I was recently reading an article on Science Nordic about a new iPad app produced by the Universities of Berlin and Copenhagen, the National Museum of Denmark, the Roskilde Viking ship Museum and the Viking Center of Ribe. It’s called Dreams of Valhalla, designed to provide a fun and interactive source of the Viking Myths and Legends to the general public.
Basically, I was hooked in as soon as I saw the words Viking myths and legends, and the amazing graphics helped catch my attention too. Knowing that such Institutes were behind the app’s creation finally tipped me over into buying it. Yes, unfortunately it isn’t free and downloading it will take up time and MB (632MB to be exact), but after I tried it out, I realised $5.49 was well worth it.
60 minutes of video and 250 pages of illustrations, manuscript reproductions, maps and interviews, your definately getting bang for your buck.
The app is broken up into three parts: Primary sources (both written and archaeological); the stories, myths and gods themselves; and then a look at how Norse mythology has survived into the present day through movies, comics, music and games etc. It is kind of set out in book form, swiping up and down, side to side following the text, illustrations and photos, with interviews and video clips peppered through as well.
I have to say, this is actually a really fun and entertaining app that definitely educates at the same time. The layout is easy to follow without being boring or sounding like a lecture, and the graphics are really clear and bright (and for over 600MB you would want it to be).
If you are really interested in the history of the ‘vikings’ then i think this is a great resource. It is as good as any other text-book you would buy from a store or online and arguably cheaper and a whole lot more fun.
And if you’re still not sure, the team behind the app have created a trailer on Vimeo explaining the reasons why they created the project and a little about what you can expect.
Now im going to go back and play on my iPad a bit more 🙂 Happy reading!
A H Gray 