Looking for the Hidden Folk, Nancy Marie Brown
Looking for the Hidden Folk, Nancy Marie Brown
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Looking for the Hidden Folk
How Iceland's Elves Can Save the Earth

Author: Nancy Marie Brown

Narrator: Ann Richardson

Unabridged: 8 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/14/2023

Synopsis

Icelanders believe in elves. Why does that make you laugh?, asks Nancy Marie Brown, in this wonderfully quirky exploration of our interaction with nature. Looking for answers in history, science, religion, and art—from ancient times to today—Brown finds that each discipline defines what is real and unreal, natural and supernatural, demonstrated and theoretical, alive and inert. Each has its own way of perceiving and valuing the world around us. And each discipline defines what an Icelander might call an elf.

Illuminated by her own encounters with Iceland's Otherworld—in ancient lava fields, on a holy mountain, beside a glacier or an erupting volcano, crossing the cold desert at the island's heart on horseback—Looking for the Hidden Folk offers an intimate conversation about how we look at and find value in nature. It reveals how the words we use and the stories we tell shape the world we see. It argues that our beliefs about the Earth will preserve—or destroy it.

Scientists name our time the Anthropocene: the Human Age. Climate change will lead to the mass extinction of numerous animal species unless we humans change our course. Iceland suggests a different way of thinking about the Earth, one that offers hope. Icelanders believe in elves—and you should, too.

About Nancy Marie Brown

Nancy Marie Brown is the author of several highly praised cultural histories, including The Real Valkyrie, Song of the Vikings, and Ivory Vikings. These titles have been favorably reviewed in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Economist, the Times Literary Supplement, the Wall Street Journal, and many other journals. Brown has spent decades studying Icelandic literature and culture. She lives on a farm in Vermont where she keeps four Icelandic horses and an Icelandic sheepdog.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ann on February 27, 2023

The subtitle of this book is: How Iceland’s Elves Can Save the Earth. Elves? Cool. I pre-ordered the audiobook expecting something magical, something folklorish, something about elves. Silly me. This book covers a lot of ground, but most of it is not about elves. It possibly ought to have been subtit......more

Goodreads review by Kj on January 16, 2024

Ughhhh Never longed so much for a thesis statement in a book. You'd think the subtitle would suffice, but nope. I imagine this book disappoints readers of all sorts. If you're expecting ecological reflection via cultural history—it's not that. If you're expecting creative non-fiction examining the na......more

Goodreads review by Janalyn, the blind reviewer on February 04, 2023

Looking For The Hidden Folk by Nancy Marie Brown was so interesting we learned about Iceland‘s history and their history with elves and Faye folk. As well as her many trips to the country and things she experienced while there. I love reading about stuff like this and was not disappointed with this......more

Goodreads review by Hope on January 13, 2023

A Big Book…in so many ways… I stumbled across this marvelous book, while looking for something entirely different. The title lured me in. (That, and a longtime obsession with Iceland.) But the title is deceptive. Yes, there are elves and trolls. And Icelandic history and culture. And volcanoes. (And......more

Goodreads review by Linda on December 21, 2022

I think this is categorized as a travel book, and wherever it was I found a recommendation about this book, I know it said sort of a travel book. It is not a travel book. It is about Iceland, but I don't see how that makes it a travel book. It sort of a history book. I think it is far more a religio......more

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