A review by applekern
The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia by Michael Booth
4.0
It took me nearly a month to work through this book, not necessarily because of its length or information-density. Sometimes life just gets in the way.
If you‘re looking for a book to analyse the nordic cultures in a rational and sophisticated way, this is not the book for you. The Almost Nearly Perfect People is a travel diary meets ‚expert‘ interviews, spiced up with some (occasionally biased and cliche) jokes by a british author.
Nonetheless, I wish I would have read this book before living in Finland for a semester, as it does give a cohesive overview over what makes scandinavia scandinavia and how perfectly imperfect they are.
Probably a 4.5 because I‘m deeply biased.
If you‘re looking for a book to analyse the nordic cultures in a rational and sophisticated way, this is not the book for you. The Almost Nearly Perfect People is a travel diary meets ‚expert‘ interviews, spiced up with some (occasionally biased and cliche) jokes by a british author.
Nonetheless, I wish I would have read this book before living in Finland for a semester, as it does give a cohesive overview over what makes scandinavia scandinavia and how perfectly imperfect they are.
Probably a 4.5 because I‘m deeply biased.