Harness the power of Norwegian cultural wisdom to improve your life and change the world In The Viking Code: The Art and Science of Norwegian Success, economic philosopher, entrepreneur, investor, and former competitive athlete Anders Indset reveals how Norwegian performance athletes and other successful figures use ingrained cultural values to achieve outsized influence on the world stage, as well as how we all can learn from and apply this cultural wisdom to create a better world in the future. Moving far past stories of barbaric conquests and historical comparisons, this book explores concepts like Hvis du tror du er ferdig utlært, er du ikke utlært, men ferdig—a common trap where you assume you've learned everything there is to know and therefore make failure a near certainty. The author builds on classic sustainability concepts to explore the intersection of progress and capitalism, redefining growth to realize a future worth living. You'll learn to make conscious decisions to achieve the kind of realistic future you want to live in and experience a level of personal progress that is the essence of true success. Finally, you'll discover why and how the Viking Code teaches us all valuable lessons about business, politics, and education, and sheds light on why performance is both important and enjoyable. Backed by modern scientific research throughout, some of the concepts explored in this book include: Structured play in finite games, versus infinite games with no definitive beginning or end The power of tapping into an innate sense of wonder to remove inhibitions and fears Success as a voluntary act and how diverse talent is found in every corner of the world Most importantly, this is ultimately an optimistic book as it predicts a powerful and positive outcome as a period of cooperation, something now inconceivable, develops as it always does during crises and the future is enhanced by amazing new technologies and fabulous opportunities on the near horizon. Centered around the idea of healthy and balanced ambition and tact, The Viking Code is an essential read for all individuals seeking to learn from the age-old wisdom of Norwegian culture and apply what they learn to better themselves and others.

Like sunshine reflected on snow, the purpose of this small book of wisdom is an invitation to optimism, to self-confidence. “More men are good due to habits than due to nature,” says the Greek philosopher Critias. This book came to me from Denmark as an embryo of an idea that can be counted among didactic literature and self-help. Its voice is conciliatory, sincere, generous, and effective, with a camaraderie that the author uses to encourage young adults, for whom this book is intended, to trust in their abilities, to become a Kierkegaard or a Bjork, according to each one’s desire to choose the direction they want their lives to take. The Viking Code is more than a simple title. It is fitting because once the reader begins the journey through its pages, they find what Spanish writer Vicente Cuenca, who now lives in a Norse country, has found. He is “lucky to live in a Viking nation, in a culture that is based on work, honesty, integrity, and respect.” Vicente Cuenca’s cultural, literary, human, social, and spiritual trajectory has been full of movement, changes, and constant, positive evolution. Vicente Cuenca has the advantage of experience and wisdom of vocational paternity, brought together with the daily practice of love and responsibility – love and discipline, in that order, as a moral educational norm. Thinking about the man and the writer, those who know him can’t help but to recall the Greek axiom “the person who reflects on themselves thinks upon what has brought them to be.” Vicente Cuenca knows how to take us (especially teenagers and young adults) to the central thought that will eventually bring us to success, even though many of our first attempts may leave us waiting, wanting, or even frustrated and disillusioned. The Viking Code is a book about “inner success” intended for a young audience that is forging its way in life, a life that is freely decided. All our lives, young and not so young, belong to us by the right

Is this Ragnarok, or just California? The NorseCODE genome project was designed to identify descendants of Odin. What it found was Kathy Castillo, a murdered MBA student brought back from the dead to serve as a valkyrie in the Norse god’s army. Given a sword and a new name, Mist’s job is to recruit soldiers for the war between the gods at the end of the world—and to kill those who refuse to fight. But as the twilight of the gods descends, Mist makes other plans. Journeying across a chaotic American landscape already degenerating into violence and madness, Mist hopes to find her way to Helheim, the land of the dead, to rescue her murdered sister from death’s clutches. To do so, she’ll need the help of Hermod, a Norse god bumming around Los Angeles with troubles of his own. Together they find themselves drafted into a higher cause, trying to do what fate long ago deemed could not be done: save the world of man. For even if myths aren’t made to be broken, it can’t hurt to go down fighting…can it?

“A surprise from the author of Chocolat,” New York Times bestselling author Joanne M. Harris, “this pacy adult fantasy is narrated by Loki, the Norse god of fire and mischief” (Vogue). This novel is a brilliant first-person narrative of the rise and fall of the Norse gods—retold from the point of view of the world’s ultimate trickster, Loki. A #1 bestseller in the UK, The Gospel of Loki tells the story of Loki’s recruitment from the underworld of Chaos, his many exploits on behalf of his one-eyed master, Odin, through to his eventual betrayal of the gods and the fall of Asgard itself. Using her lifelong passion for the Norse myths, New York Times bestseller Joanne M. Harris has created a vibrant and powerful fantasy novel that the Sunday Sun recommends “to her long-standing audience with wit, style, and obvious enjoyment;” The Sunday Times claims it “lively and fun;” and The Metro adds that “Harris has enormous fun with her antihero...this mythical bad boy should beguile fans of Neil Gaiman.”

In this extensively revised third edition of The Viking Age: A Reader, Somerville and McDonald successfully bring the Vikings and their world to life for twenty-first-century students and instructors. The diversity of the Viking era is revealed through the remarkable range and variety of sources presented as well as the geographical and chronological coverage of the readings. The third edition has been reorganized into fifteen chapters. Many sources have been added, including material on gender and warrior women, and a completely new final chapter traces the continuing cultural influence of the Vikings to the present day. The use of visual material has been expanded, and updated maps illustrate historical developments throughout the Viking Age. The English translations of Norse texts, many of them new to this collection, are straightforward and easily accessible, while chapter introductions contextualize the readings.

What do our myths say about us? Why do we choose to believe stories that have been disproven? David M. Krueger takes an in-depth look at a legend that held tremendous power in one corner of Minnesota, helping to define both a community’s and a state’s identity for decades. In 1898, a Swedish immigrant farmer claimed to have discovered a large rock with writing carved into its surface in a field near Kensington, Minnesota. The writing told a North American origin story, predating Christopher Columbus’s exploration, in which Viking missionaries reached what is now Minnesota in 1362 only to be massacred by Indians. The tale’s credibility was quickly challenged and ultimately undermined by experts, but the myth took hold. Faith in the authenticity of the Kensington Rune Stone was a crucial part of the local Nordic identity. Accepted and proclaimed as truth, the story of the Rune Stone recast Native Americans as villains. The community used the account as the basis for civic celebrations for years, and advocates for the stone continue to promote its validity despite the overwhelming evidence that it was a hoax. Krueger puts this stubborn conviction in context and shows how confidence in the legitimacy of the stone has deep implications for a wide variety of Minnesotans who embraced it, including Scandinavian immigrants, Catholics, small-town boosters, and those who desired to commemorate the white settlers who died in the Dakota War of 1862. Krueger demonstrates how the resilient belief in the Rune Stone is a form of civil religion, with aspects that defy logic but illustrate how communities characterize themselves. He reveals something unique about America’s preoccupation with divine right and its troubled way of coming to terms with the history of the continent’s first residents. By considering who is included, who is left out, and how heroes and villains are created in the stories we tell about the past, Myths of the Rune Stone offers an enlightening perspective on not just Minnesota but the United States as well.