Lose yourself in a good book

The Oodi Library in Helsinki is officially open, and just in time.

Winter is high season for reading in the Nordics. Many locals have fond memories of reading through the long winter evenings. And there is a long-held tradition in the Nordic countries of giving books for Christmas. 

Nordics love to read. According to one study, the five Nordic nations are the five most literate nations in the world. This refers not only to their ability to read, but also their access to books, newspapers, and other literacy tools.

To put this in perspective, our local metropolitan area has about 1.25 million people and 26 libraries. I thought that was a lot of libraries until I learned that Helsinki, with a general population around 1.5 million people has a grand total of 38 public libraries. This doesn’t even include the university and specialty library options.

It looks like it’s time to get cosy with a good book. I’ve already got mine picked out: Factfulness by Hans Rosling et al.

What did I learn from this?

December is a great time to catch up on your reading list.