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Of Finnish ways
From feasts, festivals, and folklore to the indomitable Finnish spirit, Of Finnish Ways brings this vibrant country to life. A must for anyone planning a vacation or just interested in the country and its people.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 15, 2026
Loved it! There was so much history and information packed in this little (224 pages) book.
January 31, 2010
This is a small paperback telling the history of the country of Finland in northern Europe. My wife is from the northern Finnish city Oulu and both she and I served as missionaries for the LDS Church in the late 1950s. This is a fun look at Finland as the author has a wry sense of humor. She also writes well in English. I enjoy reading this book and think you will too.
March 26, 2019
Very interesting. Makes me proud to be Finnish.
January 16, 2012
another book that i just now remember, years after the fact, and years after i sell my copy in a rummage sale to help fund the construction of a house...that took a year and half to sell...why didn't someone tell me the economy was going to tank?
actually, they did, but i wasn't listening....to that train-wreck designed to happen.
anyway, this is a book i read in paperback, a bunch of finnish...suomalianen, as they are called, dancing in costume outside in some sort of public square.
this area here, the copper country as it was called, now known as the keweenaw (one of the latest national parks, too, keweenaw national historical park--some call hysterical, for what can and cannot be done to one's home)....anyway...yeah, so many finns settled in this region to work the mines.
this paperback probably sold more copies in this area of the country than others. rajanen covers a lot of ground...even recipes...writes about the finnish culture...
...writes about sisu a finnish word that means...somewhat like perseverance...or to put it the way rajanen did, the finns were ruled by sweden for 600, thousand years, fought 41 wars w/russia, lost every one, this that the other, and yet they are still free.
sisu a kind of stubbornness--people around here use the expression "stubborn finn"...like that sorta.
also...the finns were the only country out of all of wealthy europe who tried to pay off its war debt.
the only one.
until the people in this country began scratching their head and the result was some sort of student exchange system...i could have that wrong...but education was involved somehow....yet i think sisu could be used to describe their desire to pay off their war debt while the remainder of europe stuck that debt in the u.s.a.'s face....or stuck it up the u.s.a.'s ass...
we're loved the world round, don't ya know.
anyway, three cheers, finland, the only country to try to pay back the u.s.a.
there's an instructor at a local college, formerly suomi college, now finlandia, who said in a recent newspaper article that the finns from finland who come here might recognize in the older people of finnish heritage here, might recognize their grandparents, that the finns here are caught in a time-warp.
trivia.
the book also has a few words in finn, as i recall...not many, a few, greetings and such...
actually, they did, but i wasn't listening....to that train-wreck designed to happen.
anyway, this is a book i read in paperback, a bunch of finnish...suomalianen, as they are called, dancing in costume outside in some sort of public square.
this area here, the copper country as it was called, now known as the keweenaw (one of the latest national parks, too, keweenaw national historical park--some call hysterical, for what can and cannot be done to one's home)....anyway...yeah, so many finns settled in this region to work the mines.
this paperback probably sold more copies in this area of the country than others. rajanen covers a lot of ground...even recipes...writes about the finnish culture...
...writes about sisu a finnish word that means...somewhat like perseverance...or to put it the way rajanen did, the finns were ruled by sweden for 600, thousand years, fought 41 wars w/russia, lost every one, this that the other, and yet they are still free.
sisu a kind of stubbornness--people around here use the expression "stubborn finn"...like that sorta.
also...the finns were the only country out of all of wealthy europe who tried to pay off its war debt.
the only one.
until the people in this country began scratching their head and the result was some sort of student exchange system...i could have that wrong...but education was involved somehow....yet i think sisu could be used to describe their desire to pay off their war debt while the remainder of europe stuck that debt in the u.s.a.'s face....or stuck it up the u.s.a.'s ass...
we're loved the world round, don't ya know.
anyway, three cheers, finland, the only country to try to pay back the u.s.a.
there's an instructor at a local college, formerly suomi college, now finlandia, who said in a recent newspaper article that the finns from finland who come here might recognize in the older people of finnish heritage here, might recognize their grandparents, that the finns here are caught in a time-warp.
trivia.
the book also has a few words in finn, as i recall...not many, a few, greetings and such...
April 30, 2014
I came across this book, from 1981, in my local library and thought it would be a curious read that I'd probably skim at best and then discard quickly. Not true. It's a very pleasant and well-written book with a healthy sense of humor. An overview of Finland, its history and its people, which sometimes reads more like pro-Finland propaganda.
It is also sometimes a spectacularly misinformed read. It casually mentions how Finns invented skiing (it may be theoretically possible, but impossible to know, and older skis have been found elsewhere in the nordic countries), or that Ole Evinrude, the inventor of the outboard motor, was a Finn, and that therefore the invention was Finnish (it wasn't, and he was Norwegian). Of course that doesn't stop the book from being a fairly good overview that's extremely readable, it just means that everything else then also becomes suspect, even when valid and true.
I did learn things about Finland I didn't know beforehand, and all of it presented in a concisely propulsive manner. Also fun to take a look back to a time I was finishing up my first decade there. It's not a book I'd recommend to anyone, really, and there must be better modern overviews available for those even remotely interested in the subject … they're just not available in my local Southern Indiana library. Should you be in a similar plight, it's a good read!
It is also sometimes a spectacularly misinformed read. It casually mentions how Finns invented skiing (it may be theoretically possible, but impossible to know, and older skis have been found elsewhere in the nordic countries), or that Ole Evinrude, the inventor of the outboard motor, was a Finn, and that therefore the invention was Finnish (it wasn't, and he was Norwegian). Of course that doesn't stop the book from being a fairly good overview that's extremely readable, it just means that everything else then also becomes suspect, even when valid and true.
I did learn things about Finland I didn't know beforehand, and all of it presented in a concisely propulsive manner. Also fun to take a look back to a time I was finishing up my first decade there. It's not a book I'd recommend to anyone, really, and there must be better modern overviews available for those even remotely interested in the subject … they're just not available in my local Southern Indiana library. Should you be in a similar plight, it's a good read!
March 30, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was highly informative. It was written in an engaging and entertaining manner. The inclusion of pictures was nice. I'm hoping to find an updated version, as this was printed in the 80's. But it had really good information. I'm hoping there are more books out there like this.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews