The Almost Nearly Perfect People summary

Thinking of saying “I love you” to your new Finnish partner? Well, you might want to reconsider. In Nordic cultures, you can’t just throw around that word, or any others, unless you really, really, really mean what you say.

This is because of a certain reticence that’s found across Scandinavia, and which intensifies the farther north you go.

The Nordic countries have a lot in common with each other, and they have what US anthropologist Edward T. Hall would call “high-context” cultures. This means that they share similar backgrounds and experiences, and, since they already relate to and know so much about each other, their societies need less active communication.

Just look at the Finns. Their population is incredibly homogenous, with an immigrant population of just 2.5 percent; sure enough, they are also infamously untalkative.

In the year 930, the first ever parliament, the Althing, was founded in a narrow Icelandic canyon known as Thingvellir, which was formed by the slowly separating tectonic plates of Europe and North America.  The state was quite literally founded at the point where America and Scandinavia meet. What could such a combination lead to?

Well, as far as their Scandinavian roots go, Icelanders still have strong Viking-like personalities thanks to their close relationship with nature and myth.

In Douglas Adams’ classic sci-fi book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the character Slartibartfast, who “designs” planets and coastlines, wins an award for his beautiful work on the Norwegian fjords. These astounding natural surroundings, combined with their genuine physical isolation, has caused Norwegian people to cultivate a deep attachment to their environment.

In fact, Oslo wasn’t even a capital city until just over a century ago, as Norway was a colony of Denmark and Sweden for most of its history. The author noticed how, as a result, the rest of the country is quite detached from it, both mentally and geographically. Norway is actually the least densely populated country in Europe, with just eleven people per square kilometer, spread throughout the whole country.

Finland offers a mixed bag of pros and cons. The country has the third-highest level of gun ownership in the world, coming in behind only the United States and Yemen, and the highest murder rate in Western Europe. It also boasts the best schools in the world. Is this really the same place?

To understand these seeming contradictions, it’s worth taking a look at Finland’s tumultuous history.

Sweden is the homeland of best-selling author Stieg Larsson, the third-largest exporter of music in the world after the United States and United Kingdom and is the global face of Scandinavia. But what is not so well-known is the country’s peculiar politics.

You see, for most of the twentieth century, Sweden was essentially a one-party state. The Swedish Social Democratic Party – or SSDP – first came to power in 1920, and then ruled, almost without interruption, from 1932 to 1976, with no other party winning a second term until 2010.

Supposedly, the more equal a society, the happier it is. So it would stand to reason that Denmark, whose citizens have repeatedly voted themselves the happiest in the world, would have the best Gini coefficient, right? Well, surprisingly enough, Denmark actually comes in last among Nordic countries. So why are the Danes so happy?

One thing’s for sure: it’s certainly not because of their public infrastructure.