The Almost Nearly Perfect People

Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia

Michael Booth

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English

Vintage
12 February 2015

Social & cultural history; Sociology: customs & traditions; Humour; Travel & holiday; Travel writing

'The next Bill Bryson.' New York Times

Winner of the Best Narrative Travel Book Award from the British Guild of Travel Writers

The Danes are the happiest people in the world, and pay the highest taxes.

'Neutral' Sweden is one of the biggest arms manufacturers in the world.

Finns have the largest per capita gun ownership after the US and Yemen.

54 per cent of Icelanders believe in elves.

Norway is the richest country on earth.

5 per cent of Danish men have had sex with an animal.

Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians, on and off, for over ten years, perplexed by their many strange paradoxes and character traits and equally bemused by the unquestioning enthusiasm for all things Nordic and hygge that has engulfed the rest of the world.

He leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success and, most intriguing of all, what they think of each other. Along the way a more nuanced, often darker picture emerges of a region plagued by taboos, characterised by suffocating parochialism and populated by extremists of various shades.

'The next Bill Bryson.' New York Times

Winner of the Best Narrative Travel Book Award from the British Guild of Travel Writers

By: Michael Booth
Imprint: Vintage
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 130mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 292g
ISBN: 9780099546078
ISBN 10: 0099546078
Pages: 416
Publication Date: 12 February 2015
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Michael Booth contributes to numerous British and foreign magazines and all of the UK's broadsheet newspapers. He is the author of four works of non-fiction: Eat, Pray, Eat, which was nominated for a British Travel Press Award in 2012; Just As Well I'm Leaving, nominated for the Irish Times first writers award; Sacre Cordon Bleu, a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week; and Sushi and Beyond, winner of the Guild of Food Writers award in 2010. He lives in Denmark with his wife and children.

Reviews for The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia

A welcome rejoinder to those who cling to the idea of the Nordic region as a promised land...the substance, more often than not, is spot on. * Financial Times * A thoroughly entertaining read, written brilliantly -- Bernard Porter * Literary Review * [An] entertaining, warts-and-all, English expat look at the Nordic miracle. * Daily Telegraph * An affectionate and informative study of a region. -- Ian Critchley * Sunday Times * Comprehensive and occasionally downright hilarious... I was laughing out loud -- Mariella Frostrup * Observer *