The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life

This is the most amazing book and I just have to rave about it. It will be near the top of the list for best reads of the year for me. The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life by Anu Partanen is written by a skilled Finnish born and raised journalist who is presently living in the U.S. with her American husband. It is a comparison/contrast between the two cultures in all the critical features that bring us peace and happiness....affordable high quality health care, day care, education, living wages, paid vacations, independence (and more) so that we can devote ourselves to the things that really matter.. I could quote paragraph after paragraph where she "gets" things argued or researched perfectly in favour of the show more "Nordic Way of Love" where equity of access and independence is the huge critical societal feature. Oh boy do they have things figured out!

I am writing this as a Canadian and many of her concerns are true in our world as well. The "luck of birth" favours us greatly or unfairly too. She convincingly argues that a culture of equity gives advantage to all. For our future well being the playing field must be leveled at the very least at the starting gate and in childhood. show less

This book gave me so much to think about. She plays the greatest hits of aspects of American society that have never made much sense to me, and contrasts our lifestyles with those of her home country, Finland. Why in the USA are women forced back to work so early after giving birth? Why do we have such a patchwork of uneven child care? Why are our schools focusing so early on academics, rather than allowing children to play and experience the world while young? Why are we so focused on testing, rather than real learning? And I don't even have room for all of the questions I have about our still vastly unfair health care system. or our workaholic lifestyles. These are not new concerns for me. These are things I have wondered about for show more decades.

This book gives me insight into another way of doing things, also not perfect, but far ahead in terms of providing a secure existence for its citizens. I think this very important book will open the eyes of many Americans, and encourage us to demand a better life from our system of government. show less

This book was an eye-opener: Well written, and clearly made the point as to why the United States is loosing in economic competitiveness, its people being the most "free" in the world, and not ranking as well in happiness, effectiveness of education, and more. What is really shame is the United States has chosen the path which has resulted in this -- mainly through disinformation. For example it is not the Nordic countries that are socialist "nanny states," but instead it is the United States which has become the nation that is enmeshed in unhealthy dependencies than we realize. The book focuses on four key issues: (1) family, parents and children; (2) men and women; (3) employees and employers; (4) government and citizens.

I'm not sure what I expected but this was a very good read. The author is a native Finn who moved to America and eventually married an American and became and American citizen in the early 2000s. She is also a professional journalist so can really tell a good story with solid facts behind it as well as her own personal insight. She set up a very clear set of reasons for why she feels the Nordic model works and how it could benefit the States. Well written, well argued and engaging. I would really like to see at least some of these things put into practice at the state level and perhaps start to influence federal policy.

Книгата е представена от издателството като съветите на една жителка на Скандинавия за това как да се "подобри" САЩ. Ако това беше вярно, книгата щеше да е доста смотана, но за щастие не е.

Авторката е финландка която се жени и живее в САЩ и в The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life тя описва скандинавския характер на хората, начина им на живот и управление така, както ги вижда и прави паралели с това, което вижда в show more САЩ.

Интересно е да се научи за светогледа на скандинавците (доколкото тя и представените от нея автори го представляват), а във вижданията й относно живота в САЩ има доста истина.

За съжаление стилът й на писане е разхвърлян, разсеян и многословен, повтаря многократно една и съща теза с различни думи, връща се внезапно към изоставени преди страница-две идеи и като цяло прави всичко възможно да направи иначе любопитната си книга трудна за четене.

Това което ми направи най-силно впечатление е описанието й на скандинавския характер на краен индивидуализъм, който е в пълно противоречие със "социалистическата" утопия, която целия останал свят вижда в Скандинавия.

Според нея и цитираните от нея скандинавски интелектуалци, цялата социална система на скандинавските държави е ориентирана така, че да направи отделния човек абсолютно незвисим от роднини, приятели и семейство, защото само когато е независим, той е пълноценен човек и може да има пълноценни връзки с други хора и обществото като цяло.

Така според авторката северните държави не са ни най-малко "социалистически" а точно обратното - те са в челото на световните класации за свобода на икономиките и политиките им са продукт на крайния индивидуализъм на обществото - много повече, отколкото в САЩ. show less

A friend of mine suggested this to me and as she was telling me about it, I was rolling my eyes and thinking, "OMG the taxes! It's socialism. I'd rather do it on my own!" but actually ... no, this book makes A LOT of good points!! Specific among them, we may say "I want to do it on my own, without the governments help!" but then we rely so heavily on our parents and never fully grow up.

Adrianne

I initially picked up this book because I am very interested in the Nordic approach to schools and education and while the author didn’t go into that as much as I had hoped I found their overall approach to services and general well-care of their citizens fascinating…and depressing considering how far, far from anything like this the United States is.

I appreciated the author's personalization of the issues, using her own experiences to show the differences, both pro and con and her writing style is very approachable and flowed well. The only truly negative thing I have to say is by the end of this book I cringed every time she used the term Nordic theory of love. I understand the importance of that phrase and its meaning within the show more book, but every other paragraph was a bit much.

There is a lot to look at and think about in this book, I doubt everything could be easily transferred over to the U.S. but there are so many ideas that could and should be at least tried in order to make our country and the lives of our citizens better. show less