Fans pick 100 books like Vikings in the Attic

By Eric Dregni,

Here are 100 books that Vikings in the Attic fans have personally recommended if you like Vikings in the Attic. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland's Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World

Autumn Carolynn Author Of Traveling in Wonder: A Travel Photographer's Tales of Wanderlust

From my list on books to take with you on the plane before your international travel adventure.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an avid lover of all cultures, especially travel memoirs. I had a goal to travel to 30 countries in 30 years, and I wrote a memoir, Traveling in Wonder. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting both the author and side characters in all of these books, as each brings something extraordinary to the story. I also loved the descriptions in these memoirs, which brought me back to my memories!

Autumn's book list on books to take with you on the plane before your international travel adventure

Autumn Carolynn Why did Autumn love this book?

Eliza does an incredible job of sharing her story with her readers. I enjoyed her stance on moving from the President’s Wife of Iceland to building her own name, Eliza Reid.

In the book, I learned about a multitude of amazing women who have created a safe space to read about their journeys and triumphs!

By Eliza Reid,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Secrets of the Sprakkar as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER!

A New York Times Book Review Editor's Pick

"Secrets of the Sprakkar is a fascinating window into what a more gender-equal world could look like, and why it's worth striving for. Iceland is doing a lot to level the playing field: paid parental leave, affordable childcare, and broad support for gender equality as a core value. Reid takes us on an exploration not only around this fascinating island, but also through the triumphs and stumbles of a country as it journeys towards gender equality."
-Hillary Rodham Clinton

Iceland is the best place on earth to be a…


Book cover of The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia

Autumn Carolynn Author Of Traveling in Wonder: A Travel Photographer's Tales of Wanderlust

From my list on books to take with you on the plane before your international travel adventure.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an avid lover of all cultures, especially travel memoirs. I had a goal to travel to 30 countries in 30 years, and I wrote a memoir, Traveling in Wonder. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting both the author and side characters in all of these books, as each brings something extraordinary to the story. I also loved the descriptions in these memoirs, which brought me back to my memories!

Autumn's book list on books to take with you on the plane before your international travel adventure

Autumn Carolynn Why did Autumn love this book?

Michael’s book was such a great read as growing up I’ve always known that Scandinavia is known for being the happiest batch of countries in the world.

In this book, Michael walks through the experiences throughout each country, sharing with the reader their interesting travelogue. It made me want to travel back to Scandinavia again!

By Michael Booth,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Almost Nearly Perfect People as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Christian Science Monitor's #1 Best Book of the Year

A witty, informative, and popular travelogue about the Scandinavian countries and how they may not be as happy or as perfect as we assume, “The Almost Nearly Perfect People offers up the ideal mixture of intriguing and revealing facts” (Laura Miller, Salon).

Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than ten years, and he has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely book he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks…


Book cover of The Yellow Envelope: One Gift, Three Rules, and a Life-Changing Journey Around the World

Autumn Carolynn Author Of Traveling in Wonder: A Travel Photographer's Tales of Wanderlust

From my list on books to take with you on the plane before your international travel adventure.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an avid lover of all cultures, especially travel memoirs. I had a goal to travel to 30 countries in 30 years, and I wrote a memoir, Traveling in Wonder. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting both the author and side characters in all of these books, as each brings something extraordinary to the story. I also loved the descriptions in these memoirs, which brought me back to my memories!

Autumn's book list on books to take with you on the plane before your international travel adventure

Autumn Carolynn Why did Autumn love this book?

This book was quite an interesting read!

I really enjoyed how it tackled traveling through different experiences and in a way that was so unique. I haven't read anything like it before! I also enjoyed the strength of the main character and the comical relief it brought!

By Kim Dinan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Yellow Envelope as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What Would You Do with a Yellow Envelope?

In this captivating memoir, Kim Dinan takes readers on an extraordinary expedition that all began with a mysterious gift: a simple yellow envelope containing three life-altering rules. Fueling her with curiosity and courage, Kim and her partner set out on a soul-stirring adventure that transcends borders and redefines their sense of purpose.

Join Kim as she navigates through the vibrant landscapes of diverse cultures, encounters inspiring souls, and grapples with the complexities of life's unexpected turns. This compelling narrative weaves heartfelt emotions, stunning imagery, and profound reflections that resonate with every traveler…


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Book cover of We Had Fun and Nobody Died: Adventures of a Milwaukee Music Promoter

We Had Fun and Nobody Died By Amy T. Waldman, Peter Jest,

This irreverent biography provides a rare window into the music industry from a promoter’s perspective. From a young age, Peter Jest was determined to make a career in live music, and despite naysayers and obstacles, he did just that, bringing national acts to his college campus atUW-Milwaukee, booking thousands of…

Book cover of The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life

Autumn Carolynn Author Of Traveling in Wonder: A Travel Photographer's Tales of Wanderlust

From my list on books to take with you on the plane before your international travel adventure.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an avid lover of all cultures, especially travel memoirs. I had a goal to travel to 30 countries in 30 years, and I wrote a memoir, Traveling in Wonder. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting both the author and side characters in all of these books, as each brings something extraordinary to the story. I also loved the descriptions in these memoirs, which brought me back to my memories!

Autumn's book list on books to take with you on the plane before your international travel adventure

Autumn Carolynn Why did Autumn love this book?

I enjoyed the writing style and the adventures the author went through. They were vulnerable and honest in their book, which I really also liked because I felt like I was really being told an honest story overall!

I truly enjoy Nordic culture and books about Nordic culture, so this was right up my alley!

By Anu Partanen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Nordic Theory of Everything as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Finnish journalist, now a naturalized American citizen, asks Americans to draw on elements of the Nordic way of life to nurture a fairer, happier, more secure, and less stressful society for themselves and their children.

Moving to America in 2008, Finnish journalist Anu Partanen quickly went from confident, successful professional to wary, self-doubting mess. She found that navigating the basics of everyday life—from buying a cell phone and filing taxes to education and childcare—was much more complicated and stressful than anything she encountered in her homeland. At first, she attributed her crippling anxiety to the difficulty of adapting to…


Book cover of The Most Southern Place on Earth: The Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity

Willy Bearden Author Of Mississippi Hippie: A Life in 49 Pieces

From my list on Southern culture.

Why am I passionate about this?

Since childhood, I have been fascinated by the culture and stories of my place, the Mississippi Delta. I began my education in the beauty shop, where my mother “fixed” hair six days a week. I continued my education in the pool hall when I was 13 or 14, listening to the braggarts and fools who pontificated about every subject under the sun. I escaped to Memphis in the late 60s and became a hippie, drinking in the experience of Memphis’ electric streets. These experiences informed my thinking and helped me become a writer and filmmaker.

Willy's book list on Southern culture

Willy Bearden Why did Willy love this book?

Growing up in the Mississippi Delta, I understood that much of American popular culture came from this odd place between Memphis and Vicksburg. James Cobb’s book tells the story of Blues music, agriculture, cataclysmic floods, and American apartheid.

I found it curious but fascinating that the Delta was one of the planet's most racially and culturally diverse places.

By James C. Cobb,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Most Southern Place on Earth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A comprehensive history of the deep South - the bottomlands between Memphis and Vicksburg, lined by the Yazoo and Mississippi rivers - from the first white settlement in the 1820s to the present. A portrait of the development and survival of a society and economy often seen as the most extreme in the South - an area where, despite the large black majority, whites have kept their grip on power throughout every era.


Book cover of The Good Old Days-- They Were Terrible!

Johan Norberg Author Of Open: The Story of Human Progress

From my list on to make you grateful you live today.

Why am I passionate about this?

I did not use to believe in human progress, but thought there must have been good old days behind us – until I studied history and understood that my ancestors did not live ecologically, they died ecologically, at an early age. Since then I’ve been obsessed with progress, what makes it possible and how we can spread it to more people. I am a historian of ideas from Sweden, the host of a video series on innovations in history, New and Improved, and the writer of many books on intellectual history and global economics, translated into more than 25 languages.

Johan's book list on to make you grateful you live today

Johan Norberg Why did Johan love this book?

This 1974 book, by the founder of one of the world’s great picture libraries, was a real eye-opener to me when I first read it. We are all nostalgic and look at the past through rose-tinted glasses, and so do I. But then we forget about the hunger and the crime, tuberculosis, smallpox and heaps of trash on the streets, the child labor, and the despair of the aged. This richly illustrated book, with its multitude of stories, set me straight. For instance, did you know that New York had 150,000 horses in 1900, each producing around 20 pounds of manure a day? The past stank. It makes you deeply grateful for science, technology, and economic growth.

By Otto Bettmann,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Good Old Days-- They Were Terrible! as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Good Old Days—were they really good? On the surface they appear to be so—especially the period to which this term is most often applied, the years from the end of the Civil War to the early 1900’s. This period of history has receded into a benevolent haze, leaving us with the image of an ebullient, carefree America, the fun and charm of the Gilded Age, the Gay Nineties.

But this gaiety was only a brittle veneer that covered widespread turmoil and suffering. The good old days were good for but the privileged few. For the farmer, the laborer, the…


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Book cover of Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Secret St. Augustine By Elizabeth Randall, William Randall,

Tourists and local residents of St. Augustine will enjoy reading about the secret wonders of their ancient city that are right under their noses. Of course, that includes a few stray corpses and ghosts!

Book cover of Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong about the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

Jono Hey Author Of Big Ideas, Little Pictures: Explaining the world one sketch at a time

From my list on changing how you look at the world and yourself.

Why am I passionate about this?

I draw and write the Sketchplanations newsletter, in which I'm slowly explaining the world, one sketch at a time. In it, I blend my training as a designer and entrepreneur, what I learned in my PhD at UC Berkeley, and my amateur love of sketching, and I try to share my personal lightbulb moments through simple sketches. I'm constantly looking for ideas that change how I look at the world and myself. The books here are some of those that have given me the most valuable ideas I want to share and entertained me along the way.

Jono's book list on changing how you look at the world and yourself

Jono Hey Why did Jono love this book?

In this book, Rosling repeatedly and humbly shows how so many of the facts I thought I knew about the world—such as where energy comes from, how incomes compare across countries, or how many people are being affected by disasters—were just plain wrong.

I first saw Hans Rosling explaining the trajectories and development of countries using animated charts in a hugely popular TED talk. Through persuasive charts and explanations, he showed me how things can be bad and still be getting better and how the world has already improved in so many ways. I read it and was educated.

By Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Ola Rosling

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked Factfulness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'A hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases.' BARACK OBAMA

'One of the most important books I've ever read - an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.' BILL GATES

*#1 Sunday Times bestseller * New York Times bestseller * Observer 'best brainy book of the decade' * Irish Times bestseller * Guardian bestseller * audiobook bestseller *

Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.

When asked simple questions about global trends - why the world's population is increasing; how…


Book cover of The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century

Lawrence Lipking Author Of The Ordering of the Arts in Eighteenth-Century England

From my list on the arts as crucial elements of human life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a chameleon scholar. Though my first love is poetry, I have written about all the arts, about 18th-century authors (especially Samuel Johnson), about theories of literature and literary vocations, about Sappho and other abandoned women, about ancients and moderns and chess and marginal glosses and the meaning of life and, most recently, the Scientific Revolution. But I am a teacher too, and The Ordering of the Arts grew out of my fascination with those writers who first taught readers what to look for in painting, music and poetrywhat works were best, what works could change their lives. That project has inspired my own life and all my writing.

Lawrence's book list on the arts as crucial elements of human life

Lawrence Lipking Why did Lawrence love this book?

This book is a pleasure to read. John Brewer shows us the birth of "high culture" in Britain, the many ways that a national public became aware that music, painting, theater, and poetry could bring people together and make them happy.

Low life and high life, Grub Street and royalty all come into play. And the book never forgets that the arts can be a source of fun, not only for those who create and follow them but for everyone who reads about them.

By John Brewer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Pleasures of the Imagination as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Pleasures of the Imagination examines the birth and development of English "high culture" in the eighteenth century. It charts the growth of a literary and artistic world fostered by publishers, theatrical and musical impresarios, picture dealers and auctioneers, and presented to th public in coffee-houses, concert halls, libraries, theatres and pleasure gardens. In 1660, there were few professional authors, musicians and painters, no public concert series, galleries, newspaper critics or reviews. By the dawn of the nineteenth century they were all aprt of the cultural life of the nation.

John Brewer's enthralling book explains how this happened and recreates…


Book cover of Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came to Think It

Michael C. Corballis Author Of Adventures of a Psychologist: Reflections on What Made Up the Mind

From my list on the mind (how it works and where it came from).

Why am I passionate about this?

Michael Corballis is a psychologist and brain scientist. His interests lie in how the mind works, how it maps onto the brain, and how it evolved. Much of his work is published in books and scientific articles, but he has also written books aimed at a general readership. These include Pieces of Mind, The Lopsided Ape, The Recursive Mind, The Wandering Mind, and The Truth about Language.

Michael's book list on the mind (how it works and where it came from)

Michael C. Corballis Why did Michael love this book?

Much of what we do and think comes from imagination, generated by our minds rather than by the physical world. This includes art, literature, music, religion, even science. Our dreams are spontaneous acts of creativity, and even memory itself can be distorted by the restless mind.  Fernandez-Armesto argues that many animals have better memories than we do, because the human system produces spontaneously creative thoughts at the expense of fidelity. That’s why memories are often false. The author is a historian with an interest in how the mind works, and his book is an amazingly comprehensive history of the human imagination.

By Felipe Fernández-Armesto,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Out of Our Minds as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

To imagine-to see what is not there-is the startling ability that has fueled human development and innovation through the centuries. As a species we stand alone in our remarkable capacity to refashion the world after the picture in our minds.

Traversing the realms of science, politics, religion, culture, philosophy and history, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto reveals the thrilling and disquieting tales of our imaginative leaps-from the first Homo sapiens to the present day. Through groundbreaking insights in cognitive science, Fernandez-Armesto explores how and why we have ideas in the first place, providing a tantalizing glimpse into who we are and what we…


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Book cover of Who Is a Worthy Mother?: An Intimate History of Adoption

Who Is a Worthy Mother? By Rebecca Wellington,

I grew up thinking that being adopted didn’t matter. I was wrong. This book is my journey uncovering the significance and true history of adoption practices in America. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the renewed debate over women’s reproductive rights places…

Book cover of On Looking into the Abyss: Untimely Thoughts on Culture and Society

László Borhi Author Of Hungary in the Cold War, 1945-1956: Between the United States and the Soviet Union

From my list on the search for truth in history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I come from a small country, Hungary, the past of which was consciously falsified in the political system under which I grew up. Some chapters of it, like the cold war period, Soviet rule, the revolution of 1956 couldn't even be discussed. I was lucky because communism collapsed and archives were gradually opened just as I started my career as a historian. Books on international history are usually written from the perspective of the powerful states, I was interested in looking at this story from the perspective of the small guy. Writing this book was both a professional challenge and a personal matter for me. I'm currently a professor at Indiana University-Bloomington.

László's book list on the search for truth in history

László Borhi Why did László love this book?

This book is the symbol of intellectual brilliance and honesty and one which argues that if we are to preserve western civilization, we must restore historical truth as the center of historical inquiry.

I will advertise this magnificent book with a quote: “Looking into the most fearsome abysses of modern times, the historian sees not beasts but faceless bureaucrats, not corpses but statistics, not willful acts of brutality and murder but the banal routine of everyday life, not gas chambers and gulags but military-industrial-geopolitical complexes.” The reader also will learn why. 

The reader also will learn why footnotes disappeared from history books. A book to be enjoyed and savored when in a contemplative mood.

By Gertrude Himmelfarb,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked On Looking into the Abyss as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Discusses the intellectual arrogance and spiritual impoverishment at the heart of structuralism, deconstructionism, and postmodernism, and shows how they have led to the belittling of the Holocaust


Book cover of Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland's Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World
Book cover of The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
Book cover of The Yellow Envelope: One Gift, Three Rules, and a Life-Changing Journey Around the World

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Interested in civilization, Scandinavia, and Vikings?

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