The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Contentment, Comfort, and Connection

The trendy Danish concept of hygge is the subject of Louisa Thomsen Brits's first book. Half Danish and half British, Brits was born in Uganda and spent her childhood summers in Denmark. With her simultaneous insider and outsider perspectives on Danish culture, she translates this aspect of it for the rest of the world with skill and subtlety. The Book of Hygge is likely to be one of the best guides to creating a more socially connected and rewarding life.

Hygge is a temporary escape from the conflicts of daily life, a form of mindfulness focused on the enjoyment of human community and familiar pleasures rather than material consumption. It means feeling "warm, safe, comforted, and sheltered... with people and places that [anchor] and [affirm] us... a sense of abundance and contentment... being, not having." The possession of basic comforts is necessary for hygge, but no more. It also involves an ideal of egalitarian social life without conflict, debate or self-indulgence. It "isn't the complete absence of the usual demands of a fully engaged human life, but it is facilitated by a willingness to put down our problems and abandon our cares for a while."

This is a pretty book, illustrated with photos of candles, natural environments, stones, baths, drinks and soft textiles, and salted with quotations and proverbs. It is soothing to look at, but it also offers a genuine challenge to develop oases of tolerance and peace at home and in the workplace, to balance the alienation, overstimulation and anxious striving of everyday life. --Sara Catterall

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