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Rating: 
Summary: Definitely worth a read.
Review: Carr & Rabinowitz have written a very readable and useful guide to their persectives on dealing with Swedes in social and business relationships. Their differing backgrounds have worked to produce a balanced and readily understood handbook-plus to Swedish behavior and attitudes in several important areas of social and commercial enterprise.
Because the Swedes (as a nation) speak near-perfect idiomatic "American" and probably the uniformly best English on the planet (including the British Isles), it's easy to assume they share similarly social and business customs. We would assume wrongly, and the authors gently and with appreciation for the distinctions of the culture lead us around the traps while explaining the interesting history behind them... and making us wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to implement many of those customs.
I found enlightenment for a number of previously puzzling incidents in my own Swedish contacts, but beyond simple utility, the book's a fun read.
ca.
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Summary: Former exchange student recommends!
Review: I am 24 year old American male who has previously lived in Sweden for 2 years as an exchange student and has also worked for a Swedish forestry products company. This book is amazingly enlightening! I have to admit that when I first came across it I was somewhat speculative of whole concept. By reading the title you'd almost get the impression that they were talking about interfacing with life from another planet! However, what I found in the book was very well researched and well written -- a fairly accurate portrayal of my experiences and observations of life in Sweden. Highly recommended!
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Summary: I had a good laugh!!!
Review: I bought this book a couple of month ago for my girlfriend(non Swedish). She never read the book, but I did. And I must say I enjoyed every minute of it.
Fun reading, but I don't think you will fully understand how Swedes thinks unless you actually move there... Brrrr...
I do not agree with the statement that Swedes are annoying polite and says 'Thank you' to everything. After living in USA for two years I feel that Swedes are quite rude.
The book felt a little outdated but still the best around.
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Summary: really hits the mark
Review: I know Lisa Carr from the SWEDE-L listserver discussion list so I had heard good things about it while it was being written. I got my own copy right before I visited the land of my grandparents. I read it while I was over there and it gave me excellent insights as to things I observed. It also gave me an insight into my own character because of attitudes that must have been passed down the generations. I highly recommend it for people visiting there because it will enhance their trip. It would also be useful for Swedes visiting the U.S.
Rating:
Summary: really hits the mark
Review: I know Lisa Carr from the SWEDE-L listserver discussion list so I had heard good things about it while it was being written. I got my own copy right before I visited the land of my grandparents. I read it while I was over there and it gave me excellent insights as to things I observed. It also gave me an insight into my own character because of attitudes that must have been passed down the generations. I highly recommend it for people visiting there because it will enhance their trip. It would also be useful for Swedes visiting the U.S.
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Summary: The Swedish delight of getting things in the right proportio
Review: Lagom bok. Writing a book is easy. Getting it "just right" is the hard part. Lagom, as the authors of Modern-Day Vikings tell us is the Swedish delight of getting things in the right proportion, including what is fitting and appropriate, no more, no less, and, in this case, writing a bok about one's people without being either overbearing or falsely modest.
Not too many of us, I suspect, have learned Swedish history other than as an appendix to what other great powers were about in times past. So the authors have been kind enough to sketch on the canvas of a single chapter the flow of events that take us from prehistory through Viking times to the unique, modern day Swedish model of society.
History helps us understand culture and behavior and even allows us to see what triggers the stereotypes we acquire about others. "Sex, suicide, socialism and spirits," as the authors point out, are the false headlines most of us have absorbed about Swedes because we had so little familiarity with the real article. A Swedish friend of mine in her 50's complains that living in France she is still looked on as a svenska flicka ("loose Swedish girl") by some-not by me, of course. Too many Bergman films in my youth have left me still surprised to find so many cheery Swedes.
We learn how Modern Day Vikings value themselves and their history. Swedes appreciate modesty and above all, equality to a fault. They have wholesome homegrown virtues to bring to the marketplace of cultures, and, like all peoples in the great modern global exchange, these are being weighed and measured by the world of competition and the challenge of sustainability. In particular the Swedish smörgasbord of values is being rearranged by a new generation who are leading their country and the world in world-class digital entrepreneurship.
As for the welfare state, that has brought so many to exclaim, "It would never work here," they are probably right. There is a time and place for everything and the time and place for this unique social triumph was Sweden in the middle 1900's. The challenges of immigration and multiculturalism are taxing this system and calling for a fresh wave of creativity in Swedish politics. There are no easy solutions, but one suspects that the Swedish combination of fairness and self-sufficiency will express themselves in fresh socially responsible solutions.
Readers who want to get to the do's and don't's of living and working with Swedes will be amply rewarded in the second half of the book, particularly if they are patient with the first half. They will look at Swedish communication styles manners and business behaviors with far more insight having delved into the authors' careful descriptions and illustrations of Swedish values in action, which like the nordic seasons have both bright and equally dark sides. Going to work or going to dinner, there is no shortage of solid prescription and attention to detail. Robinowitz and Carr are careful to simplify what can be simplified, identify rules where they exist, and to point out, that, as in any culture, taking a good look at what the other guests are doing can help you figure out whether to take your shoes off or not.
Finally, you don't have to be on your way to Sweden to have an excuse to read this book. Robinowitz and Carr, whose rich experience of Swedish culture comes from both living inside of it and seeing it at a distanc have made Modern Day Vikings a good book to curl up with in any season.
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Summary: The inside scoop on Swedes
Review: Modern-Day Vikings really hit the nail on the head when describing the Swedes! After reading it, and having many good laughs, I have decided to use it to prepare a group of Swedes I am bringing to the U.S. for a study tour. Although the book is written, primarily, to help non-Swedes, I think it is very important for Swedes to see how they are seen from the outside, especially by Americans. This is not only a cross-cultural how-to book, but a book that puts beliefs and behaviors in context by describing how the Swedish society developed. It also explains several uniquely Swedish concepts, such as "jantelagen" and "lagom" that have a major effect on how Swedes think. I think that Moder-Day Vikings would be extremely helpful for anyone who wants to understand the Swedes, including the Swedes themselves!
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Summary: Great insight
Review: My wife was born in Sweden and immigrated with her parents to this country when she was 9 years old. Married 6 years, Lena was continually questioning why she viewed the world in certain ways while others couldn't see things the same way. The insights in this book got her thinking about what was special in her Swedish upbringing and why she was taught to look at some subjects differently. Reward systems, her acceptance of certain conflicts and her questioning mind were revealed to her as a result of reading this book. Since then, I have purchased an additional copy to share with a colleague recently hired by a Swedish company and Lena has given her Dad a copy. A must read for both Swedes and Americans who interact with Swedish people.
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Summary: Nice read
Review: Rabinowitz & Carr write a nice, very readable introduction to Swedish, and to some extent Scandinavian society in general. They do a good job of contrasting certain cultural traits that differ between North Americans and Swedes and giving practical advice for the business traveler that applies to anyone, such as exchange students, who may be visiting Sweden as more than just a tourist. The best part of the book that keeps it from being dry, like some other business travel manuals, is the very funny anecdotes.
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