Narrative non-fiction

Taiwan

Kristoffer Rønneberg

Taiwan takes the reader into the heart of disputed Taiwan - a country caught between the ambitions of superpowers, struggling for democratic values. China stands on the threshold of a possible invasion. The US is ready with promises of defence. Taiwan not only explores the potentially catastrophic consequences of military confrontation in Asia, but also poses an existential question: What is the future of democracy? Kristoffer Rønneberg dives into Taiwan’s complex history; from Ilha Formosa, as Portuguese navigators called the island, to the hyper-modern and well-developed democracy it has become today. The book draws parallels between Taiwan today and pre-war Europe, while reflecting on the West’s reactions to authoritarian regimes, both historically and in the present. With personal testimonies from residents - their hopes, fears and dreams - Rønneberg paints a vivid picture of a people determined to preserve their identity against external pressure. Taiwan is more than just an island; it is a testimony to the fact that democracy can flourish, even in the shadow of threatening and autocratic forces.

40 Weeks, A Human Pregnancy and 81 Other Ways to Reproduce

Anna Blix

It takes 40 weeks to grow a human baby. Along the way, the relationship between the foetus and the pregnant woman bears resemblance to that of a parasite and its host. One takes and takes, while the other continue to give, risking their health in the process. Anna Blix takes the reader on a personal, investigative, and deeply fascinating journey through each of the 40 weeks in a human pregnancy. Parallelly, for each week, we meet other creatures who have just delivered their next generation into the world. The bacteria E. coli has multiplied by two within 20 minutes. An Eastern grey kangaroo is pregnant for just 5 weeks before giving birth to a baby the size of a bean, which then crawls into its pouch to grow. And the birds with the longest incubation period of all, the wandering albatross, is done with their incubation period after only 10 weeks. Why do we as humans carry our babies inside our bodies for so long, and is there a reason that we are throwing up and feeling nauseous? Are there better ways to reproduce? And does any living creature reproduce in a stranger way than us humans? This book gives evolutionary comfort throughout the troubles of pregnancy, and an explanation as to how we ended up here: as the smartest species with the most tiresome, but nonetheless not such a bad way to reproduce. «There is no better literature than great non-fiction. Written by specialists who are unbound by strict terminology or publication pressure, but in a liberal and relaxed language. The biologist, journalist, writer and columnist Blix is incredibly good here. […] the most amazing stories about mating, pregnancy, gender and sexuality.»DAGBLADET, six/six starsExtremely funny about difficult births«.. my judgement is that this is the best book I've read so far this year. The combination of well-written text, a good frame story and incredible facts about weird pregnancies, is simply put a winner. I'm unsure if I'll have the pleasure of reading anything better this year.»AFTENPOSTEN Anna Blix glows as the feminist David Attenborough«But in Anna Blix's book, the emotionally anchored philosophizing about the drastic life change is non-existent. Here it is about the physical and concrete work, and it is both highly entertaining and educational - and not least a solid feminist work. Rearranged organs, twisted stomach, compressed bladder, flaming heartburn and skeleton sliding apart. Ah, it's a joy to read. (...) Blix is a master at making complex science understandable to regular people.»KLASSEKAMPEN One of Aftenposten's best books of 2023«This is an incredibly funny book about births in the animal kingdom.»

Wolverine Tracks

Dag O. Hessen

One day in February 1972 Dag O. Hessen is on a ski trip with his father in the mountains when they come across a wolverine track in the snow. The young Dag convinces his father to follow the trail, but after half an hour of searching the imprints of the predator disappear down a steep passage and they have to give up on their hunt. 50 years later he’s back at the same place to pick up on the trail of the animal that escaped him. His father is now long gone, but the mountains are still there and somewhere out there is a wolverine. Tracking the Wolverine is Hessen’s most personal book so far. It’s a portrait of Norwegian nature’s most fascinating and shy animal, so compact in its wildness and power that there is hardly anything like it. An animal with a jaw strong enough to bite through even the thickest thigh bones and enough power to take down an animal many times its own weight, bite its head off and then drag its body up a tree. Seeing the animal in its natural habitat is a rarity only very few people get to experience. The wolverine, and the desire to meet the wild animal, is the framing of the story taking place in the mountainous nature. But this is also a story about time passing and changes we cannot prevent. About everything that slips through our fingers. The things we cannot completely catch and tame: A childhood long gone, close family members who have passed, the wild nature and a natural diversity which is about to weather away. And at the bottom of all of this lies a deep affection and respect for nature and biology, presented by one of Norway’s most respected non-fiction authors.«... several of the country's non-fiction writers should envy his effortless elegance and ability to find formulations like this one, about the author's fascination for the wolverine as 'a primal force, the wilderness in animal form, everything that is lost in an increasingly tame residual landscape.'»MORGENBLADET «Hessen the poet rises to his full height. This he has threatened to to in previous books too, but not dared to take the leap, perhaps? But this book was worth the wait. Hessen shows the tender and weary nuances in life, and in nature. The nature descriptions are touching. I feel I am gazing into the mountains, and feel, in an animalistic way, that life is good.» «He is our Thoreau, in the year 2023.» VÅRT LAND «Dag O. Hessen’s Tracking the Wolverine will place as one of this year’s best non-fiction books.» «The book deserves a place next to the author’s own favourite cabin reads: Zappfe, Thoreau, and Ingstad.» BOKMAGASINET/KLASSEKAMPEN

Instruction Manual for Couples

Siri Dalsmo Berge

Did you know that a good relationship can strengthen your immune system, lower your blood pressure, and make wounds heal faster? On the other hand, relationship troubles can triple the risk of heart attacks, increase the risk of infection and can cause more buildup of plaque in the arteries. In this fascinating and entertaining book GP and researcher Siri Dalsmo Berge shows how your relationships and health are connected. Through stories from both her life as a doctor and her personal life, she offers specific and research-based tools for better relationships and increased quality of life. Instruction Manual for Couples – the road to a healthier relationship highlights the benefits for your health related to relationship issues in a whole new way. It’s all put together with warmth, a bit of cheek and a large dose of hope – which offers you belief that improving your lives together is possible.

Map of Loneliness

Hilde Østby

In March 2020 the world closed down and stayed completely or partly closed for two and a half years. Most arenas where humans go for companionship, such as offices and concerts, weddings and funerals, disappeared or were decimated overnight. It’s as if the whole world has taken part in a huge experiment in loneliness, according to author Hilde Østby. The result of this experiment is worth dwelling on, as it’s not an easy diagnosis to just brush off. Research shows that loneliness, if it is chronic, is more dangerous for our health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day. In Map of Loneliness Hilde Østby approaches the subject on a personal, philosophical and journalistic level in order to get to grips with loneliness – one of our most enigmatic and under-communicated public health challenges. She shows us what loneliness does to us and asks where it comes from. That is a question which can be answered both medically and existentially. Maybe the mechanisms which drive us apart could later bring us back together? In that case loneliness is something we must solve as a community, through community, and for the community.

Women Philosophers in the Long Nineteenth Century

Are there women in nineteenth-century philosophy? By all means! This anthology presents the works of nine women philosophers in the tradition from romanticism to phenomenology. The collection demonstrates their central place within movements such as German Idealism, socialism, Marxism, and philosophy of experience. It presents excerpts from central works by Germaine de Staël, Karoline von Günderrode, Bettina Brentano von Arnim, Hedwig Dohm, Clara Zetkin, Lou Andreas Salomé, Rosa Luxemburg, Edith Stein, and Gerda Walther. In a clear and engaging style, these philosophers address questions such as: What is truth? What is a human self? How should the human self relate to non-human nature? How should it relate to itself? How can we best think about gender and identity? What are the conditions for community? Across the contributions, we encounter a wish to philosophize beyond the boundaries of academia, narrowly construed. The editors’ introduction offers a clear overview of women’s place and position in nineteenth-century philosophy and presents each of the nine philosophers with an eye to their historical importance as well as contemporary relevance. These are the philosophers we meet in this volume: Germaine de StaëlKaroline von GünderrodeBettina Brentano von ArnimHedwig DohmClara ZetkinLou SaloméRosa LuxemburgEdith SteinGerda Walther Published in the UK by Oxford University Press. The book is translated into Norwegian as part of the Thorleif Dahl Cultural Library. Brightly Shining WomenWho would have believed that an anthology on dead female philosophers would be one of last year’s best non-fiction publications?AFTENPOSTEN Kristin Gjesdal and Dalia Nassar have written much about women philosophers. Read their essay 'A rescue mission on behalf of women philosophers' here.

A Norwegian in Washington

Hans D. Høeg

A Norwegian in the House is the story of the Norwegian who became Chief of Staff for an American Congressman in 2012 and ended up leading a plot to topple the USA’s third most powerful man. When Hans Høeg met a hillbilly by the name of Thomas Massie at the prestigious MiT in Cambridge in 1991, he realised it would be the start of a long and rewarding friendship. What’s more, he decided then and there that he would get on board if his energetic, weather-beaten friend ever decided to embark on an exciting project sometime in the future. But when Thomas’s offer came, more than 20 years later, it was not the entrepreneurial dream Hans had imagined. His outspoken, freedom-loving fellow student from Vanceburg, Kentucky, had thrown himself into politics and had, against all the odds, been elected to represent his district in Congress on behalf of the Republicans. Massie wanted to create one hell of a commotion in Washington and needed a wingman he could count on. His choice fell on a somewhat reluctant Hans from Drammen. Now Høeg tells the incredible story of his years at the heart of the innermost circles of power in the USA. It’s the tale of two engineer nerds’ efforts to understand the political game, their spectacular attempt to overthrow the Republican speaker, John Boehner, and a rude encounter with a self-sustaining system of corruption and bureaucratic chicanery – an ugly culture that was a logical precursor to the tumult of the 2016 presidential election.

The Secret Life of the City

Hanna Bjørgaas

Hanna Bjørgaas is a biologist who spends her days among the penguins and whales in the Antarctic, one of the world’s most dramatic landscapes. The tourists she guides pay immense sums to travel there and encounter nature as they will never experience it anywhere else in the world. Or will they? Here is the starting-point for her project: to walk out of her door and take a non-judgemental interest in the nature she encounters over the course of a year. Can she experience nature in the city? The majority of Europe’s population live in towns or densely populated areas, and city nature is the nature most people will encounter. In this book, Bjørgaas tracks down the most fascinating specialist knowledge available to us about the species and nature in cities. But the book is also a declaration of love to the biologists and experts who share their knowledge with commitment and enthusiasm.

My Fault

Abid Raja

Norwegian Minister of Culture Abid Raja has been called loud, dominant and a poser. But his life has in large parts been the opposite: Hiding pain and the handicap he was born with. Hiding from the violence and the bullying. And hiding his feelings for his one true love.His feeling of guilt - a mixture of shame and fear, has stopped him from acknowledging many of the other feelings he as a person is equipped with. The only thing he at one point was feeling was rage and anger. When he, as a grown up, sought help from a female psychologist to find a way to control his temper, she asked him: "Do you have any idea about where this anger comes from? Is there something else in your life that is the real issue that spark this anger?"This is the brutally honest story about Abid Raja´s turbulent journey to rise above his class, his year long fight to be with the woman he loves and the painful liberation from shame, guilt and exclusion. Important, well written and very good - ******NETTAVISENA deeply moving and honest self-biography. One of the most important books that have been written about growing up between two cultures in Norway. MORGENBLADETA Painful and shocking, as well as impressive and inspiring self-biography.VG

The Fall of the Patriarchy

Marta Breen / Jenny Jordahl

Through history feminists have been ridiculed and harassed all around the World. In the 18th Century well-known feminists where decapitated in the guillotines, and in the 19th Century the Suffragettes were thrown in jail. In our time feminist activists are imprisoned in countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia. Feminists are labelled as moody, angry and unattractive. Still, new generations are daring to proudly call themselves feminists. Author Marta Breen and illustrator Jenny Jordahl have through a number of books proved themselves as great communicators when it comes to the history of women. In this book they take the reader for a joyride through the cultural history of the patriarchy. With a good dose of humour the tell the stories about how men from Aristoteles to Woody Allen has described the world through the male gaze. They tell the stories of the women who through history has fought the oppression – and they rank the world’s worst sexists through times. Join us in finally taking down the patriarchy!

Viruses on the Loose

Eystein Hellstrøm Hoddevik

What is a virus? Even experienced microbiologists need to stop and think before answering this simple question. Viruses are tiny. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has a width of no more than one hundred nanometers. Ten thousand such viruses lined up after each other will barely have the width of a pinhead. But an invisible enemy like this can bring a whole world to its knees, just as it did in spring 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic. Through carefully selected stories, the author shows you what a virus is, what it consists of, how it is transmitted and how it produces disease. Viruses and humans have coexisted forever, so this journey covers biological evolution, our own bodies, historical events, diagnostics, global politics, genetic material, ethics and biological warfare. The book is also about vaccines, one of our most important weapons in the war against viruses. The making of vaccines is in itself a science which is based upon our knowledge of how viruses are constructed and cause disease. Viruses are bred to spread and don’t hesitate to set off on intercontinental journeys, like the travel-loving stowaways they are. In this book, you’ll get to know different kinds of viruses: some of the most common, some that are extremely cunning and some that are so dangerous their fatality rate is close to 100%. Viruses cause contagion by travelling, just as we do, but their journey doesn’t stop there. The way in which they produce disease inside us can also be viewed as a microscopic travelogue. We shall therefore follow some viruses as they travel through our bodies to reach the cells they both hijack and harm. If you are prepared to face what fear of viruses you might have, you’ll discover that knowledge of viruses is extremely helpful. In certain situations, it may help you survive and avoid diseases like warts, cold sores, shingles, blindness and even cancer.