your income to pay taxes? Yes. Are stores still closed just when they are needed? Well, of course. And then I just moved back to Denmark.

This was neither a surrender nor a daring experiment to test human endurance. My wife just wanted to return to her homeland. And although everything inside me screamed: “What are you, Michael, forgot what it's like there live?”, the bitter experience of the past years has taught me that in the end it is better to listen to your wife.

Meanwhile, the craze for all things Scandinavian only intensified. The world couldn't seem to get enough of the modern Viking culture. Detectives by Swedish authors Henning Mankel and Stieg Larsson sold millions of copies, a dark TV crime epic Forbrydelsen("Murder") was shown in 120 countries and even received an American remake. This success continued the next series of the company - a political drama Borgen(“Castle” - this is how the parliament building is called in Denmark), known in Russia under the name “Government”. She deserved a BAFTA award 9
British Academy of Television and Film Arts (hereinafter approx. per.).

And a millionth audience on the BBC. A joint Danish-Swedish detective series has also become a hit Broen("Bridge"). (And no matter what originality Forbrydelsen lies only in the scene of action - we have met harsh female police officers before; it doesn't matter what Borgen- third-rate version of the "West Wing" 10
"West Wing" The West Wing) is an American television series from 1999–2006. about the daily life of the US presidential administration.

Although with the best interiors, and the "Bridge" is generally complete nonsense).

Unexpectedly for everyone, Danish architects like Bjarke Ingels began to issue large foreign orders to the surface at a speed reminiscent of the assembly of a designer. lego. The work of artists like Olafur Eliasson began to appear everywhere - from boutique window displays Louis Vuitton to Turbine Hall 11
A section of the gallery that usually hosts exhibitions of contemporary art.

Tate Gallery London. Former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen takes over NATO leadership ex-president Finland's Martti Ahtisaari received the Nobel Peace Prize. Danish films began to win Oscars and prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, and directors such as Thomas Vinterberg, Lars von Trier, Susanne Beer and Nicolas Winding Refn are among the most respected contemporary filmmakers.

Actor Mads Mikkelsen ("Casino Royale", "Hunt", "Hannibal") began to appear so often on Danish and world screens that when he appears, John Updike's famous couplet about the same ubiquitous French actor is recalled: me/French film without Depardieu" ( I think that I shall never view/A French film without Depardieu). And also, of course, the New Scandinavian Cuisine, which made a real sensation, and the transformation of the Copenhagen restaurant noma from a little-known curiosity to the world standard of culinary fashion. Three times in a row noma was recognized as the best in the world, and its chef René Redzepi became the hero of the cover of the magazine Time.

But what about other countries in the region? Finland gave us a game angry birds, won the Eurovision Song Contest with the group Lordi, consisting, apparently, of orcs, and produced Cell phones which at one time every self-respecting person should have had. Swedish H&M and IKEA continue to dominate our malls, Swedish music producers and pop artists (it would take too much space to list them) are always on the air, and from the same country we have come Skype and Spotify. Norway supplies the world with oil and fish cooking, and the Icelanders successfully continue their incredible financial spree 12
This refers to the rapid growth of the Icelandic "financial industry" in the late 1990s-2000s. followed by a crash during the global crisis of 2008 and a series of financial scandals (approx. per.).

The media is full of rave reviews about everything Scandinavian (except, perhaps, Iceland). According to our newspapers, television and radio, nothing is ever wrong in Scandinavia; these countries are a real paradise of equality, tranquility, quality of life and homemade cakes. But the experience of living in the cold and cloudy northern regions introduced me to reverse side medals. And although many aspects of the Scandinavian way of life can indeed be considered instructive examples for the rest of the world, I was increasingly upset that the image of my new homeland looked too one-sided.

Against the backdrop of universal love for everything Scandinavian (be it open schools, snow-white interiors, consensus-based political processes or coarse knit sweaters), one thing seemed strange to me. Why, with such powerful PR and detailed stories about the "Scandinavian miracle", no one is eager to move there? Why do people still dream of a house in Spain or France instead of packing up and moving to Aalborg or Trondheim? By the way, do you have any idea where Aalborg or Trondheim are (to be honest)? So why, despite detective novels and TV shows, is so little known about Scandinavia? Why doesn't anyone you know speak Swedish or "can explain" Norwegian? What is the name of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. Or the most popular Norwegian comedian. Or Finn. Any Finn.

Very few visit Japan or Russia or speak Japanese or Russian. You hardly know all the political leaders of these countries, the artists, the names of minor cities, but you can certainly name at least some names. And Scandinavia remains real terra incognita. The Romans didn't bother with it. Charlemagne didn't care about her. As T. K. Derry writes in his book on the history of the region, “The North remained almost completely outside the sphere of interest of civilized man.” Today the situation has not changed much. Not long ago, E. E. Gill in a newspaper article The Sunday Times described this part of the planet as "a collection of countries that we do not distinguish between ourselves."

Part of our collective ignorance (I myself had no idea of the region before I first moved to live in it) is that relatively few have ever been here. Despite the beauty of nature, the cost of a trip to Scandinavia, coupled with its climate, discourages people from the idea of \u200b\u200btaking a vacation there (especially when there is France in the world). Where are the Scandinavian travel books? Shelves bookstores crammed with travel notes from the Mediterranean like "My Binges in the Shade of Olives" or "Fornications on Oranges," but no one seems to want to spend a "Year in Turku" or try a "Cowberry Drive."

Once, when I was waiting for half an hour to be served in a pharmacy (Danish apotex- a monopoly, so service is not a priority for them), it dawned on me. Despite the glamorous stories about Sophie Grobel 13
Star of the series "Murder" (approx. per.).

From The Guardian, to articles on Faroese knitwear and twenty ways to prepare fresh seaweed (I am also involved in the latter topic), we are much more aware of the wild tribes from the Amazon basin than we are about real Scandinavians and how they live.

This is strange: the Danes and Norwegians are our nearest eastern neighbors, and the Icelanders are our closest northern ones. We have more in common with them as regards the peculiarities of the national character than with the French or the Germans. For example, our humor, tolerance, distrust of religious dogma and political figures, honesty, stoic attitude towards bad weather, law abidance, poor diet, lack of creative approach to clothing, etc., etc. (Compare this with emotional intemperance, endemic corruption, outhouse humor, adolescent temperament, carelessness in personal hygiene, gourmet cuisine and elegant clothes of our southern neighbors.)

Perhaps it is this superficial resemblance that leads us back in Britain to not try too hard to learn anything beyond the common cliché about the Scandinavians.

Stereotypes about the Scandinavians attribute to them a liberal attitude towards sex, which somehow coexists with the image of pious Lutherans. You have to try hard to seem both the personification of sex appeal and repulsive coldness! In fact, the Scandinavians do not like to take the first steps and generally stand out from the general background. It's against their rules (literally, as we'll see later). Look in the explanatory dictionary for the word "uncommunicative" - there will most likely not be an illustration there. But in vain - the image of an unsociable Finn, who stands in a corner, lowering his eyes to the valley, would be perfect here.

When I wrote this book, some Scandinavians expressed genuine bewilderment at the fact that they might be of interest to someone outside their region. “Why did you think people would want to get to know us better? they asked. We are so boring and prim. There are much brighter peoples in the world that you can write about. Go to the south of Europe!”

It seems that they see themselves through our eyes: capable and worthy people, but so boring and colorless that it is not interesting to explore them. For us, the inventive, trustworthy and politically correct Scandinavians with their tendency to tedium look like an actuary 14
Actuary - analyst of insurance statistics. In the British view, actuaries are the most boring people in the world. (approx. per.).

At a wild party.

How then can I keep the reader's interest throughout this book? The answer is simple: I consider Danes, Swedes, Finns, Icelanders and even Norwegians to be extremely unusual people. I hope that you will share my opinion when you find out how bright, advanced and at the same time original they can be.

If Oprah had stayed longer than one day, she would have come to the same conclusion: there is much to learn from the inhabitants of the Scandinavian countries. This is a way of life, priorities and ways to manage wealth, a functional and fair social structure, the ability to combine career with personal life, effective self-education and mutual assistance. Ultimately, they should learn the ability to live happily. And they are witty, and not always intentionally, which, in my opinion, is the best version of wit.

I tried to penetrate deeper into the essence of the northern miracle. Is there a Scandinavian recipe happy life? Can it be transferred to other soil? Will people outside Scandinavia be just as jealous of its inhabitants when they get to know them better?

“With average talent and income, it is best to be born a Viking,” the magazine stated somewhat ambiguously. The Economist in a special issue dedicated to Scandinavia. But where is the serious discussion of Scandinavian totalitarianism and Swedish officialdom? How the oil wealth corrupted the Norwegians? How do Finns get pumped full of drugs into unconsciousness? How do the Danes turn a blind eye to their public debt, vanishing industriousness and their own place in the world? And the fact that the Icelanders are, in fact, wild people?

It is worth moving away from the image of Scandinavia that has developed in Western media (country houses inhabited by women in chintz dresses with full baskets of wild garlic, surrounded by children with artfully disheveled hair), as a much more complex, and sometimes even depressing picture will appear before your eyes. It covers everything from the relatively harmless disadvantages of living in a homogeneous and egalitarian society where everyone earns the same money, lives in the same type of houses, dresses the same way, drives the same cars, reads the same books, and goes on vacation to the same places - to more serious flaws.

Among them are racism and Islamophobia, the disappearance of social equality, alcoholism, a gigantic bureaucratic system that requires high taxation, which squeezes all hopes, strengths and ambitions out of a person ... What can I say! ..

So, I decided to fill in the gaps in my knowledge about Scandinavia and went on a trip to all five countries in the region. I have met historians, anthropologists, journalists, writers, artists, politicians, philosophers, scientists, elf keepers and Santa Claus. From my home in the Danish countryside, my route took me through the icy waters of the Norwegian Arctic and menacing Icelandic geysers, through the infamous Swedish slums and Santa Claus Cave, through Legoland and the Danish Riviera with Rotten Banana. 15
Local name for part of the Danish coast (approx. per.).

Nearly perfect people. The whole truth about life in Scandinavian Paradise» Michael Booth

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Title: Almost Perfect People. The whole truth about life in Scandinavian Paradise

About the book Almost Perfect People. The Truth About Living in Scandinavian Paradise Michael Booth

English journalist Michael Booth has lived in the Scandinavian countries for more than 10 years and came to the conclusion that these countries are too idealized in the world.

Booth describes the Danes, Swedes, Finns, Norwegians, and Icelanders, explores their quirks and flaws, and paints a darker picture of Scandinavian reality than everyone is used to thinking.

Why are the Danes happy even though they have such high taxes?

What do Norwegians spend their incredible wealth on?

Is it true that Finns have the best education system in the world?

Are the Icelanders really that harsh?

Why do they all hate the Swedes?

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