... even though I may sometimes come across as harsh on my fellow countrymen (yes, men, because in Iceland, women are men), I would like to say that the Icelanders are still my favourite people in the whole world. And even though they sometimes do stupid things (like orchestrate the largest financial collapse in the history of the world) I wouldn't want to belong to any other nation of people."

Alda Sigmundsdóttir - from the Introduction.



Ein sehr unterhaltsames und daher unbedingt empfehlenswertes Buch, das jedoch in keiner Buchhandlung der Welt erhältlich ist - gegen Bezahlung [erhält man es als pdf], und dann hat man die Wahl, es am Bildschirm zu lesen oder es auszudrucken.







"Speaking of the phone book.
All people are listed alphabetically by their first names in there. Then come their last name, their profession, and their home adress.
Example: Jón Jónsson, bóndi, Sólargeisla 77, 177 Reykjavík.
You don't need any official proof of your profession to have it listed in the phone book - to show up with an official piece of paper that says you are, in fact, a lion tamer or trapeze artist.
In other words, you can finally unleash those childhood dreams - make your profession whatever you want!
So, you see where this is going, right? Yup, the Icelandic phone book lists people with some pretty, err, unconventional professions. Did you know, for instance, that in Iceland there are six winners, nine sorcerers, three alien tamers, 18 cowboys, 52 princesses, 14 ghost busters, one former tough guy, 59 Jedi Masters and (my personal favourite) two hen whisperers?
I didn't think so."