---
product_id: 43830558
title: "The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life"
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# The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life

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The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life [Partanen, Anu] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life

Review: How to Become Productive and Content - it takes a society - What if you had a government that took care of every citizen from before the time they were born? Health care, education, etc? It turns out that this can be a good strategy for creating individuals who are well-educated, content, and productive. In the United States we don't have very many safety nets compared to the Nordic countries. By the time any significant help kicks in, a citizen may be in such a horrible state that there is almost no return, or if there is return it is going to be very expensive and a huge challenge on all sides. A nearly vertical uphill struggle. Partanen has lived in both Scandinavia and the United States. She first explains--based on first-hand knowledge--that the levels of anxiety and depression experienced in the United States are not as typical in Finland. Then she explains why: the Finish government doesn't invest in helping poor people; the government invests in all its citizens, so that they don't become disadvantaged. Of course, such an approach assumes that one can stomach a society where everyone does well. Perhaps that is at odds with the American dream? It might be missing a small group that is so wealthy that it has its own unique set of mental and physical and emotional problems. But I think I could handle the absence of such a group. Partanen notes that Finland didn't come to this solution automatically. They restructured their society systematically after studying other countries around the world to identify methods that seemed to work. When it then turned out they were testing highest in the world in education, and were gaining praise from other countries, at first they didn't believe it; that was not their self image. Change is possible. Positive change is possible. Read this book. Imagine. Vote.
Review: It is a wonderful read, but criticizes the US a bit much. - I like the information on Nordic attitudes toward many of the problematic areas of our times. It leans heavily on reactions in the US to the most problematic issues. It could bring up more of the differences between Nordic countries and others without Nordic solutions. For example, France is a socialist country, but has a much larger and diverse population. It has huge issues closer to the US in many ways. While this isn't a thorough book on Nordic beliefs, as well as the problems in Nordic countries, it is a wonderful expose' on Nordic beliefs. It could be viewed as a recommendation on fixing attitudes in the US.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #36,691 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #29 in European Politics Books #36 in Communism & Socialism (Books) #135 in History & Theory of Politics |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (1,661) |
| Dimensions  | 1.01 x 5.31 x 8 inches |
| Edition  | Reprint |
| ISBN-10  | 0062316559 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0062316554 |
| Item Weight  | 2.31 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 432 pages |
| Publication date  | June 27, 2017 |
| Publisher  | Harper Paperbacks |

## Images

![The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81SlZ2JavHL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ How to Become Productive and Content - it takes a society
*by A***R on March 30, 2023*

What if you had a government that took care of every citizen from before the time they were born? Health care, education, etc? It turns out that this can be a good strategy for creating individuals who are well-educated, content, and productive. In the United States we don't have very many safety nets compared to the Nordic countries. By the time any significant help kicks in, a citizen may be in such a horrible state that there is almost no return, or if there is return it is going to be very expensive and a huge challenge on all sides. A nearly vertical uphill struggle. Partanen has lived in both Scandinavia and the United States. She first explains--based on first-hand knowledge--that the levels of anxiety and depression experienced in the United States are not as typical in Finland. Then she explains why: the Finish government doesn't invest in helping poor people; the government invests in all its citizens, so that they don't become disadvantaged. Of course, such an approach assumes that one can stomach a society where everyone does well. Perhaps that is at odds with the American dream? It might be missing a small group that is so wealthy that it has its own unique set of mental and physical and emotional problems. But I think I could handle the absence of such a group. Partanen notes that Finland didn't come to this solution automatically. They restructured their society systematically after studying other countries around the world to identify methods that seemed to work. When it then turned out they were testing highest in the world in education, and were gaining praise from other countries, at first they didn't believe it; that was not their self image. Change is possible. Positive change is possible. Read this book. Imagine. Vote.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ It is a wonderful read, but criticizes the US a bit much.
*by H***Y on September 17, 2018*

I like the information on Nordic attitudes toward many of the problematic areas of our times. It leans heavily on reactions in the US to the most problematic issues. It could bring up more of the differences between Nordic countries and others without Nordic solutions. For example, France is a socialist country, but has a much larger and diverse population. It has huge issues closer to the US in many ways. While this isn't a thorough book on Nordic beliefs, as well as the problems in Nordic countries, it is a wonderful expose' on Nordic beliefs. It could be viewed as a recommendation on fixing attitudes in the US.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Nordic Model: The True North Star of Individual Freedom?
*by J***R on July 20, 2016*

This extraordinarily interesting book just published was brought to my attention by a Finnish friend who has lived and worked in the United States for many years, becoming a U.S. citizen in the process. As a retired American Foreign Service Officer for 35 years who in the 1970s and 1980s served twice in the U.S. Embassy in Finland and dealt with Nordic issues in the Department of State in Washington, I had come to admire greatly the Nordic social/political/economic model that to a greater or lesser degree has been followed for several decades by all five of the Nordic countries: Sweden, Finland, Norway Denmark and Iceland. This model has been studied and characterized by social scientists, economists, historians and other academics from many different perspectives and points of view. However, I think the author of this book has performed a unique and extraordinary service by being able to convey the essence and "feel" of what is going on in Nordic societies that those of us who were fortunate to have lived there for some years came to recognize and admire but which is so hard to articulate to an often self-satisfied and self-absorbed American public skeptical of and ill-informed about how foreign countries govern themselves. Perhaps her most important contribution has been to dare to question why most Americans consider that social investment in education, health care and measures to assure decent income opportunities, adequate vacation and leave time and the general "well-being" for all of its citizens should be condemned as "socialism" and as a threat to individual freedom, self-determination and as a disincentive to individual initiative. Indeed she goes on to argue that those very programs encouraging the well-being of all Nordic citizens in fact enhance the freedom of citizens to pursue their individual talents and dreams free from the burden of unequal education, health care and opportunity. This position stands on its head the traditional American sense of freedom drawn from our pioneer days of rugged frontier individualism. Obviously, these concepts deserve and receive in the book far more scrutiny, and the book can appear at times quite strident in its criticisms mostly on the U.S. side of the equation. It is notable, however, how the Nordic countries as a group (and often Finland in particular) rank at or near the top of the entire developed world in so many important disciplines in contrast to a lagging United States. It is a fascinating book which should lead us to compare where we in the United States are as a nation compared to the Nordic countries, which seems to serve as a model toward which other nations appear be trending. By the way I am the author of a book "On the Finland Watch: an American Diplomat in Finland During the Cold War," published in English in 2000 and 2001. The book analyzes the triangular U.S. relations with Finland and the Soviet Union during the Cold War period.

## Frequently Bought Together

- The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life
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- The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia

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*Last updated: 2026-02-22*