Michael Booth

Full-color pull-out map and detailed neighborhood maps for easy navigation with expert author recommends the very best sights, restaurants, shops and entertainment. Uunique Snapshots" help you get under the skin of the city and locals divulge Copenhagen's secrets: a well-known singer reveals the best spot for live jazz and a top jeweler tell us where to shop for bling."

The Danes are the happiest people in the world, and pay the highest taxes. 'Neutral' Sweden is one of the biggest arms manufacturers in the world. Finns have the largest per capita gun ownership after the US and Yemen. 54 per cent of Icelanders believe in elves. Norway is the richest country on earth. 5 per cent of Danish men have had sex with an animal. Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians, on and off, for over ten years, perplexed by their many strange paradoxes and character traits and equally bemused by the unquestioning enthusiasm for all things Nordic that has engulfed the rest of the world. He leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success and, most intriguing of all, what they think of each other. Along the way a more nuanced, often darker picture emerges of a region plagued by taboos, characterised by suffocating parochialism and populated by extremists of various shades.

Food and travel writer Michael Booth and his family embark on an epic journey the length of Japan to explore its dazzling food culture. They find a country much altered since their previous visit ten years earlier (which resulted in the award-winning international bestseller Sushi and Beyond). Over the last decade the country's restaurants have won a record number of Michelin stars and its cuisine was awarded United Nations heritage status. The world's top chefs now flock to learn more about the extraordinary dedication of Japan's food artisans, while the country's fast foods - ramen, sushi and yakitori - have conquered the world. As well as the plaudits, Japan is also facing enormous challenges. Ironically, as Booth discovers, the future of Japan's culinary heritage is under threat. Often venturing far off the beaten track, the author and his family discover intriguing future food trends and meet a fascinating cast of food heroes, from a couple lavishing love on rotten fish, to a chef who literally sacrificed a limb in pursuit of the ultimate bowl of ramen, and a farmer who has dedicated his life to growing the finest rice in the world... in the shadow of Fukushima.

'The next Bill Bryson' (New York Times) explores international relations past and present between three East Asian countries - Japan, South Korea and China - in this lively, absorbing travelogue'Two tigers cannot share the same mountain' - Chinese proverb China, Korea and Japan are the neighbours who love to hate each other. But why? Europe has forgiven Germany's war crimes, why can't Japan's neighbours do likewise? To what extent do the ongoing state-level disputes about island ownership, war history, controversial shrines and statues, missile systems and military escalation reflect how the people of these countries regard each other? They have so much to gain from amicable relations, so why do they seem to be doing their level best to keep the fires of hatred burning? The Chinese, Koreans and Japanese are more than neighbours, they are siblings from a Confucian family. They share so much culturally, from this ancient philosophy with its hierarchical, bureaucratic legacy, to rice-growing, art, architecture, chopsticks, noodles and much more which has been passed down from China over millennia. In turn, China has modelled much of its recent industrial and economic strategy on Japan's post-war manufacturing miracle, and adores contemporary Korean popular culture. Yet still East Asia festers with a mutual animosity which frequently threatens to draw the world into a twenty-first-century war. In his previous international best-seller, The Almost Nearly Perfect People, Michael Booth set out to explore the Scandinavian tribes and what they think of each other. In this new book, which blends popular anthropology, history, politics and travel, the subjects are these Asian tigers that have endured occupation, war and devastation to become among the richest, most developed and powerful societies on Earth. In this deeply researched, revealing book, he sets off on a journey by car, boat, train and plane through all three countries, ending up in a fourth, Taiwan. Here, he hopes to find a positive story but instead discovers the Taiwanese are not merely in conflict with the Chinese, but they also harbour another, less well-known but still bitter grudge towards an East Asian neighbour.

Two tigers cannot share the same mountain - Chinese proverb Despite geographical proximity, cultural similarities, and shared status as highly powerful nations, China, Korea and Japan love to hate each other. Why? In search of an answer, Michael Booth journeys across East Asia to explore the mutual animosity that frequently threatens to draw the world into all-out war. From misjudged cake decorations to electoral meddling, contradictory origin myths to territorial disputes, this deeply researched and hugely entertaining book shows that no conflict is too small to keep the fires of neighbourly hostility burning.