When reading the fairy tales of a culture, you not only learn what they thought, but also the climate of their origins. The habitat of the Swedes is quite clear from this collection, where all tales are about trolls and ogres in a forest. What distinguishes these creatures from those in the tales from other locations is that the trolls are not totally evil and must follow a strict code of conduct. For example, even though a troll may want to cook and eat you, once they accept something from you they are forbidden to harm you in any way.
All manner of trolls and other creatures of the forest are described in these tales. In most of them, they are interacting with humans, sometimes passing for humans in their attempts to obtain riches, mates or just to satisfy their curiosity about humans. Oddly enough, the heroes in these tales rarely vanquish their foes by chopping of their heads. Sometimes they defeat them by trickery and other times by kindness. All of the stories have happy endings, occasionally when the captive princess is rescued by the hero in the nick of time. However, even when holding captives against their will, the trolls do not torture their victims, unless you consider troll kindness to be a torture.
I really enjoyed these tales of heroes, heroines and not so bad trolls who have their good points. With almost no killing, maiming or other features found in other fairy tales, this is a collection of stories that any child can read. It was fascinating to me that from the Swedish point of view the trolls of the forest were not evil, just similar creatures with a strict code of ethics who occasionally did bad things. Take away the strict code of ethics part and you have human behavior.

Winter seems eternal north of the Arctic Circle, and magic blows on the North Wind like snow crystals. Great Swedish Fairy Tales by Holger Lundbergh, John Bauer (Illustrator) bewitches with the charms of trolls, tomtes, courtiers, croft farmers and wide-eyed children. This collection of several truly great Swedish tales is illuminated by John Bauer's dark ink. Bauer paints a world of magic and detail making this a masterpiece beautiful to behold. You'll recognize some of the images as familiar, and some will haunt you with delight. The illustrations grace the pages; the stories grace the imagination.

This is one of my favorite book since girlhood. As with most fairy tales, many of these involve the expected kinds of storylines (quest stories, moral tales, etc.), but have the benefit of being less well-known than the ones by Grimm et al. Charming stories told in just the right way. Lots of princesses and trolls, tomten (Scandinavian elves of a sort) and moose. And, of course, John Bauer's haunting artwork is not to be missed.

I have loved this book since I was a child. Astrid Lindgren always had strong, female characters that I could readily identify with and cheer and Meg is no exception.

Bright and spirited, Meg is never at a loss for concocting well intentioned mischief. She fashions a parachute out of an umbrella and jumps off the roof. She suffers from a concussion and has to endure the gloating of her bratty little sister and the foolish housekeeper who gloatingly insist that it is not Meg who gets into trouble; rather, it is the mythical imp, "Sebastian Loki." The pair taunt poor Meg into a frenzy with their Sebastian stories, which I thought was mean.

Meg rebounds and is back with a BANG! In fact, she cuts her own bangs, defaces a picture of the Queen in one of her history books and blames her recent spate of mischief on a classmate named "Richard." As you have already guessed by now, there was no Richard. Meg was just being..well, bright, irreprisible, high spirited MEG! I love her!

I also loved the cultural enrichment this book provided. The description of the Swedish Christmas was a bonus treat.

This is the kind of book that binds generations. It is timeless.

This is a delightful children's book. I remembered it fondly from my childhood, and my daughter was equally enchanted when I read it to her. Months after reading the book together, we still laugh at some of the unforgetable misadventures of Meg. The beautiful description of a Scandinavian Christmas, seen through a child's eyes, is also memorable. I have never understood how this treasure by the author of "Pippi Longstocking" could have been so overlooked.

This is a wonderful book that I read as a child and bought as an adult. If you were mischievous yourself and remember what it was like, get this book for your child or yourself. Great fun.

This is a tale wonderfully told of an explorer's quest to fill in the blank spots on the map of Asia. Not only does Hedin present a clear and highly entertaining view of his travels, but he also gives us a portrait of his character. He shows us that he is a man with high goals and is undeterred in achieving those goals, even when all odds are against him. He shows us that he is also a very caring man, very much concerned about the welfare of his men and his animals. He also is a man that is awestruck by nature and is very concerned about not unduly intruding upon it or unnecessarily destroying it.

But most of all, this is an adventure story that is just plain fun to read.

A suggestion to readers who are not very familiar with the geography of central Asia would be to have on hand some good maps as the ones Hedin draws are quite limited and often fail to give the perspective that may be desireable.

I concur with NDylanRay@aol.com. This book is exceptional. I could hardly put it down. You feel the excitement and intensity of his adventures, you begin to understand the force that drives him (and you respect him for it), and you meet the people and the places that make Turkestan and Tibet 100 years ago like no place that you could ever imagine.

Sven Hedin's "My Life as an Explorer" is an exceptional work. Stylistically situated somewhere in between scholarly works such as those by Aurel Stein and pure "adventure for its own sake" works such as those by Thesiger, Hedin's explorations are astounding and wonderful stories. His bravery and thirst for adventure are unmatched--he seems to have a total inability to turn back from his goals. Yet the goals are noble, and his methods meticulous and scholarly, so one is not left with the impression that he is simply a daredevil seeking thrills. He singlehandedly filled in, in a fairly detailed manner, one of the last white spaces of "terra incognita" on the map of the world.

At certain moments in the book, especially (in my opinion) the discussions of the Lama Rinpoche, who vows to remain walled inside his cave for his entire life, Hedin's narrative reaches the heights of great literature, placing his work, I believe, among the greatest travel or exploration writings ever produced.

This book so captured our imaginations that I had to purchase a little wooden Dala horse for our son. The artwork is beautiful, the story is culturally sensitive, the scenes are exciting and the language is rich. I've been reading this book to my son since he was two. He's four, now, and still loves it!

My heritage is 100% Swedish. It is difficult for me to find books about Swedish culture in general, and close to impossible to find Swedish stories to which my seven-year old son can relate.

I believe each cultural has its own beauty and much to offer the world. I often encounter people assuming that because we speak English and are Lutheran, then our cultural heritage is the same as Britain's (we're are not Anglo-Saxons, the Church of England has nothing to do with Scandinavia, and our native tongue is Swedish) or since Swedish is a Germanic language, then our culture must be like the Germans'. Like every other society that has evolved on its own, the Swedes are proud of who they are and how they came to be.

I remember Dala horses all over my grandparents' homes and in my house growing up as well. I want very much for my son to enjoy the richness of where his family comes from, and why we still remain so close to our relatives in "the old country." This is simply a wonderful book that has aided in giving my son his own cultural identity.

I am very grateful that this book is so Swedish. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for new perspectives about the smaller European nations.

I recently read this book to my second graders while studying Sweden. Not only did they enjoy the story, but the illustrations gave them inspiration to create their own Dala horses. This book is by far my favorite, for the lesson it teaches and the beautiful artwork it exhibits.

I must have read this book 100 times as a kid. I remember checking it out from my school library so many times that the librarian told me I should go out and buy a copy to have forever. I wish I would have taken her advice as it is now out of print. I recently found a copy at our public library and had the pleasure to read it aloud to my 7 and 9 year old boys. It was great to see them enjoy this tale as much as I had. I would read two chapters a night and every night it was the same old thing... "Just one more chapter Dad???" Reading about Rasmus and Oscar again after all of these years was like meeting up with old, long-lost friends.

This delightful book was one of my favorites as a child, read again and again. I used to wish I were an orphan so I could run away from the orphanage and have Rasmus' adventures! As an adult I bought myself a copy and have read and enjoyed it again. I always found this book and Mischievous Meg much more enjoyable than the Pippi books, which are so popular. To the reader who is looking for a copy: try ebay!

Astrid Lindgren's book "Rasmus and the Vagabond is one of the strongest literary memories of my childhood. My family had a copy on our shelves for years until recently and I have been seeking a copy everywhere. Not just for nostalgia's sake, but out of a love for the writing. Rasmus is an orphan living a state home with a somewhat tyrrannical staff. He is made to pick nettles for the orphanage's chickens one day and finds a silver coin. This is a portentious event for Rasmus as he strikes out from the orphanage after resigning himself to never being taken in as an adoptee. On the road he finds himself lonely and sleeping in a hayloft with unknown companionship. The "Vagabond," discovers rasmus and treats him to a share of his breakfast and then a share of the wandering life of a vagabond as they run into adventure after adventure. Their discovery that they share a common stigma for run of the mill people for noone likes a hobo or an orphan. Out of this coincidence, grows a strong bond that ends in a scene of home that both wanderers not only need, but dream of. This is a book well written and exciting to the last with the elements of surprise, suspense, and comedy to capture the minds and spirits of adults and children alike

I have always wanted to go to Sweden. I started learning Swedish when I was 14, and I started a pen-pal friendship with a Sweden at the same time. When I was 21 I finally made a trip to Sweden (March 2002) for 2 weeks and I used the May 2002 edition of this book.

I spent my time in three cities: Stockholm, Umeå, and Skellefteå. Most guidebooks that I looked at covered the south of Sweden quite well at the expense of the North. This guidebook used 25% of its space to write about the two largest cities and 60% to write about the rest of Sweden. (The remaining 15% of the book deals with formalities of getting to/into Sweden, language, food, etc.)

The section on Stockholm was fantastic, and since the chapter was organized based on each island or section of the city, it was very easy to read. You could plot out which part of the city you wanted to visit each day with ease. The book specifies open/close times very well (although you always double check). As someone traveling in the winter, I appreciated that fact! Some guidebooks don't list the months that something is open!

Whereas some guidebooks have 2 paragraphs on Umeå and Skellefteå, this one had 6 and 3, respectively. The cities are described well and the information is as much as you'll probably need.

Another nice feature is that the guide features fairly detailed information about getting to/from each city, even the small ones.

The third section of the book, about history, food, money, language, etc was well laid out, and the history section was as complete as most general tourists would want it.

The book caters to a variety of tourists as it lists a wide (very wide) variety of accomodations, restaurants, activities, and methods of travel. Other guidebooks aimed at "poor college students" seem to cover mostly pubs and nightclubs at the expense of museums. Guidebooks aimed at the "one trip to Europe in a lifetime let's use all of our stock earnings" books seem to cover hotels at the expense of hostels. This book covers both.

Overall, a very good buy.

Sweden is a wonderful travel destination. It is beautiful country that manages to be both very tranquil and very dynamic. However, like most Americans, I was totally ignorant about Sweden. In fact, I don't think I would ever have gone there if I hadn't found this book in the public library. It got me interested enough to spend a few weeks in Sweden, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I will definitely go back!

The book was very detailed and accurate, and went well beyond the average travel guide in the level of interesting detail about almost everything you could possibly encounter in Sweden. Although the book was published in 1997 and I went in 1999, most of the hotel and restaurant information was still accurate. The book also provides a good introduction to the history and culture of Sweden.

I throughly enjoyed reading this book, about a country which so little is understood, I baffled as to why nobody has discovered this fancisating guide to a wonderfully exciting, beautiful country. It's a must that you visit the beautiful,wonderous, exciting, young and vibrant and little known cities in northern europe Stockholm. Stockholm has been described as the "The Venice of the North". But Stockholm is far more beautiful, spacious, less crowded but best of all it has 24,000 islands in it's archipalego to discover. Don,t take my word for it GO!

It is true that some of the tales are hilarious, while others are more serious. This is a great book to own!

This is a great book. I read it alot myself and also to mysister. Some of these stories are very funny while others are more'romantic' (sorta). You just have to read it, one of my sister's favorites is "The Princess of Catburg".

I just want to say this is a great collection of folk tales. There is a lot of variety and some of the tales are so funny!

Beautiful book, well researched and written with carefully selected and beautiful photos. A must have for anyone interested in Gustavian interiors and the homes that contain them. The interiors selected for this book are the relatively simpler ones with soft color schemes and a cleaner, pared-down look - ones more acceptable to contemporary tastes - rather than the gilded neoclassical palaces of the same period. If you are interested in the more palatial interiors of the same period I recommend: Neoclassicism in the North, Swedish Furniture and Interiors 1770-1850 . I noticed in browsing through this book, that a number of the interiors selected for inclusion in The Swedish Room are actually the simplest rooms in otherwise grand palaces.
A very pleasing selection of interior views overall and much better than Barbara Stoeltie's similar book, The Country Houses of Sweden.

I have found this book a constant inspiration when considering the Swedish style in general and Gustavian in particular.

The photos and colours are excellent. The text begins by being historically interesting and illuminating but becomes unfocussed and then banal. The translation is awkward in parts. Still the information is superior to the commonly gushy interior design style.

Although there is a section on contemporary versions of the classic Swedish styles, it remains primarily an homage to the original rather than an illustration of an inventive combination.

Nonetheless, an excellent reference book.

This is a wonderful book for an a decorative artist or faux- finisher. It has a wealth of information you can use in designing ideas for this very popular time in history . I have used this book many times in designing art for furniture and walls .A must-have for any decorative artist or designer.

I have long wanted to learn how to carve, and jealously watched a friend develop this talent. He recommended this book to me. A weekend's worth of following the instructions in the book produced three carvings each a little better than the other. This instructive book also mixes the history of Scandinavian Carving along with rich color pictures of completed carvings. Take your wood working to another level. You to can create a masterpiece.

This is the book I have been looking for! It clearly teaches step by step technique with GOOD photos. The many patterns are all easilly adaptable to whatever kind of character you wish to create. If you like to carve interesting characters, this is THE book!

Harley's book leads off by providing a history of Norwegian wood carving, he then provides a large number of examples that represent not only his work but also the work of many leading artists in this field of wood carving. Harley then provides a step by step, easy to follow, lesson on carving Oskar with over 80 pictures. The final section of the book is a large number of patterns that can be used to carve some of the characters highlighted in the many high quality pictures included in the book. This book will become one of the most used books in my collection of wood carving books.

The authors used questionnaire-based research to study twelve countries through the lens of seven oppositional pairs (the cultures from the title).

These pairs are:
Universalism vs. Particularism
Analyzing vs. Integrating
Individualism vs. Communitarianism
Inner-Directed vs. Outer-directed Orientation
Time as Sequence vs. Time as Synchronization
Achieved Status vs. Ascribed Status
Equality vs. Hierarchy

They make the point that capitalism is not a choice for or against but a range of behaviours made up of a multiplicity of choices. Using their grid and research data, they position various countries on this range.

As someone who works and lives in a country where I was not born, I found the book a very useful frame for looking at my adopted work environment.

I really call this 4.5 stars, the -.5 is because sections of it are much more dated than others and there are places where I think the tone of the book is lessened by the authors' temptation to give in and make value judgements.

Though this book was first published in 1993, it is still every bit as relevant and interesting today. In this book, the authors examine the values and cultural habits of seven major capitalist countries (the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands), and examines how their cultural differences has given to each an entirely different capitalist system. After first explaining how the differences were quantified, the authors then examine these cultures, giving the reader an in-depth understanding of how each country's culture (and as such, capitalist system) works, and how it produces wealth.

I found this to be an absolutely fascinating book. I was always aware of the cultural differences between various countries, but this book did an excellent job of defining those differences, and showing how they affect the way that the country does business. If you are interested in any of these seven countries, or interested in international business, then I highly recommend this book to you.

This book examines a number of different countries and the priorities that shape them. While different cultures may all share the same values - be honest, treat your friends well, etc - what is telling is how different cultures *prioritize*.

For example, if you are in a situation where you see your friend at fault in a car accident, and you are called upon to testify, what do you do? While Americans tend to value truth-telling over loyalty to friends, Asians tend to value loyalty to friends over truth-telling. Both choices are shocking to the opposite: "How can you lie like that?" vs. "How can you let your friend down like that?"

This book looks at a number of cultures and how they differ. It's a fascinating read, and has changed how I look at the world.