Very interesting

Took a while to get through, but a lot about norse history and information about some traditions that are still practised today.

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Plausibly explained foundations of mythic North

This was a great listen that thoughtfully and plausibly explained a possible historical foundation for the tales of the mythic North and it's legacy in the Shamanic beliefs and that astrological alignments that pepper the North and have influenced Euroasian pagan society and tribal artic society. It still resonates in the lives of the Sami people, esoteric philosophical circles, Neo Heathenism and is sadly abused to bolster some ugly nationalism to this day.

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Surprisingly thought provoking and resonating.

Tying in eclectic and deeply interesting facts, some obvious on their face some more obscure, the author weaves an interesting hypothesis that is at once satisfying and somewhat astonishing.
I enjoyed this immensely and will probably listen to it again.
As the author stated in his conclusion, if Hyperborea didn't exist it should have been invented.
Likewise, our, or at least my understanding of the North could never he complete until this book.

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Not so esoteric

I suppose you do have to have a passing interest in the overall subjects covered here & as it's a freebie I thought this would be, well, you know, crap. How wrong I was! An excellent listen just as long you know a wee bit about Norse history & are open-minded, this is an added bonus to the usual murder rape plunder & pillage of what you would normally find on your bookshelf. Again, this is subjective so don't blame me if it isn't for you. Could have done without the Marvel comic epic though 5*

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overview

the book provides a general and fairly detailed overview of the Nordic heritage. Good source material for anyone interested in comparative mythology.

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1 person found this helpful

History thought the lens of Confirmation Bias

I don't know why I put myself thorough this.
Firstly I must commend the narrator Simon Vance on managing to make some seriously dubious material sound believable. The material itself is a hodgepodge of sources, many that should not be included in a serious book, and fundamentally this is the problem with books of this ilk.
The author(s) begin by boasting of their reading pedigree which includes Alistair Crowley. This sets the tone for much of the book: lists of authors and works cherry picked to support the authors claims.
Where the book is strongest is in its historic overview of the evolution the various cult/religious societies. Where it is weakest is in its drinking the Kool Aid of what they preach.
As with other books of this type, you know you are on rocky grounds when they start using comic books, internet blogs, and the existence of video games to support their over reaching theory. Claims that doing an internet search in some way supports your theory is pure folly. The internet is full of nonsense and lies. The existence of a web page in no way proves anything beyond the fact that someone wrote something and published it on a web page. And fundamentally that is the problem here. Just because someone wrote something and published it, does not make it true.
Citing lists of sources and saying 'if we disregard some of the authors more outlandish claims, can we not argue that X is true?'is like saying 'if we disregard the fact that Harry Potter is a work of fiction, can we not use him to support the existence of wizards?'. And throughout this book the author(s) do just that. The same fuzzy logic that Intelligent Design uses to support their creationist theories are used here. At one point the author even suggests that a Proto Indo European people MAY have been founded by alien visitors to this planet. This is pure fantasy land, of the L. Ron Hubbard variety.
A further problem is that many of the authors views (and those cited) use etymology to support their claims, and it becomes abundantly clear from the outset that the authors really do not understand what they are taking about. Proto Indo European is not a language or people. It is a reconstruction of a theorised prehistoric language by the process of cross analysis of existing language sources. The end result is an 'imagined' language (there are no existing documents in PIE) and the people who spoke it are a mystery to us (there is no PIE civilization to speak of). The authors of this book continually refer to this prehistoric culture as if it is one homogeneous group, which we know it was not. And claims that ancient cultures were in some amazing way more advanced than we are now because they were good at maths and star gazing (keep in mind that these supposed mathematically advanced civilzations had no number zero, no way to calculate fractions, and often used outlandishly huge base systems for calculating because they could handle anything but a whole number), we see a rosy tinted view of the ancients as Atlantans from the pages of a comic book. It's this type of lazy armchair sleuthing that makes it impossible to take any other claims seriously.
Finally, an entire chapter is dedicated to talking about Vikings in popular fiction and music, as if this in some way supports the premise of the book. Marvel's depiction of Thor or the music of Sigur Ros as much supports the author's claims as the Muppets support the work of Attenborough. I kept wanting to shout 'just grow up' every time a pop reference such as the Matrix reared its head.
So, to conclude, I don't know why I put myself through this, but if you want to meander through the Wonderland of fuzzy logic and Viking cults, this is the book for you.

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Interesting and well written

I very much enjoyed this title. lots of interesting information but not at all dry and the narration was nice to listen to.

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Simply amazing!

Well researched, well written and well narrated. So fascinating and intriguing. I’m listening to it all over again! A real gem.

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Excellent

This is my favorite Norse men audio book. This give you everything that you need to know about the above.

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Sceptic to Believer

Nearly sacked it at the intro - so glad I didn't! Very intriguing and therefore educational.

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