''Dreamland: A Self-Help Manual for a Frightened Nation'' (in the original ) is a book by the Icelandic author

Andri Snær Magnason Andri Snær Magnason (born 14 July 1973) is an Icelandic writer. He has written novels, poetry, plays, short stories, and essays. Andri is also a director and producer of three documentary films that have premiered in IDFA and CPH:DOX. His ...

. It became the number one best-selling book in Iceland in 2006, and was winner of the

Icelandic Literary Award The Icelandic Literary Prize ( Icelandic: ''Íslensku bókmenntaverðlaunin''), or Icelandic Literary Award, is an award which is given to three books each year by the Icelandic Publishers Association. The prize was founded on the association's cen ...

, and the Icelandic Bookseller Prize the same year. The English edition of the book has a foreword by the Icelandic artist

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

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''Dreamland'' is Andri Snaer Magnason's critique against the current decision taken by the Icelandic government to dam Iceland's rivers in order to produce energy that can be delivered to

aluminium smelter Aluminium smelting is the process of extracting aluminium from its oxide, alumina, generally by the Hall-Héroult process. Alumina is extracted from the ore bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an List of alumina refineries, alumina refinery. ...

s. Magnason describes how Iceland's government actively have pursued the idea to attract foreign aluminium companies to Iceland with the promise of the "cheapest energy in the world". The government advertisement described Iceland's energy potential as 30 TWh/year (3.4 GW annual mean). Magnason argues in the book that in order to accomplish this, the majority of Iceland's rivers would need to be exploited. It is set up as a series of thoughts on issues in modern

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

and the past Iceland and deals heavily with the

Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant ( ), officially called Fljótsdalur Power Station ( ) is a hydroelectric power plant in Fljótsdalshérað municipality in eastern Iceland, designed to produce annually for Alcoa's Fjarðaál Aluminium smelting, alu ...

and other similar works being done. It was the best sold book in Iceland in 2006 and raised Icelanders' interest in

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

by a large amount. In the book the Icelandic nation is encouraged to look to more "futuristic" types of business than

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

processing and to stop believing that they can't do anything for themselves.

Bibliographical details and translations

* Andri Snær Magnason, ''Draumalandið: Sjálfshjálparbók handa hræddri þjóð'' (Reykjavík: Mál og menning, 2006) riginal* ''Dreamland: A Self-Help Manual for a Frightened Nation'', trans. by Nicholas Jones (London: Citizen Press, 2008), nglish translation* ''Draumalandið: sjálfshjálparbók handa hræddri þjóð]'', trans. by Kaoru Moriuchi (Tokyo: s.n., 2009), apanese translation* ''Drømmeland: selvhjælpsbog til en ængstelig nation, med forord af Björk'', trans. by Kim Lembek (København: Tiderne skifter, 2009) * ''Traumland: was bleibt, wenn alles verkauft ist?'', trans. from the English by Stefanie Fahrner (Freiburg: Orange Press, 2011), erman translation* ''El país de los sueños: manual de autoayuda para una nación atemorizada'', trans. by Editorial Aire (s.l.: Aire, 2013), panish translation

References

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External links

*http://www.draumalandid.is/ Icelandic non-fiction literature Environmentalism in Iceland 2006 non-fiction books 2006 in the environment Political books

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Bibliographical details and translations

See also

References

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