Obviously a contact within Scandinavia could lead the way to all sorts of opportunities INFORMATION For more information about working in Scandinavia paid or voluntary consult the series of books published in Britain by Vacation Work, which all have sections on the Scandinavian countries: The International Directory of Voluntary Work, Summer Jobs Abroad and Work Your Way Around the World. BOOKS Books on Scandinavia in English are remarkably scant: surprisingly few travellers have written well (or indeed at all) about the region over the years, and historical or political works tend to concentrate almost exclusively on the Vikings. However, Scandinavian literature is appearing more and more in translation notably the Icelandic Sagas and selected modern novelists and it's always worth looking out for a turnof 2il BAS I CS thecentury Baedeker's Norway and Sweden, if only for the phrasebook, from which you can learn the Swedish and Norwegian for "Do you want to cheat me?", "When does the washerwoman come?" and "We must tie ourselves together with rope to cross this glacier." Of the publishers, Peter Owen and Forest Books regularly produce fine new translations of modern Scandinavian novels. Norvik Press, too, is a good source of new translations of old and new Scandinavian writing: for their catalogue write to them at EURUniversity of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, For more obscure and out of print titles, try the Travel Bookshop, 13 Blenheim Crescent, London W11(e071229 52601. Where two publishers are given they refer to UK and US publications respectively. SCANDINAVIA TRAVEL AND GENERAL Jeremy Cherfas The Hunting of Whale (Bodley Head, UK). Subtitled "A tragedy that must end", this is a convincing condemnation of whaling and all those like Norway involved in it. Tom Cunllffe Topsail and Battleaxe (David & CharlesSterling). The intertwined stories of the tenthcentury Vikings who sailed from Norway, past the Faroes and Iceland to North America, and the author's parallel trip in 1983 made In a 75yearold pilot cutter. Enthusiastically written, with good photos. John McCormick Acid Earth |EarthscanWatts|. Good for the background on the burning issue of acid rain, of which the Scandinavian countries are net recipients especially from Britain. Chrlstoph Ransmayr The Terrors of Ice and Darkness (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, UK). Clever mingling of fact and fiction as the book's main character follows the route of the 1873 Austro Hungarian expedition to the Arctic. A story of obsession and, ultimately, madness. Mary Wollstonecraft A Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark (Penguin University of Nebraska Press). A searching account of Wollstonecraft's threemonth solo journey through southern Scandinavia in 1795. HISTORY, MYTHOLOGY AND ART Johannes Brondsted The Vikings (Penguin). Classic and immensely readable account of the Viking period, with valuable sections, too, on social and cultural life, art, religious beliefs and customs.