Iceland: Land of the Sagas - European Travel Books

Paperback - 06 October, 1998 - Villard
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By: Jon Krakauer and David Roberts
ISBN: 0375752676

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Reviews by readers

The Illustrated Icelandic Sagas

This is the illustrated Icelandic Saga companion book. Roberts and Jon Krakauer make me want to go to Iceland-tomorrow.

In Saga footsteps

For anyone into the wild and all pure nature of Iceland, this is a good but advanced start. Try taking Njall's Saga at one hand and this very good-quality pictured book at the other and flip through the pages as you learn more about the Saga, the characters and the actual places where all these wild yet quite Icelandic bravery epic stories took place.This book is also great for anyone who would want to pursue a deeper understanding of the life during 1000 - when Christianity was adopted in Iceland. Again in this book you will get to read parts from various sagas, see turf homes and get a taste of pure Iceland. Enjoy it.

Not the Iceland I know

I am glad I got this book just for the text, which is excellent. But I'm surprised at rave reviews for the photos, which to me are absurd. They hardly explore Iceland's unique topography and instead turn it into a generic rugged Anywhere. Notice that in almost every photo there's some sign of habitation: a building, an animal,a person in a boat, etc. The thing that distinguishes Iceland is that there's NO ONE there. You can drive for hours, as I have along the coast on a road that's simply a leveling of the gravel, without seeing another car, building or even a road sign. It's creepy and exhilerating. It's the ideal place to be alone. The landscape is so unusual it reminds you of nothing familiar, nothing from your past. And except for rocky outcroppings, it's flat in a way that makes you feel you could be on the moon. I love Iceland, am obsessed with it, and go there as often as possible. For me it is a source of existential peace. For a true picture of the landscape, listen to the music of Sigur Ros, and investigate the photographs of artist Olafur Eliasson. Or go and take your own pictures. They'll be better than these.

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