How Iceland Changed the World - Book ‘Full of Farce and Joy’ Vala Hafstað A new book by journalist and teacher Egill Helgason, How Iceland Changed the World: The Big History of a Small Island, has just been published by Penguin Books. It is the untold story of how one tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic has shaped the world for centuries. The book was reviewed by The New York Times, where it was highly praised: “What Egill Bjarnason sets out to explain in How Iceland Changed the World, his joyously peculiar book, is why it is also so full of farce and drive — why Iceland is a country with the soul of a very small town and yet can sometimes shut down the world. Bjarnason balances pride and realism so casually that you can almost take for granted a nation whose Parliament once voted to abolish the letter “z” (except in a few words such as “pizza”),” the review reads. You can read the full review here.