Reviews
"You cannot strengthen one by weakening another; and you cannot add to the stature of a dwarf by cutting off the leg of a giant."
But you can try!
There are people in every single society who are sick of envy or desperately obsessed by the idea of equality. Sweden has
especially many of them, so many that envy became part of the national character and millimeter equality became the ultimate
political goal of that country.
Not much is known about Sweden and the Swedes. We know about Luther, who split the Christianity. We recognize Nobel the
person who developed the dynamite and founded the Nobel Prize. We have heard about the Welfare State and the idea of
Marxistical distribution of the society's resources. Recent developments in the USA, election of a socialist president, Obama, make it
especially relevant to pay serious attention to European socialistic countries and the so called Swedish example of the unlimited
(wild) socialism.
Biro provides an unprecedented insight into the Swedish soul and explains logically, but with a lot of humor, how the recent
Swedish society and national phenotype developed. He compares the recent Sweden and the recent USA with each other and
analyzes how much is it possible, that the Swede ideas spread into America and transform our capitalistic society. Biro's "The
Swedish God" is a great reading, serious but entertaining. This book is especially highly recommended, as professional insider
guide, to everybody who might consider working, studying, or marrying in Sweden. It will save them a lot of misunderstanding and
disappointments. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Independent review 1
A highly unexpected and clearly very important historical event happened during the autumn of 2008 in the USA. The US economy
entered free fall because of mismanagement and unprecedented greed by its leaders. The country entered a huge depression and
drew the rest of the world with it into the same decline. The people started to cry out for change, which resulted in the election of
Obama to the presidency, the very first African American president of the country. Now, President Obama turned out to be a highly
intelligent and charming person with a nice family. He is popular in the USA with a high approval rating for what he is doing (in June
2009). He is well received in Europe (except the Vatican). He succeeded in stopping the country s economic free fall. However,
he is a Democrat, who, very intelligently, has used the recent bad American situation to socialize the country with a lot of regulations
and a huge government. People have started to worry that he will transmute the country - a traditionally capitalistic society (the
World s largest) - into a bureaucratic socialism in the European style; God help us, perhaps the Swedish type.
Sweden is the country that has gone furthest to the left in the entire World, having the largest governmental bureaucracy (control
system), though it still remains formally a democracy, with free elections. Sweden is regarded as the world s most successful country
in distributing goods according to the Marxist model, which says that members of society should contribute to wealth with their full
capacity and receive their share from the goods in accordance with their needs, whatever that might mean.
Biro is a professionally trained observer and analyst in a unique situation. He lived in Europe and Sweden for many years and has
direct inside experience about life in those countries. At the same time, he is a devoted supporter of free, individual-based
capitalism and a big fan of the American spirit and ideals of personal freedom, pursuit of happiness and the possibility of success.
This book is a personal analysis of the Swedish human phenotype and lifestyle and has the very clear intention of achieving a
realistic judgment: how great is the risk (or chance) that America will develop -----------------------------------------Independent review 2
I enjoyed the essay. Many parts of it are very amusing, even when Biro is making a serious point. I have never seen the Swedish
nation portrayed in such detail, or so wittily! The book is richly illustrated. The 50 cartoons are all professional works (line drawings,
full color) and provide the book high esthetical value on its own. --------------------------------------------Independent review 3