Seger by Viktor Jäderlund

The book is a comic book that tells the story of the long-termed struggle for deaf people’s right to their own language and to express themselves. The author Viktor Jäderlund is a young deaf comic artist who wanted to portray the deaf people's road to victory, thereby the title Victory.

The narrator is a deaf man called Peter, born in 1948. Unfortunately, the narrative is somewhat unimaginative and it’s difficult to get to know him. The text could have been more developed. Never the less, the purpose of the book, to highlight the history of deaf people, is called for. Important historical events that changed history and improved the situation for deaf people are portrayed. The author tells the story about the struggle between Abbe L’epée, who preached sign-language, and Samuel Heinicke, who was in favour of oralism, which means to teach deaf people to speak. Deaf people wanted to use sign-language, and only in 1981, the Swedish prime minister Torbjörn Fälldin stated that deaf people should have sign-language as their first language, and Swedish as their second. Sweden was the first country in the world to make this decision. The author also mentions events such as Sweden’s first school for deaf people, in 1809, the first youth organisation for deaf people, in 1966, the first text telephone and the first use of sign-language in the Eurovision Song Contest. It’s an interesting book with an important story to tell.

Det går av by Carl Jonas Love Almqvist

The book, published in 1839, was written by Carl Jonas Love Almqvist. Sergeant Albert goes on a boattrip from Stockholm to Lidköping, in Sweden, and meets the wonderful Sara Videbäck, a glazier’s daughter. They fall in love, but soon he discoverst that she has taken over the family business and refuses to stop working just because she has fallen in love. She talks highly of people not moving in together and demands that they will not get married. Independence is very important to her because her father mistreated her mother in their marriage. The main theme of the book is marriage as an imprisonment.

This book caused a great scandal in 1839. The author lost his job as president of Nya Elementarskolan and had to live in exile because the book views marriage as a life long institution, preventing the people married to leave each other. The character Sara’s claim that if you love someone, marriage is not needed reflects the author’s own opinion. The book has influenced Sweden and perhaps contributed to the modern view of relationships as equal and marriages as a little overrated.

Att föda ett barn by Kristina Sandberg

The novel is the first in the series about the housewife Maj, which earned Kristina Sandberg the August Prize in 2014. The book takes place in the Swedish town Örnsköldsvik in the late 30s. Maj is trying to get over an old love when she meets Tomas, and what can’t happen for a woman happens. She becomes pregnant. The only way out is to marry him. Then follows a year of an unhappy marriage, of having to spend time with her husband’s family, and with a new born child who is not wanted by anyone.

Kristina Sandberg uses a unique prose. The sentences flow together with a liberal use of commas and there are no quotation marks indicting when someone is speaking, and who. It takes time getting used to, and makes it difficult to read. But, on the other hand, it helps the reader to get into Maj's head - which is very confused sometimes - and understand her everyday life and her view of her duties such as the domestic work, which Maj sometimes uses as escapism from her thoughts and feelings. But she seldom complains about her situation, because women didn’t complain. They would only perform their duties. Maj feel constantly inept. As a reader you might want to confirm her, give her a little confidence, anything to make her rebel against her situation. Her identity is in the succesful cookies or the advanced dinner. The author has explained that people who get annoyed at Maj might forget that she is a product of her time. It's an important comment. A woman’s value was to be a good wife, mother and housekeeper. Her own dreams were often not even considered. The housekeeping became important because it was the knowledge the women had. Their sense of worth. Their lives were about serving others. The men came home from work, were served, talked with friends or read a book. They learned about the world, and how to affect it. Women's lives were often spent by meticulously polishing the facade. But ignoring those duties were not kindly looked on. The book is about the everyday life but at the same time, it is a big drama. Kristina Sandberg is talanted at depicting long term anxiety and unhappiness that lead to a depressing existence.

Tomas's family is wealthy and Maj must constantly relate to different sisters-in-law and the cold hearted mother-in-law. Is she good enough? What do other people think? Maj is afraid that others might think that she is incompetent, lazy or promiscuous for having a baby before getting married. The novel is reminiscent of Kerstin Thorvall’s authorship that takes place more than ten years earlier. The fear of believing that you are nothing and that others might discover that you only pretend to be something. The absence of her own family on her own wedding. Maj misses them tremendously.

Tomas doesn't see how much she struggles with her situation and her pregnancy, but he tries to relieve her as best as he can. He wants to make her happy, but he does not know how. For she is not saying how she wants it. She tries to accept her life, but the loveless marriage is a disaster. She thinks about her family, her ex-boyfriend, her friends and her job as a waitress. It would be fine if she was enjoying her new life, being a housewife, but she misses everything.

The book raises many thoughts about the women in the 30’s. What was it like giving birth to a child? Did they feel appreciated? How selfless can a woman be? How is a woman to constantly serve others instead of following their own dreams? The novel is fictional, but Kristina Sandberg has captured the spirit of the time and portrays the social structure from a housewife's perspective. It is a forgotten and important part of our history.

Gardet by Staffan Malmberg

Staffan Malmberg's latest book is about a vigilante group. The main character Johannes is on paternity leave and tired. He is on the edge of something, but doesn’t know what. He is tired of people who do not respect others. Something breaks in him when the sound of a motorcycle raises his daughter in a stroller, and suddenly he knows what must be done.

Many people are certainly irritated by other people's behavior, but few have gone a step further. Staffan Malmberg explores what happens when people take the law into their own hands. The characters are tired of selfishness, indifference, the rampant individualism and dogmatism gains. One of them comments on the relationship between assertiveness and decisiveness, something that is not always an advantage. Who is behaving perfectly towars other people? Who is to decide what is allowed? The novel is a terrifying example of what happens when people create their own conditions and expect everyone to follow them, live according to them. The group is growing uncontrollably. They are becoming organized and turned into a vigilante group. Johannes describes the situation that escalates into a catastrophy. "We were the reaction. It was when we became the action it went to hell.”

The book is sparse and the language is at times beautiful, almost poetic. Few words can contain very much. The desire to change. What happens when you lose control. Democracy and anarchy forces. Both in society and in the small group. For it is impossible to control people, as Johannes soon learns, despite being the founder of the group. It’s an interesting situation, and very unpleasent how fast destructiveness apper in the group that at first had good intentions.

Prins Charles känsla by Liv Strömquist

Something about Liv Strömquist’s books is really interesting. Perhaps it's the analyses, the history or the facts. For evert theory, Strömquist uses sources, such as researchers, psycho analysts and real events to back her arguments up.

This is about love as a social structure. Why do women often need to be acknowledged by men? Why do men often distance themselves from intimacy and feelings? In a culture that encourages gender differences and small children learn early on to behave in a certain way, it's not difficult to understand. Girls identify with their mothers, and develop caring and affirmative characteristics. Boys often don’t identify with their fathers, because they are absent. They have no role model and therefore assimilate the sexistic culture. Hence, the culture is maintained. Of course, everything improves through the years. Nowadays, men have parental leave in Sweden and are expected to spend more time with their children, not to mention the fight for gender equality with means such as the concept "hen", an indefinite pronoun that serves to take focus away from expectations concerning gender, but old traditions still form people.

This book analyses the twosome, heterosexual couple, how the society is built upon this structure, and the consequences for gender equality. Strömquist also mentions famous couples that have lived their lives according to this norm, and how it affected them, from historical people like Gustaf Fröding and his self-pity and prostitutes, and Victoria Benedictsson and George Brandes, to people of today, such as Charlie Sheen and Hugh Grant, and recent couples like Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown.

Strömquist is also describing how men opress women to be able to win them over, also a strategy in the book The Game, and whether love and relationships are gender equal. Women sacrifice everything, care about and blow up men's ego, while men do nothing of the sort. Women's identity is constituted by their bodies and what they can offer men. Their destiny is to take care of and comfort other people, and not themselves. The consequence is that men are able to seek their happiness in work or hobbies, encouraged by their wives, and women don't get the encouragement and support from their husbands to do the same. Unbelievably, despite all this, many men still seem to fear marriage, and some of them even have a condescending attitude to women. At the same time, they maintain relationstips with these women. When looking at it more carefully, it’s not very inexplicable. There are researchers that claim that men need women to maintain their independence. Without them, they have no one to be independent of. A study shows that after a divorce, women are feeling happy and feel their self-confidence growing, while men are feeling unhappy and depressed. Even though twosome marriages often mean a kind of ownership which might be unhealthy, it seems that men benefit from it, while women are restricted and not enough supported. So, perhaps, men should learn to appraciate relationships and marriage more. Women often stay in these relationships because they have learned that the only way of self-worth is to be acknowledged and approved by men. When getting hurt, women need comfort, and they also need for their men to comprehend them and therefore they try even harder to explain how they feel to be able to fix the relationship. The psychological mechanisms are very complicated, and of course can't be applied to every one. Most people probably don't think about it, and don't think it's necessary, because people have a choice, right? Of course, most men are nice and most women don't accept a dysfunctional relationship. But what if we are so used to this phenomena that we don't see it? When you start to analyze, you discover this structure that explains a lot about patterns of behavior. There are always many studies and many professional people having opinions, about any subject, and they are not always right about everything, but this book offers interesting analyses that explain some structures of society.

Omgiven av idioter: Hur man förstår dem som inte går att förstå by Thomas Erikson

Have you wondered why you sometimes need to be alone for a while with your thoughts? Or why you always have to be the center of attention? Why certain people are so careless and sloppy? Or why you are surrounded by idiots? Thomas Erikson is explaining all this. He uses a known method to sort differences in communication and categorize people into four different groups, or personality types. Red people are impatient and focused on results, yellow people are positive and need to be the center of attention, green people, which are the most common, are calm and good listeners, and blue people are well organized and pay attention to detail. Everyone is needed and the best group is consisting of all colors. 

People critical to this would certainly claim that it’s difficult to categorize people, but, of course, this method includes numerous variations, and most people have more than one color. Another critical comment might be that dividing people into groups is something that should be prevented, but Thomas Erikson doesn't value one quality more than another, he just states that we are all different. This is just a way to understand each other. We get to know the cause of conflicts and how best to treat them. Of course, this is not a totally waterproof method. People are unpredictable and complicated. The reality is always more complex.

The book, a new edition, is entertaining and useful, both at work and in private life. Everyone benefits from this because everyone we all use communication.

Göran Kropp 8000+ by David Lagercrantz

In this book, Göran Kropp tells the story of his climbing carrier and his crazy adventure in 1996. He decided to climb Mount Everest, and to do everything by himself. He rode a bike from Sweden to Nepal, and climbed Mount Everest alone, without a guide, without any use of sherpas, people carrying the climbers' baggage, without oxygen and he mostly ate his own food that he had brought with him. The photographer that was supposed to catch Kropp's achievement on camera was flown in secret with a small plane, a Pilatus Porter, at a height of 9000 meters – which is forbidden. Furthermore, it had to be a big secret because they had to restrict the airspace. Too bad, a storm was coming in and they had to fly earlier than planned, and the photographer didn't get Kropp at the top. Kropp was there during the dragic season of 1996. On may 10th, many people died. Kropp knew these people, and met them at base camp, but he wasn't part of their expeditions. 

David Lagercrantz, who has written about Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alan Turing, and is the author of the latest Stieg Larsson Millennium-book, knows how to write. It really feels like you are there, in the snow and in the darkness, with Göran Kropp. You are really cold. What is surprising is the interesting relationships forming at base camp, and the necessity to trust and depend on each other. The people coming there to climb are so unlike each other, but become the same, with the same thoughts and the same needs and struggle to survive. There are so many destinies intertwining, which makes the book rich in a fascinating way. It is really beautiful that people meet and have this bond. Kropp tells us about wonderful meetings with wonderful people, but and also people that are arrogant and selfish. Up there, people are really put to the test. They seem to be reduced to the basic foundation of themselves, in a way. The true personality is revealed.

Some facts about Mount Everest

* In 1924, George Mallory was the first westerner that climbed Mount Everest. No one knows what happened, and whether Mallory and his collegue Andrew Irwine reached the top. They disappeared and were find 1999. They were the first to die there.

* In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first climbers known to have succesfully reached the top. Three days later, the same day that Elisabeth II was crowned Queen, their achievement reached the news and they became heroes. Kropp claims that the news were comparable with Neil Armstrong later walking on the moon.

* Reinhold Messner reached the top 1980, alone and without oxygen tubes.

* Water boils beneath 100 degrees celcius, around 60.

* A person looses 8 liters of water a day.

* Above 8000 meter, the ground is called the "death zone". Already at base camp, near the height of 6000 meters, the body stop producing muscle cells. Exercise is not only burning fat, but also muscles are affected.

* It is said that the mind of a person with great physique is slowing down up there and the ability of understanding is half of a six year old, due to exhaustion and the low levels of oxygen.

* The mountain can only be climbed a short time, between the jetstreams and the monsoon season.

* Around 155 people have died climbing Mount Everest.

This is a story about the love of climbing, but it is also a report about the climbing industry. Göran Kropp critiqizes the rich people that pay huge amounts to be a part of a team, but lack knowledge, respect and experience, only surviving because they depend totally on their guides, jeopardising the entire expedition, because of their inability. Kropp doesn't like the fact that mountains have become like trophies for the rich. According to him, it contaminates the air. A climber should first and foremost care about the climbing, the love for the mountain. But the commercial aspect is growing. Now, the mountain is like a high way, trafficked by unexperienced people, which might have stopped the flow of climbers, may 10th, 1996, and caused the delay - one of the reasons that led to the major tragedy.

Climbing is expensive and has become an adventure for the rich people. The more comfortable adventure, the more expensive adventure, sadly. Money should not be the ruling aspect, deciding who will be a part of a team. Kropp discusses the rich and famous people using oxygen tubes at all times and paying many sherpas to carry their baggage. Of course, it's not possible to demand that people should carry heavy packing and drop the oxygen tubes, and still be able to carry out the deed. Then, not many people would be able to have the experience of reaching the top. There should be no prestige. However, it's obvious that it is the sherpas that are the real heroes. But many people that pay their way up to the top and don't need to prepare themselves that much or plan anything, seem to lack the careful, responsible, humble and respectful approach that characterizes the guides. Many of them give the impression of not being that interested in climbing, which makes you wonder what their climbing is all about. Perhaps some of them are genuinly trying to learn, while others just want a trophy. Kropp is critical of people like the arrogant and disrespectful journalist Sandy Pittman, who, according to him, seem to have had a big part in the tragedy of the expedition she belonged to, in 1996. An assistent to the guide had to drag her up and down – she didn't even climb by herself, just because she was famous and great advertising - and therefor didn't have the strengh later to save people's lives. Pittman survived because she was rescued, but her comment later to the tragedy that occured was that it was indeed horrible, but at least her book would sell well. After getting back to base camp, she hired a helicopter and asked only two people to ride with her, when she could have hired another one for the same amount of money, and helped those that had saved her life. Perhaps Scott Fischer's death might have been avoided if he hadn't burned himself out, trying to help such clients, and she didn't mention and never thanked the people that saved her life, when later talking to the press.

The guides shouldn't take totally unexperienced people on. Obviously, everyone has the right to climb, but it would be safer if the clients had some practice before deciding to climb Mount Everest. It is dangerous even for the most experienced guide. No one can buy a life garanty, and unexperienced people increases the risk. But the climbing industry is growing, and money is power. May 10th, 1996, the guides Scott Fischer and Rob Hall decided to ignore the rule to not climb the mountain after 02.00 pm - Hall waited there until 04.00 pm, because he didn't want to let his client, Doug Hansen, down. Kropp remembers the famous call between Rob Hall and his wife, Jan Arnold. Hall was alone, somewhere in the cold, exhausted and almost didn't have the energy to talk to her. The last time they spoke to each other they talked about what they would name their baby.

Despite the growing commerse, there are still people that want the whole challenge, and do everything themselves. They are often the most experienced, and most likely to survive. It's something beautiful and magnificent about challenging oneself to that extent. It's almost as if a person's mind is reduced to only the strongest feelings - happiness, hope, disappointment, fear, determination and grief. It's easy to understand the climbers' view of what it really is to live. Perhaps some people live their lives to the fullest when they are close to death. Göran Kropp died in 2002, climbing in the area of Frenchmans Coulee, close to Washington. He was and still is a great inspiration, while reminding us of the danger of climbing. With this book, he is able to tell his story.

Oscar Levertins vänner by Martina Montelius

Boel Märgåker has founded the Oscar Levertins friends association, where said author is discussed. The members are going on a literature cruise and Boel decides to loosen up. She is tired of controlling her emotions, comfort other people, and her husband Greger. The cruise becomes a surrealistic adventure. But an older woman interested in culture, who is expected to smile and be nice all the time, can't have intimate encounters and take drogs, can she?

Marina Montelius, dramatist and director, made her novel debut 2013 with Främlingsleguanen. This book is also short, but dense, written in a way that characterizes the author. The tone is comical and entertaining, but shifts abruptly to a deep darkness with secrets such as sexual assault and violence. The blackness is even more emphasized as the novel alters between light and dark.

Boel needs literature to live, or perhaps to survive. She finds comfort in it. The novel portrays people struggling with themselves, and how literature helps them with that. But, first and foremost, Martina Montelius honor the mature woman. People has constantly commented on Boel's body and person, as recent as this cruise, when a man being intimate with her stated that she can't be pregnant. Boel is tired of being treated badly and being betrayed, something she has experienced since she was a child, and she decides that she has had enough. The novel is plunging into the depths of the mechanisms of psychology. A mature woman that refuses to accept the expectations of society is relieving. The mature woman is seldom portrayed in neither fiction or reality. How often do we wonder about what they feel? This book makes you wonder about that.

Upplysning i det 21:a århundradet by Christer Sturmark

Christer Sturmark's book about enlightenment comes in a time when many people leave their faith, at the same time as religious forces are getting stronger. Other attitudes to life also seem to grow. The book includes everything from religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam, to supernatural elements. Sturmark's main message is the importance of reflection and reason. While science is able to explain more and more phenomenon, people yet seem unable to reflect and think logical. Instead, they believe in stuff that are unexplained and lack scientific support, such as ghosts and telepathy. 

Sturmark is a missionary for enlightenment. Science and culture have been considered important until the world was thrown into barbary, before, as he puts it when discussing his book on television. Now, the irrational thinking seems to spread again, perhaps because of the possibilities online to discuss opinions with equals, and not having to challenge one's believes.

Philosophy is the foundation of this book. Much of it is a lesson in philosophy of religion, and Sturmark discusses the concept of God, why morality doesn't have religious foundation, and whether God hates women. One of the most interesting parts of the book is those that discusses the birth of religion and it's development (it's interesting that the US was more secular during Benjamin Franklin's time, than today). The history of ideas is a big part of the book and necessary to understand today's attitude to religion. Epistemology is another important part of the book. The main pillars of science research is explained, and why science is more reliable than superstition and belief in religion and the supernatural. According to Sturmark, one should have a good reason to believe in something, whatever it might be. Preferably evidence. This is an argument that somehow collide with religion. Doesn't a big part of being religious mean to not demand evidence? To just believe? - this is a smart way of not having to explain so much. Of course, whether people choose to believe in religion, the supernatural or pseudoscience, it's important to reflect before reaching conclusions. However, it's also important to be humble. Science is a relative term and changing. There are a lot we don't know, and a lot we know but can't explain entirely, just think about quantum physics. Today's science fiction is tomorrow's science. Scientists try their hypothesis after having had an opinion about a matter. If not being open-minded, we will never come up with new theories and expand our understanding of science. If we can't believe in something without evidence, that same evidence is difficult to find to justify our believes.

Sweden is a secular country. The Swedish church is tolerant, accepting marriage between people with the same gender, and having female priests. But it hasn't always been like that, and there are still some flaws, which, according to Sturmark, can be explained by underlying religious believes, such as rules concerning organ donation and euthanasia. Sturmark also discusses the debate about religion in Sweden. Agnosticism is common. Sturmark - who is comparing religions with ghosts, trolls and astrology, which might be considered disrespectful - wonders why many people that not believe in supernatural phenomenon prefer to call themselves agnostic, instead of atheists. Perhaps it's complicated. It is a comfort zone where you don't have to have an opinion. Because it's impossible to prove that God exists and it's as impossible to prove that he, or she, doesn't exist. Perhaps it's also a way to get along with everyone and to respect their believes. Another explanation might be that baptism and weddings are about tradition, and something beautiful worth saving because they make us feel amazed that there is something bigger out there. We celebrate midsummer, despite not having a pagan faith or thinking about the summer solstice. Furthermore, there are surely many people that aren't religious but have a great respect for religion. 

When reading such a book, with critical and matter-of-fact arguments - with statistics and sources that back up the reasoning - it's important to remember that religion has nothing to do with those practising it. Under no circumstances should religious people be mistaken for their religion, no matter if we think religion good or bad. Religion is a conviction, an attitude to life, that does not define an individual person. People's gender, ethnicity and sexuality are not to be questioned, of course, but religion is a standpoint that is changeable, and therefor, it should be allowed to question it, according to the author. Another reason for questioning it is Sturmark's statement that religious groups are funded by the government, while organisations with a secular approach are ignored.

Sturmark is tired of peudoscience that came with postmodernism and truth relativism. There is only one truth, he claims. Religion is only compatible with science if God lit the spark for the universe, and then abandoned it. The constant interference by God into our daily lives is difficult to incorporate with scientific reasoning, according to him. But is it impossible? There is a tone of criticism throughout the book, while at the same time, Christer Sturmark is preaching freedom of faith. Everyone has the right to practise her belief, as long as it doesn't mean breaking the law, or restricting human rights or freedom of speech. However, it's easier with a secular approach, Sturmark argues, since it's difficult to fight oppression of women and other victimization when such ideas are given a religious motivation, sanctioned by God - it's not possible to meet such attitudes with rational arguments. That is the author's opinion. Claiming that God works in mysterious ways is a rather convenient argument. The secular ethic puts human beings in the center. Secular humanism means that religious dogms should never be superior to human rights. Sturmark claims that secular humanism is the only way to a democratic society that protect the human rights. Religion puts God in the center, while secular humanism puts the human being in the center. Sturmark uses statistics to dismiss certain claims about the necessity of religion as a moral guide, and show us that it is rather the opposite.

Not all of the aspects of the discussion are new, but Sturmark delve into some of them and argues in a way that makes you think. Religion is a big mystery. It's fascinating. It is good if it comforts and fills one's life with happiness or endurance, but it is not needed to explain the world and it shouldn't overshadow human rights. It's when a person is put in the center that she becomes a self-thinking individual.

Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck

Imagine living in the darkest of places. Imagine that the only people for miles are people you don't know, yet. The character Maija moves to a small settlement in Lappland, Sweden, with her family and they are just beginning to get to know the people in the area when a murder is commited. Then, Maija's husband has to leave for the coust to find work, leaving her and their two children alone.

Sweden is a spectacular, mesmerizing country. In the summer, the midnight sun lights both day and night, painting the beautiful nature in more vivid colours than the brightest fairytale. The grass and wild forests are intensely green, the sea is dark blue and the air is crisp and the sun warms it all. In the winter, the sun hardly reaches above the horizon. There is constant darkness, apart from a short while at noon. The snow falls heavy and everything is white, a contrast to the black sky and the colorful, dansing northen light.

Ekbäck's descriptions of the landscape and forces of nature are very colourful. It's not a traditional fast-paced crime novel, at all. The book is slow at times but is necessary to deal with tensions and feelings as well as an atmosphere of superstition and the supernatural, and for them to give an impression. The exterior reflects the characters' isolation and inner struggle. The book gets more and more interesting because of the portrayal of 18th century Sweden. How difficult it must have been for a lonely woman to fight for her family's survival. 

Ekbäck wanted to write about an interesting time period. Superstition and the belief in the supernatural remained to some extent from an early period. The people living around Svartåsen fear the powers of the mountain, thinking it can breath and make horrible things happen. What's more, in the year of 1717, the wound was still fresh from the witch hunts, and people's fear still remained, it seems - a faith that wasn't as strong as the church, but still a belief. The author uses this theme. Was it some kind of comfort believing in these things, when the situation was so bad? The early 18th century changed the very foundation of life for the people. Sweden was at war and men were forced to leave their families to fight for their country. According to the author, around a third of the population – 1,5 million people – were killed. The king raised the taxes to be able to finance the war, the plague hunted people, and as if that wasn't enough, some years of bad harvest made the people starve. In this situation, Maija is left alone with her children in the middle of nowhere, in the darkness, near a few farms and a secret. She begins to investigate the murder and soon realizes that it's not the only strange thing. The secret might be covering more than the murder mystery.

Den självläkande människan by Sanna Ehdin

Sanna Ehdin discusses health and food, drug-, alcohol- and sugar addiction, motion, stress, correct breathing and mindfulness. And how they interfere. Today, the focus is more often than not on sickness instead of health, and she claims that there are companies that benefit from it. According to her, medications, in the right doses, is the third biggest cause of death in the west. This is a book about those who want to read about something else than the traditional health care. Epigenetics means to affect one's own body with healthy food and the right environment for self healing. Did you know that b-vitamines deficiency can lead to depression? Or that persons with anorexia often has zinc deficiency? Many conditions are consequences of similar deficiencies and can be fixed without medications and antibiotics and prevented with the right food. Vitamines and minerals can cure and prevent many diseases. Stress affect the body more than you might think, and real breathing and mindfulness are important to keep the body in balance. 

Ehdin means that many deficiencies depend on the diminishing nourishment in the earth. Humic acid, that blocks viruses and prevents it form binding to the cells, is found in the top strata of the earth, in peat and lignin, but have decreased due to synthetic fertilizers and toxic discharge. You can actually eat humid acid as a natural medication. I wonder what the traditional doctors that advocates conventional medicine would say about that.

Sweden, after Finland, has the world's highest frequenxy of child diabetes. Sugar and gluten is the worst substances, both when it comes to diseases, alcoholism and other addictions, and changes the hormon balance.

It has been known for more than a hundred years that hormons affetc the immune system, but it is unexplored because women's health has been a low priority in the 20th century, something that is very interesting because I would have thought that we had come further than that. Still, the Socialstyrelse, The National Board of Health and Welfare, Sveriges kommuner och landsting, SKL, Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, and Folkhälsoinstitutet, Swedish National Institutet of Public Health claim that patients are not met and treated on the same terms. Men get more expensive medications, and women's symptoms have not been taken seriously. The research has often focused on men's immune system and animal experiments have been made on male animals. But men's and women's immune system are different. Women's is stronger, because they are responsible for the continuation of the family. That means that women have three times bigger chances to utveckla autoimmune diseases than men, something that should be taken into consideration when doing research and developing medicine.

The book contains much information and advice that might come in handy for many people. Women in menopause should take bioidentical hormones instead of synthetic ones. They are from the vegetable kingdom and are similar to our own hormones. Progesterone is important to take. Bioidentic hormons is increasing the risk for age related diseases, the cholesterol levels improve, and decreases the risk for heart diseases. Unfortunately, birth control pills often contains synthetic hormons. Why are we not informed about this? Ehdin goes so far as to claim that menopause might be something that could be postponed. She went through a detox in her fifties and got her period back. Adults uses 80 % of their energy to detox. This is very interesting.

She recommend meta medication, an overall perspective that integrates traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine. It gives a whole picture and helps the body to self cure. Energy medicin is a treatment that proceeded from the foundation of quantum physics, and states that everything exists both like particles and waves, at the same time. The waves makes a certain frequence. Different materials have different frequences. A healthy cell has another frequence than a sick one. The treatment consists of subtle energies and electromagnetic energy like sound waves and light waves. Frequency medication works on different frequences. Bioresonance is a quantum medical analysis- and treatment tecnique that has been developed in space medicine. During the analyze the system is sending information about energy waves and is looking for the body's resonans. If there is an inbalance, there are different frequences in organs and emotionally. The system is repairing them with stämma the body's energy fields.

Overall, the book is very fascinating. Even though Ehdin sometimes feel a little too convinced about some things and portrays the lack of knowledge and health treatment like a big conspiracy, it gives you much to think about. New thinking people are often met with criticism because they are controversial, but this book no doubt contains many things that people would benefit from knowing about.

The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg

They dress like boys, act like boys and have the same rights as boys. A ”bacha posh” is a girl in Afghanistan that from an early age are brought up as a boy, and thereby changes her gender identity.

The parents have many reasons for this. There's pressure to have sons, to give their daughters another perspective and self-confidence, and superstition - if a girl is dressed like a boy, the next baby will be a son. Regardless of the reason, these girls get more liberty. Until puberty.

Azita, a politician and former member of the parlament, was a bacha posh and is now dressing her daughter as a son. Mehran holds her father's hand learns to speak her opinion. She lives in a different world from her sisters. In Afghanistan, where bacha, child, means boy and dokhtar, the other, means girl, the possibilities for women are limited. 40% of the girls are married before they turn 18. Afghanistan is, according to the author, the worst country in the world to have a baby. The life expectancy for women is 44 years, many of which consists of pregnancies. 

The bacha posh phenomenon is an indication of a patriarchy that forces women to take the role as men to survive. This is not unique for Afghanistan. The concept of gender is considered relevant in most parts of the world. To show a baby's gender by dressing it in blue or pink was invented in the US as a sell trick in the 1940's. Before that, babies were dressed in white. Rules for clothing has always been a tool to maintain the patriarchate order, according to Nordberg. In France, the law to forbide women wearing pants, was formally abolished as late as 2013. Bacha posh is a universal phenomena and seems to arise in segregated and uncertain places. It existed as early as the middle ages, in many places in the west, including North America and Sweden, according to the author. In Sweden, an orphan named Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar dressed like a man, went into the army and fought the Russians to provide for her sisters and escape a forced marriage.

The book gives birth to questions about gender identity and gender differences. According to the men interviewed, women are vulnerable and caring. According to the women, to be a woman means absence of freedom. A greater context is whether or not a person is born into a gender identity. The bacha poshes that Nordberg met are convinced it is formed by the environment.

Jenny Nordberg tries to understand without coloring her words. She gives the reader a piece of the puzzle that might make it easier to view the complexity of the structure. Her book indicates that it's the people with economic power that hold the key. Nordberg thinks that men have to realize that women are not a threat, and that a daughter or wife with education and a job, are a benefit for the family and society as a whole. The organisations that try to improve the situation for women by speaking to women should instead turn to the men, since the ultimate power lies with them.

Nordberg explains that women rights have become an issue for the elite, and associated with the west, something nationalistic and islamistic people feel they have to distance themselves from. Another problem is that when the foreigners are withdrawing from the country, the people that sympathized with them, also leave. The people left are conservative and therefore it's difficult to improve the situation. The books also indicates that it's more difficult to improve women's conditions during uncertainty and war. When Azita was young, she wanted to continue her education and had dreams, but was forced to marry an analfabetic cusin in the countryside. The price was 1000 dollar and some property. Azitas father is an academic and liberal, and his dreams during the communist era were shattered by the talibans, and the family had to flee. He wanted Azita to be able to achieve her goals in life, but considering the dangerous time, he felt he had to marry her off to protect her. She wasn't a traditional woman and her father had to convince her husband to allow her to work. Later, Azita became a politician. This indicates that war is preventing human rights, and that a place has to be peaceful to become more equal.

The book is professionally written. The statements are backed up by facts. Everything from UN and other organisations for human rights, to theories by Sigmund Freud and world leading research on gender identity. But, in the end, what makes this book really special is that as a reader, you are transferred into Afghanistan and becomes the little girl, the teenager, the daughter, the wife, the politician, the warrior and the taekwondo teacher. They all have something in common. Everyday is a battle.

Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality by Max Tegmark

The human mind has constantly underestimated the size of our world and universe, while, at the same time, the human mind has constantly underestimated the chances of understanding it. Max Tegmark, one of the leading physicists in the world, explains theories about the universe and offer alternative conclusions which are considered controversial, but gain more and more acceptance and respect. He doesn't think the universe can be described by mathematics, he thinks it is mathematics. The smallest parts of the atom that we know of, the quarks, have no other quality than being mathematic. In the same way, the universe on the great scale seems to be symmetrical and consist of equations. The big and the small scales come together, and in the end, everything is mathematics.

Max Tegmark is a very interesting person, obviously very intelligent, interested in mysteries and the unexplainable, and has a great deal of open-minded imagination. That makes him a machine of ideas and theories about our universe. His determination is impressive. When he finds an obstacle, he writes a new computer program to be able to analyze data, or builds a groundbreaking kind of telescope - an omniscope, involving a method called 21 cm cosmology - to be able to continue his research.

This book brings out the physicist in you. Tegmark mixes equations and explanations with the big, existential questions. Sometimes the book is on the verge of philosophy, which only makes physics more beautiful. What are we, really? What makes us aware of everything and ourselves? Do we exist or are we just Boltzmann brains? (A self aware entity, existing due to fluctuations in space, according to quantum mechanics). What is reality? Is time an illusion? In which universe do we live? What does the world really look like? How accurate is our view when we depend on photons? (In the dark, we see nothing. Different materials absorb different light waves and the colour we see seems to be the one not absorbed. Much of the reality is hidden from us, like other dimensions).

This is some of the themes discussed in the book.
* Time is a fascinating dimension, belonging to the four dimensions of our universe. The speed of time moves differently depending on the whereabouts of the observer. Near a black hole, it goes faster. We are able to see almost 14 billion years back in time, when viewing the cosmic radiation created 400 000 years after the Big Bang. 
* Hydrogen gives off radio waves with a wavelength of 21 centimeters. Since the waves reaches earth are stretched out by the expending universe, the length of them reveals how far away they come from. Since distance is a factor of time, that also reveals how old they are. It's called 21 cm tomography. It's a current scientific activity and physicists around the world are trying to track the signal from the places farthest away.
* Without three dimensions and time, woven together in a cosmic fabric of spacetime, life wouldn't exist, but according to Tegmark, we are not unique. Because of his theory about multiple universes, everything that can happen, will happen somewhere.
* According to Tegmark, there are universes on four levels. Our universe is on the first level, and is represented by how far we are able to see, or the light that has reached us in 14 billion years. Beyond that, there are other universes that we can't see. The universes on level two are a consequence of a great expansion happening before Big Bang, called the inflation theory. These universes have different physical rules depending on inflation and early fluctuations. Universes on level three are coming from quantum physics. Universes on level four are made of every mathematical structure there is. Every equation happens somewhere, and imagination is the limit.
* According to quantum physics, there are endless copies of you that have your memories and think they are you. When you gamble, somewhere one of you win, and one of you loose. There are no luck, there are only different outcomes. When you feel immortal, it means the number of you have diminished. When you feel lucky, the number of you have increased.

In one chapter, the apocalypse is discussed and five alternatives for the universe apocalypse are introduced. They are called Big Chill, Big Crunch, Big Rip, Big Snap and Death Bubbels. The theories have to do with the expanding or eventual compressing of the universe. When considering an apocalypse within a billion years, Tegmark thinks the sun is the big threat. He almost dismisses the idea of an invasion from intelligent life in our galaxy, since the probability of a planet with intelligent life existing within our galaxy, considering the immense size of the rest of the universe, is almost non-existent. (In the same way, one could argue that mankind will not live for billion years. The probability of us being born so early in that kind of time-line is very small). Many planets are inhabitable, but are still not inhabited. Many planets are older than earth, and if there were intelligent life somewhere in our galaxy, some of them would probably already have colonized the universe. Or, perhaps they already have?

In the near future, however, the existential risks are the biggest threat, considering nuclear weapons and the fact that we eventually might build an intelligent computer, which earns some egoistical person much money and leaves the rest of the world in poverty. The artificial intelligence might be well beyond ourselves, and learn how to evolve without us, which makes us superfluous and ultimately might lead to our extinction. We should be grateful to what we have and not waste it. We should be able to save ourselves and our planet with knowledge. Tegmark thinks that scientists have failed to educate people and have to improve their information distribution. Many people still think that mankind is only 10000 years old, and in 2012, twelve people were burned to death for witchcraft in Haiti. The lack of knowledge is dangerous and certain companies strive to maintain ignorance to profit.

Despite his successful career, Max Tegmark seems to be a very modest and humble man, fully aware of the risks of theories, and that research has turned out to be wrong before. That is why he has an open mind. His attitude and love for his work, his collegues and previous scientists is admiring. Perhaps scientists have to really love their work, be their work, to succeed. Often, they work day and night, struggling with their thesis and experiments, to be able to finally reach a conclusion.

Tegmark's view of the world is fascinating and very inspiring. He mentions facts that are very romantic, almost like poetry. Gold is produced when a star dies in a supernova explosion so violent and rare that, during a fraction of a second, it releases about the same amount of energy as every other star in our observable universe, together. The world needs school teachers like that. The only criticism might be the sometimes fast deductions in his arguments. It would have been nice with a few more sentences with distinct explanations about the consistency in some of the chapters.

The gigant distances, mystery, beauty and elegance of the universe often make us feel small and insignificant. We are not. First, we have a big decision to make. During our lifetime, the future of our planet is most likely to be decided, according to the book, and we will be remembered for it in the future. Second, as Tegmark so delicately puts it, the universe – which is a true art - is only beautiful because a conscious being can perceive it. We are probably the only intelligent beings in our galaxy, and if we weren't here, the beauty of the universe would be a waste of space. Instead of thinking the universe is giving meaning to us, we should think that we are giving meaning to the universe.

Utan personligt ansvar by Lena Andersson

”Utan personligt ansvar”, without personal responsibility, is a novel about a relationship that is not a relationship. Five years have passed since Ester Nilsson's romance with Hugo Rask and that experience has not made her cynical. Her new love subject is Olof Sten, an actor and a very ambivalent man. As Olof describes it, t's allright to have a relationship with Ester, as long as it's not called a relationship. Because Olof is married.

Lena Andersson is phenomenal at describing the sublime. A dislocation, an imbalance of power between two people, something that should be unreasonable in the world of love. The theme, as well as the predecessor, is a trespassing of moral boundaries, without personal responsibility. Because in the subjective reality it's impossible to proove Olof feelings or lack there of. And that makes Ester, who loves with all her heart, the weak one.

Much feels like a repetition of the last book. It's the same main character and the same theme. Nevertheless, it's not obsolete, and it's as interesting as before. There's the same naive expectations, imaginary love response and restrained anger, but this time the relationship, which is not a relationship but unsurpricingly very much resembles one in every aspect, is extracted suffering for several years. This time Ester's love want to be with her in a way, but since he is married she doesn't fit into his life.

Both of them are aware of the imbalance of power and the stream of mixed signals seems endless. But Ester fights for a long time and as usual it's the partner most smitten that is the most vulnerable. The prose is philosophical and you can almost hear Lena Andersson's ironical voice. Uncertainty is mixed with short moments of happiness and pain, and Ester, in her philosophical manner, is always ready to interpret the course of events in an optimistic way. 

The intimacy is coming at a high price. It's almost like a financial business. As Ester view it, when Olof is in the possession of capital, he can afford to be an asshole. When his account is empty, he has to spend time with her and appreciate her to be able to make her stay. With occasional symbolic transactions, he compensates for being distant and, first and foremost, married. He feeds on her feelings. When Ester wants more, he received the symbolic capital and becomes uninterested, and when Ester doesn't bother anymore, he is poor and wants to be with her.

Unfortunately, Olof Sten remains an evasive shadow, almost a stranger, throughout the book. Since Ester is a verbal-erotic character, the intellectual conversation between them is necessary and very important to her, should be more prominent. But it might not be enough for the reader to get to know Olof anyway, and be able to understand Ester's feelings, because he is seen through her eyes and love is illogical and blind. Surely, one can be judgmental towards her. But many people probably identify with some of the feelings and some of the behavior, because most people have been in love once.

Det här är vår tid by Fanny Härgestam

The Tunisian pitchman Muhammad Bouazizi started the Arabic revolution when setting fire to himself in december, 17th, 2010. A short time after, the president of Tunisia resigned. In ”Det här är vår tid”, This is our time, thoughts, feelings and visions among the politicians and the population in the wake of the revolution are central - when the democracy fever has subsided and the anxiety begins.

Fanny Härgestam has followed three women in different political parties and a woman in the countryside, whose husband was shot during the revolution. Thus, the martyr widow, Amira, wonders if the revolution contributes to opportunities of a free life or destroy lives.

This is a book about the value of words during the eventful time when the future of Tunisia is taking shape. Three of the women Färgestam is portraying are working within politics. Mabrouka Mbarek, member of the middle party CPR, Meherzia Labidi, member of the Islamist Ennahda and Selma Mabrouk, member of the socialist party Ettakatol.

On the contrary to what one might believe about politics, it is a thriller. Wild discussions, demonstrations and two murder on members of the opposition are happening during the constitution writing. The most discussed questions are about religion's part in the constitution, and article 46, about women's rights. There is a constant struggle between the parties and the women have an admirable patience when the period is dragging on. They are brave and inspiring and do everything they can for a democratic future, while people are murdered for their opinions. 

When the Islamic party, Ennahda, won the first free election in 2011, there were, according to the author, many people that worried about restricted women's rights, and now Ennahda and the opposition was going to write the constitution together. How would it turn out? Was it even possible to agree?

This is an important time of democracy building in the nation that began the Arabic revolution. Härgestam has interviewed many people inside the center of politics in the Bardo Palace and among the population outside, to be able to write from all perspectives. It is very thrilling.

9,3 på Richterskalan by Andreas Norman

It has been ten years since the fatal tsunami struck the cost of Thailand. In ”9,3 på Richterskalan”, Andreas Norman reveals great flaws in utrikesdepartementets, the Ministry of foreign affairs, help efforts. The tone is critical. Norman was a young official in the Ministry's diplomat program 2004, and got his first mission in relation to the catastrophe, without experience and preparation. The officials' telephone numbers were inaccessible during Christmas and Norman was contacted since his name was on a list of people that had been on a previous school class journey.

During his time in Krabi he tries to understand the impossible. Small belongings as bracelets and bus tickets remind him of the fact that these people have recently been alive. The prose is beautiful and colorful, the content dark and horrible. The text transforms into something similar to a movie and one of the most affecting scenes is that when a man comes up and want help with transporting two plastic bags home to Sweden. In the bags are his dead, infant children.

Andreas Norman was in Krabi for a week. He describes a world where people break down from despair and sorrow, and how inadequate he feels. Officials within the Ministry, Räddningsverket and Rädda barnen tried to remain professional and objective. That was easier said then done. Some of them broke and was sent home.

Norman witnessed a Ministry that was waiting, not reacting, in the beginning of the crisis. They opposed proposals about help efforts. The management is mapped out and the result isn't pretty. It's an uncomfortable and unforgettable read. UD is described as a Ministry with a byreaucracy and hierarchy that complicated, delayed and almost prevented its purpose. No one was prepared for the catastrophe, but according to Norman, the Ministry was nearly paralyzed, almost incapable of acting. Lower officials reacted, but the Office culture, with its ideal of self control, prevented early moves.

One has to remember that this is one man's story. One man that was situated in the middle of the catastrophe. On the other hand, this is an important testimony - for the same reason. It is an account of someone that was in the actual place, and was a part of the practical work. This story isn't polished as the Ministry's formal statements, this is the catastrophe, experienced by a help worker.

When Norman went home after a week he wasn't sure about how to return to his normal life. He had changed. It was a strange feeling to disappear into his every day life again. He had got a glimpse of the life of unfortunate people. For them the loss is constantly present, regardless of what day of the year it is. This book isn't letting go of the reader when finished. It stays with you and reminds you of the people that died that day and their relatives.

The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg

"Utvandrarna", "The Emigrants", was published 1949 and is the first in a tetralogy about the Swedish emigrants during the 1800's. The conditions for the Swedish people back then were terrible, especially for the farmers. The ground was rocky and dry, nothing grew. The possibilities were very limited in the country-side. The men ended up with the same kind of work as their parents, often taking over their work on the farm, or becoming a farm boy somewhere else. The women were married to other farmers. Everyone fought against poverty and famine.

Karl Oskar and Kristina are fed up with their life in Småland and decide to embark on a small ship to Amerika, the mystical country where everything seems to be possible, and where there are no priests that decide what is right and wrong and you address everyone the same. Their opinions are without criticism. Amerika seems to be the perfekt place. The emigrants from Småland - Karl Oskar and Kristina, the young and curious Robert, the mistreated Arvid, the prostitute Ulrika and the religious Daniel, the latter belonging to "åkianerna", a group of a kind of puritanism - embark on the ship to Amerika. The crowded journey becomes a great challenge. It's interesting to be able to see the world from their perspective, their reflections of life and theories about the sea.

This is a glimpse of Swedish history. Many people have fought like these people for survival in a country with limited opportunities. The change Sweden has gone through in a hundred years is mind-blowing. When reading about priest's house calls examinations and the way farmers treated their workers, it's difficult to realize it's the same country as today. The hunger and poverty were wide-spread in the countryside. Everyone should think about and thank our ancestors for fighting so hard, it's through them we are living today.

När man skjuter arbetare by Kerstin Thorvall

”När man skjuter arbetare”, When workers are being shot, is based on the lives of Kerstin Thorvall's mother. In 1920's, Hilma, a young teacher from the north of Sweden meets Sigfrid, a charismatic, charming schoolmaster. She falls in love with this vivid character with his strange manner completely foreign to people from Norrland. Eventually, Hilma realizes that their different status and origin doesn't entirely explain his behavior. No one tells Hilma that Sigfrid is in fact bipolar and their wedding night is a catastrophe without proportions.

The story is dripping with injustice and prejudices. There was a horrible lack of acceptance of people being or thinking outside of the norms and bipolar persons didn't get a proper treatment for their condition and weren't allowed to marry and have children. Hence, the responsibility fell upon the two victims of the story. To make the marriage work.

The prejudiced middle class and the relentless, envious ”jante”-law - that still lingers on today, despite Sweden being one of the richest countries in the world - within the working class made it difficult for the main characters. Gossip seems to have been the main way of entertainment during coffee breaks. Religion was eminent and there seems to have been a kind of puritanism stronghold in the north. This is an interesting time since nowadays Sweden is a secularized country.

The Swedish welfare had yet to arrive. The feudal society and people with socialist sympathies, like Sigfrid, had difficulties to introduce their ideology. The title of the novel refers to workers that were shot during a demonstration in connection with a strike in 1931 - a tragic event later referred to as "Ådalen 31". Several people were killed.


"När man skjuter arbetare" is a one of a kind history lesson about the destinies of ordinary people in a country very different from today that needs to be remembered.