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oliviaparsons32's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
3.5
heroineinabook's review against another edition
4.0
My partner and I drive about 10 hours one way to go to our cabin in Northern Michigan. On the trip, instead of Spotify playlist and podcasts, we started listening to audiobooks to while away the time. This last trip, we choose How Iceland Changed the World.
Iceland, the tiny island country with a population (371K) less than my hometown of Grand Rapids, MI (500K for the urban area, 1.1M for the metro). I have a thing for Vikings and you really can’t get more Vikingesque than Iceland.
Iceland also has it’s own stars: they are one of the most literate population on earth and the number of authors as well as musicians such as Björk, John Grant (transplant from the US), as well as some of the best entries for Eurovision including a punk-rock children’s band is nearly 2:1. Plus, one of my favorite TV series, Trapped, is based in Iceland.
But Iceland is more than just music and literature and cool TV shows. It has given us much in the world such as:
Longest running (over 900 years) of legislative assembly
Sagas
First woman president in the world who was democratically elected
One of the first women prime ministers
One of the first countries to almost close the gap of equal pay for men and women
Runs almost completely on renewable energy
It was used to simulate the moon landing in the ’60s
It was instrumental in the foundation of Israel
Tolkien’s muse was a nanny from Iceland
It has no standing army
Instrumental in WW2 with it’s position in the north Atlantic with occupation of Brits and the Yanks.
And a lot more.
How Iceland Changed the World is a trip through a 1,200 year odyssey that breathes fire into this icey land. We learned so much there was a lot of “ahas!” and “holy shit, really?” as the narrator went on. Who knew that Iceland’s terrain was perfect to simulate the moon landing and when it tried to ban alcohol, its’ hand was forced when Spain only promised to buy cod from Iceland if Iceland took on Spanish red wine. ALSO! Beer, but not wine or hard alcohol, was illegal in the country until the early ’00s.
Crazy, right?
I would highly recommend this as an audiobook over print since the narrator gives it a nice Icelandic flair with names and the deprecation of the author about the history of this tiny giant of country.
Iceland, the tiny island country with a population (371K) less than my hometown of Grand Rapids, MI (500K for the urban area, 1.1M for the metro). I have a thing for Vikings and you really can’t get more Vikingesque than Iceland.
Iceland also has it’s own stars: they are one of the most literate population on earth and the number of authors as well as musicians such as Björk, John Grant (transplant from the US), as well as some of the best entries for Eurovision including a punk-rock children’s band is nearly 2:1. Plus, one of my favorite TV series, Trapped, is based in Iceland.
But Iceland is more than just music and literature and cool TV shows. It has given us much in the world such as:
Longest running (over 900 years) of legislative assembly
Sagas
First woman president in the world who was democratically elected
One of the first women prime ministers
One of the first countries to almost close the gap of equal pay for men and women
Runs almost completely on renewable energy
It was used to simulate the moon landing in the ’60s
It was instrumental in the foundation of Israel
Tolkien’s muse was a nanny from Iceland
It has no standing army
Instrumental in WW2 with it’s position in the north Atlantic with occupation of Brits and the Yanks.
And a lot more.
How Iceland Changed the World is a trip through a 1,200 year odyssey that breathes fire into this icey land. We learned so much there was a lot of “ahas!” and “holy shit, really?” as the narrator went on. Who knew that Iceland’s terrain was perfect to simulate the moon landing and when it tried to ban alcohol, its’ hand was forced when Spain only promised to buy cod from Iceland if Iceland took on Spanish red wine. ALSO! Beer, but not wine or hard alcohol, was illegal in the country until the early ’00s.
Crazy, right?
I would highly recommend this as an audiobook over print since the narrator gives it a nice Icelandic flair with names and the deprecation of the author about the history of this tiny giant of country.
rbruehlman's review against another edition
5.0
This was a surprisingly enjoyable read. History books can be fact-filled slogs, but this was anything but. Bjarnarson writes in an easy yet informative style, with just the right amount of dry, cheeky wit sparkled in.
Rather than exhaustively explain all the ins-and-outs of Icelandic history, Bjarnarson starts chronologically by picking different major events related to Iceland that, true to the book's name, had an impact on the world in some way. Topics ranged from the Vikings exploring the Americas, to keeping a pristine record of Nordic mythology, to playing a key pivotal role in WW2 for the Allied Forces, to providing asylum to Bobby Fischer in the height of the Cold War. Almost every event he touches upon, a reader completely unfamiliar with Iceland can relate to, thereby sidestepping a problem many readers probably have with history: okay, this happened, but why should I care?
Bjarnarson never spends too long on each topic--long enough to give what felt like a comprehensive overview, but not so long that the topic ever outwears its welcome. At no point during the book was I bored or losing interest.
Normally I reserve 5-star ratings for books that fundamentally changed the way I think about the world, but I'll give this one 5-stars because I think it's pretty hard to write a history book I wouldn't be at least a little bored by. I would read more history books if they were written like this.
Rather than exhaustively explain all the ins-and-outs of Icelandic history, Bjarnarson starts chronologically by picking different major events related to Iceland that, true to the book's name, had an impact on the world in some way. Topics ranged from the Vikings exploring the Americas, to keeping a pristine record of Nordic mythology, to playing a key pivotal role in WW2 for the Allied Forces, to providing asylum to Bobby Fischer in the height of the Cold War. Almost every event he touches upon, a reader completely unfamiliar with Iceland can relate to, thereby sidestepping a problem many readers probably have with history: okay, this happened, but why should I care?
Bjarnarson never spends too long on each topic--long enough to give what felt like a comprehensive overview, but not so long that the topic ever outwears its welcome. At no point during the book was I bored or losing interest.
Normally I reserve 5-star ratings for books that fundamentally changed the way I think about the world, but I'll give this one 5-stars because I think it's pretty hard to write a history book I wouldn't be at least a little bored by. I would read more history books if they were written like this.
kristyhill's review against another edition
5.0
Not my typical genre of choice, but I enjoyed this one. Laughed out loud a few times.
wanderingreader's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
nina_rod's review against another edition
3.0
I was quite frustrating with the writing style of this book. I normally love books written by journalist because they are so much more interesting and personable. But I’ve determined maybe I just do like this person. It took me two library borrowing cycles to finish this book.
I did come away with some wonderful tidbits tho. I thought I was upset about the library in Alexandria burning down! But that’s until I read about the tragedy of the University of Copenhagen library burning down in 1728 in this book. Such a horrible loss!
Another gem… ‘the ice cap Eyjafjallajökull—pronounced “Hey, I forgot your yogurt”‘ blew in 2010 disrupting air travel. Yes! This is how journalist with a hardened sense of humor write!
The writing also led me down a googling rabbit hole…. What is the Viking clap? A simple Google had me telling my friends we must become soccer fans of Iceland!
Also… 70% of Iceland’s population are Costco members. Well, I love me some Costco so I started googling. “Are Costco hot dogs in Iceland $1.50?” They are not. But almost $3 is cheap for Iceland. I also read a blog on what is sold at Iceland Costco… (winter gear and Icelandic butter.)
So while I found the writing style incredibly frustrating, there were a few good moments. Did Iceland change the world? Yes, the feminism is showing us the way! Of course, the struggle continues. Even in Iceland.
I did come away with some wonderful tidbits tho. I thought I was upset about the library in Alexandria burning down! But that’s until I read about the tragedy of the University of Copenhagen library burning down in 1728 in this book. Such a horrible loss!
Another gem… ‘the ice cap Eyjafjallajökull—pronounced “Hey, I forgot your yogurt”‘ blew in 2010 disrupting air travel. Yes! This is how journalist with a hardened sense of humor write!
The writing also led me down a googling rabbit hole…. What is the Viking clap? A simple Google had me telling my friends we must become soccer fans of Iceland!
Also… 70% of Iceland’s population are Costco members. Well, I love me some Costco so I started googling. “Are Costco hot dogs in Iceland $1.50?” They are not. But almost $3 is cheap for Iceland. I also read a blog on what is sold at Iceland Costco… (winter gear and Icelandic butter.)
So while I found the writing style incredibly frustrating, there were a few good moments. Did Iceland change the world? Yes, the feminism is showing us the way! Of course, the struggle continues. Even in Iceland.