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How to Host a Viking Funeral: The Case for Burning Your Regrets, Chasing Your Crazy Ideas, and Becoming the Person You're Meant to Be – A Viral and Inspiring Story of Hope and Redemption
An inspiring speaker and artist asked 20,000 people around the world to share the regrets they wanted him to burn in a mock Viking ship.
This is the story of what he learned about letting go of the pain of the past and embracing the future with hope.
Turning 30, artist and speaker Kyle Scheele wanted to do something unusual to mark this milestone. Instead of a birthday bash, he decided to hold a funeral to memorialize the decade of his life that was ending. Building a 16-foot Viking ship out of cardboard, he invited friends to help him set it on fire—a symbolic farewell to his 20s and all the grief, regret, and mistakes that accompanied those years.
When video of his Viking funeral went viral, it encouraged many others to let go of past hurts as well. Moved by the response he received, Kyle planned a second funeral (this time with a 30-foot cardboard Viking ship) and asked people to share the things they carried—the bad choices, disappointments, heartaches, and negative thinking that they wanted to lay to rest. He received more than 20,000 responses from around the world—stories both heartbreaking and hilarious, painful and inspiring.
In this entertaining and wise book, Kyle reflects on what he discovered about freeing ourselves from the pain of the past, interweaving anecdotes from those who participated with the story of his own journey of renewal. “This story involves multiple Viking funerals, thousands of square feet of cardboard, and enough hot glue to supply your mother-in-law's craft night for the rest of time,” he writes. “But it also involves regret, self-doubt, insecurity, and ultimately, redemption. So buckle up. It's about to get bumpy.”
How to Host a Viking Funeral is the story of letting go of the people we used to be, but no longer want to be. It’s about renewal; where there was once regret there is now blank space—an opportunity for a fresh start.
This is the story of what he learned about letting go of the pain of the past and embracing the future with hope.
Turning 30, artist and speaker Kyle Scheele wanted to do something unusual to mark this milestone. Instead of a birthday bash, he decided to hold a funeral to memorialize the decade of his life that was ending. Building a 16-foot Viking ship out of cardboard, he invited friends to help him set it on fire—a symbolic farewell to his 20s and all the grief, regret, and mistakes that accompanied those years.
When video of his Viking funeral went viral, it encouraged many others to let go of past hurts as well. Moved by the response he received, Kyle planned a second funeral (this time with a 30-foot cardboard Viking ship) and asked people to share the things they carried—the bad choices, disappointments, heartaches, and negative thinking that they wanted to lay to rest. He received more than 20,000 responses from around the world—stories both heartbreaking and hilarious, painful and inspiring.
In this entertaining and wise book, Kyle reflects on what he discovered about freeing ourselves from the pain of the past, interweaving anecdotes from those who participated with the story of his own journey of renewal. “This story involves multiple Viking funerals, thousands of square feet of cardboard, and enough hot glue to supply your mother-in-law's craft night for the rest of time,” he writes. “But it also involves regret, self-doubt, insecurity, and ultimately, redemption. So buckle up. It's about to get bumpy.”
How to Host a Viking Funeral is the story of letting go of the people we used to be, but no longer want to be. It’s about renewal; where there was once regret there is now blank space—an opportunity for a fresh start.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published February 8, 2022
76 people are currently reading
1290 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
September 16, 2021
Scheele is a motivation speaker and cardboard artist who has somehow managed to ditch the suit-and-tie 9-to-5 life (a life few of us in the pre-pandemic world could ever change) and fill his life with crazy public art projects that make people laugh. As such, he’s like the modern-day reincarnation of Ken Kessey and the Merry Pranksters. So as his Twenties ended and Thirty loomed, he decided that, instead of a birthday cake and candles, he’d build an eight-foot cardboard Viking ship and have a funeral for his Twenties. After burning the ship, he then conceived of the idea (based on Internet reaction) for an even bigger cardboard Viking Ship to burn regrets and solicited regrets from the Internet, never realizing that like Pandora he was opening a box so big that it nearly had no end. Eventually, 21,000 index cards of regrets came in from the silly to the sublime, causing Scheele to ponder how much in the way of regrets people carried around with them and what it meant to release those regrets in a giant bonfire gone crazy. Part jokester material and part life-affirming self-help book, this is a hoot to read and there’s “no regurts” in spending the time to read this.
December 26, 2022
I ran across Kyle Scheele on TikTok a few months ago, and when I heard him talk about this project and the process of writing this book, I immediately made my way to NetGalley to request a copy. It sounded like exactly the kind of thing I’d want to read.
I don’t think I knew what I was getting myself into, because this book was different than I anticipated, but in the best way possible.
For his 30th birthday, motivational speaker and cardboard artist (among other titles) built a ship out of cardboard and held a viking funeral to mourn the loss of his 20s. His friends filmed it, and Scheele made a comment about having to let go of things from the past to make room for things moving forward. Word of the project got around, and after quite a few people reached out to him with sentiments along the lines of “you’ve helped me let go of [fill in the blank], but I wish I could have done it with a viking funeral,” Scheele decided to replicate the project.
Two and a half years later, Scheele held a second viking funeral, this time with a 16’x30’ ship, and including more than 20,000 submissions from people around the world about things they wanted to let go of. Scheele read and cataloged the submissions as he received them, and found that most of the things that people wanted to leave in the past fell into five categories: beliefs, relationships, identity, experiences, and fears.
How to Host a Viking Funeral is equal parts memoir, humor, and inspiration. Scheele has written the most (unintentionally?) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-aligned book I’ve probably ever read, and at several points throughout the book, I found myself having to remind myself that Scheele is not a) a therapist or b) Russ Harris (though they should probably be friends). I am a therapist, and while I didn’t pick this book up as a resource to share with clients, I found myself highlighting entire passages, and will probably use things from this in therapy sessions because it all just felt so human and universal.
Though Scheele remarks during the book that he’s never been formally diagnosed with ADHD, as someone with ADHD (no diagnosing here, I promise), I’d like to claim him as one of our own. This book spoke so well to the difficulties and triumphs of the ADHD creative process ( though I’m sure it will also speak to other creatives as well). I also think this book will speak personally to people in periods of transition and to fans of Russ Harris and Brene Brown's work.
Whether you’ve been following Scheele since before this project, or, like me, recently stumbled across him on social media, I think there’s something in this book for just about everyone. After the last two years, I know I’ve been thinking a lot about the things I want to take with me when we exit this pandemic, and the parts of who I used to be that I’m planning to leave behind.
Thanks to Netgalley and Harperone for an advanced digital copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.
I don’t think I knew what I was getting myself into, because this book was different than I anticipated, but in the best way possible.
For his 30th birthday, motivational speaker and cardboard artist (among other titles) built a ship out of cardboard and held a viking funeral to mourn the loss of his 20s. His friends filmed it, and Scheele made a comment about having to let go of things from the past to make room for things moving forward. Word of the project got around, and after quite a few people reached out to him with sentiments along the lines of “you’ve helped me let go of [fill in the blank], but I wish I could have done it with a viking funeral,” Scheele decided to replicate the project.
Two and a half years later, Scheele held a second viking funeral, this time with a 16’x30’ ship, and including more than 20,000 submissions from people around the world about things they wanted to let go of. Scheele read and cataloged the submissions as he received them, and found that most of the things that people wanted to leave in the past fell into five categories: beliefs, relationships, identity, experiences, and fears.
How to Host a Viking Funeral is equal parts memoir, humor, and inspiration. Scheele has written the most (unintentionally?) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-aligned book I’ve probably ever read, and at several points throughout the book, I found myself having to remind myself that Scheele is not a) a therapist or b) Russ Harris (though they should probably be friends). I am a therapist, and while I didn’t pick this book up as a resource to share with clients, I found myself highlighting entire passages, and will probably use things from this in therapy sessions because it all just felt so human and universal.
Though Scheele remarks during the book that he’s never been formally diagnosed with ADHD, as someone with ADHD (no diagnosing here, I promise), I’d like to claim him as one of our own. This book spoke so well to the difficulties and triumphs of the ADHD creative process ( though I’m sure it will also speak to other creatives as well). I also think this book will speak personally to people in periods of transition and to fans of Russ Harris and Brene Brown's work.
Whether you’ve been following Scheele since before this project, or, like me, recently stumbled across him on social media, I think there’s something in this book for just about everyone. After the last two years, I know I’ve been thinking a lot about the things I want to take with me when we exit this pandemic, and the parts of who I used to be that I’m planning to leave behind.
Thanks to Netgalley and Harperone for an advanced digital copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.
January 5, 2022
As a certified integrative life and wellness coach, I was hoping this book would be inspirational and insightful. As a woman in her 40s, I realized I probably wasn't Scheele's target audience. While the premise and approach are certainly unique, rather than delivering on its promise of making a case to help others become "the person you're meant to be," this book comes across as self-indulgent, navel-gazing, and slightly immature. There is a chapter titled "What If Nobody Cares?" and by the time I reached that point in the book, I didn't. Readers seeking relatable personal growth memoirs can do much better.
I received a digital pre-publication copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I received a digital pre-publication copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 22, 2022
Interesting book with introspective concepts.
The only things that drags down its rating are the tangential stories, which have minor relevance to the story and the self serving “I’m so different and quirky” stories.
3.5 because I found the lessons learnt interesting but also had to stop myself from rolling my eyes and resist returning this book after every self serving comment.
Awesome effort on the Viking ship.
The only things that drags down its rating are the tangential stories, which have minor relevance to the story and the self serving “I’m so different and quirky” stories.
3.5 because I found the lessons learnt interesting but also had to stop myself from rolling my eyes and resist returning this book after every self serving comment.
Awesome effort on the Viking ship.
March 20, 2022
This book. Is. The. Worst. I DNFed at 40%.
Let’s review what was in that 40%. A dude who constantly over hyped himself, somehow had the most ridiculous stories ever (chronic case of embellishment perhaps?), and called his readers idiots if you didn’t know about the Suez conflict (“I’m sure this is common knowledge for most people, but I wanted to point it out for any readers who are idiots.”).
Two things I liked in this book: a quote from Seneca (so not even the author), and the little bit of insight that if we live afraid we’ll live a life smaller than it could be.
Other than those two sentences, the remaining hours spent reading dragged painfully on. He’s overly self-obsessed and proud, knows all things, and is so amazing we should all just be in awe of him. * hard eye roll *
Let’s review what was in that 40%. A dude who constantly over hyped himself, somehow had the most ridiculous stories ever (chronic case of embellishment perhaps?), and called his readers idiots if you didn’t know about the Suez conflict (“I’m sure this is common knowledge for most people, but I wanted to point it out for any readers who are idiots.”).
Two things I liked in this book: a quote from Seneca (so not even the author), and the little bit of insight that if we live afraid we’ll live a life smaller than it could be.
Other than those two sentences, the remaining hours spent reading dragged painfully on. He’s overly self-obsessed and proud, knows all things, and is so amazing we should all just be in awe of him. * hard eye roll *
February 20, 2022
This was a spontaneous purchase for me; I was looking at the wall of books and the title caught my eye. I really did not know what it was about but am glad that I purchased this book!
This author built a cardboard Viking ship, filled it with 20,000+ regrets written on index cards and set it aflame while considering fresh starts, kindness, letting go and taking chances.
Here are a few insights:
“If you never take time to stop and evaluate how your journey has gone up to this point, you never have the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. You never have the opportunity to grow or get better or change in positive ways”
”Life is full of new chances. Each day brings new opportunities. And sometimes, yesterday’s failure leads us down a path we wouldn’t have found otherwise”.
“Everyone around you is carrying a burden you cannot see”
“The world needs more people spreading positivity”
“It only takes one person to make you feel like you matter”
This is a quick read, packed full of learning and will leave the reader reflecting on their own regrets, opportunities not to miss and how they can make a difference!
This author built a cardboard Viking ship, filled it with 20,000+ regrets written on index cards and set it aflame while considering fresh starts, kindness, letting go and taking chances.
Here are a few insights:
“If you never take time to stop and evaluate how your journey has gone up to this point, you never have the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. You never have the opportunity to grow or get better or change in positive ways”
”Life is full of new chances. Each day brings new opportunities. And sometimes, yesterday’s failure leads us down a path we wouldn’t have found otherwise”.
“Everyone around you is carrying a burden you cannot see”
“The world needs more people spreading positivity”
“It only takes one person to make you feel like you matter”
This is a quick read, packed full of learning and will leave the reader reflecting on their own regrets, opportunities not to miss and how they can make a difference!
October 17, 2021
Kyle Scheele is creative. He's so creative, some have described him as an "artist"--"cardboard artist" to be more specific.
When I turned 30, I went out and mourned my lost 20s, the career paths I hadn't followed, the friends I'd lost track of, the two tiny kids who would dominate the direction of my 30s.
When Kyle turned 30, he made a Viking ship out of cardboard and burned it down, along with the rest of the regrets and successes of the decade behind him.
And as he grew his career as a motivational speaker, appealing to young people, he realized that his audience didn't have to wait until we're 30 to have regrets. He told them to write their regrets on white index cards and offered to build a new Viking ship, which would burn along with all of the regrets given him--a number which grew to over 20,000 individual notecards.
This book is partially about the 2 1/2-year quest to build Kyle's second Viking ship: the pitfalls and delays incumbent with assembling and hot-gluing a cardboard dragon ship 16 feet tall and 30 feet long.
The bulk of the book is about the regrets that Scheele collected as he built the ship. Broken into themes like "Fears," "Identifies," and "Beliefs," to name a few, the regrets lead Scheele naturally into accounts of his own life and experiences--the mishaps and blind alleys that didn't necessarily end when he burnt the first Viking ship on his 30th birthday. Some of the anecdotes come from those developed in his speeches featured on his web site. Others illustrate encounters at his speeches, bringing to life a handful of the people who submitted their regrets to be burned in his project. Ultimately the people feature more than the dragon in Scheele's recounting.
Scheele's insights are winsome, worth reading in snippets, worth later reflection.
I admit that I had a different book in mind altogether when I asked for this one from NetGalley, in exchange for writing an honest review. I had read several books this year about Vikings, and I thought this "how to" would make a nice addition to my brain.
I found something quite different when I read it, and I would recommend it to those who not only hold regrets but who also might appreciate one of the most creative ways I've seen of letting them go.
When I turned 30, I went out and mourned my lost 20s, the career paths I hadn't followed, the friends I'd lost track of, the two tiny kids who would dominate the direction of my 30s.
When Kyle turned 30, he made a Viking ship out of cardboard and burned it down, along with the rest of the regrets and successes of the decade behind him.
And as he grew his career as a motivational speaker, appealing to young people, he realized that his audience didn't have to wait until we're 30 to have regrets. He told them to write their regrets on white index cards and offered to build a new Viking ship, which would burn along with all of the regrets given him--a number which grew to over 20,000 individual notecards.
This book is partially about the 2 1/2-year quest to build Kyle's second Viking ship: the pitfalls and delays incumbent with assembling and hot-gluing a cardboard dragon ship 16 feet tall and 30 feet long.
The bulk of the book is about the regrets that Scheele collected as he built the ship. Broken into themes like "Fears," "Identifies," and "Beliefs," to name a few, the regrets lead Scheele naturally into accounts of his own life and experiences--the mishaps and blind alleys that didn't necessarily end when he burnt the first Viking ship on his 30th birthday. Some of the anecdotes come from those developed in his speeches featured on his web site. Others illustrate encounters at his speeches, bringing to life a handful of the people who submitted their regrets to be burned in his project. Ultimately the people feature more than the dragon in Scheele's recounting.
Scheele's insights are winsome, worth reading in snippets, worth later reflection.
I admit that I had a different book in mind altogether when I asked for this one from NetGalley, in exchange for writing an honest review. I had read several books this year about Vikings, and I thought this "how to" would make a nice addition to my brain.
I found something quite different when I read it, and I would recommend it to those who not only hold regrets but who also might appreciate one of the most creative ways I've seen of letting them go.
February 18, 2022
I wish I could give more than 5 stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
March 23, 2022
How to Host a Viking Funeral by Kyle Scheele gives a big dose of humor and a heartfelt hug to the difficult topic of regret. After giving a Viking funeral to his twenties, Kyle asked what would others want to give a funeral for? What are the things people are generally holding on to and would want to release?
I enjoyed this book immensely, especially the details of the boat build, collecting people's stories, and the general hijinks Kyle gets into. When things are constantly far too serious, this book was a great reason to laugh and to dream a little.
Side note: What if there was a Viking funeral for the Age of Covid? Build another boat, people share their stories and release the fear, the conflict, and the trauma?
What a beautiful idea.
I enjoyed this book immensely, especially the details of the boat build, collecting people's stories, and the general hijinks Kyle gets into. When things are constantly far too serious, this book was a great reason to laugh and to dream a little.
Side note: What if there was a Viking funeral for the Age of Covid? Build another boat, people share their stories and release the fear, the conflict, and the trauma?
What a beautiful idea.
December 25, 2024
Listened as an audiobook. 4.5 stars
Kyle Scheele could be described as a larrikin that has turned his oddball ideas into reality and made his, perhaps, quirky character into a successful career as a motivational speaker.
Towards the end of his twenties, Kyle decided he would shed that prior life by hosting his own viking funeral and burn the memories of this phase of his life. While unusual, this triggered an idea for a bigger public art project (following the same viking ship funeral formula) and a way for many to shed their life regrets. The book recounts Kyle's journey to building a cardboard 16ft replica of a viking burial ship and Kyle sharing what he discovered after receiving regrets from more than 20,000 people. The book follows the trials in the building a cardboard viking ship and recounts the themes of people's regrets and Kyle's ponderings and life experiences around the regrets grouped themes.
This would be an amazing book to share with many people but most influential would be for teens, to show them that people that they admire, aspire to be and perhaps fear are essentially the same as them with negative voices, concerns and fears.
Listened as an audiobook and smashed it quick quickly.
Kyle Scheele could be described as a larrikin that has turned his oddball ideas into reality and made his, perhaps, quirky character into a successful career as a motivational speaker.
Towards the end of his twenties, Kyle decided he would shed that prior life by hosting his own viking funeral and burn the memories of this phase of his life. While unusual, this triggered an idea for a bigger public art project (following the same viking ship funeral formula) and a way for many to shed their life regrets. The book recounts Kyle's journey to building a cardboard 16ft replica of a viking burial ship and Kyle sharing what he discovered after receiving regrets from more than 20,000 people. The book follows the trials in the building a cardboard viking ship and recounts the themes of people's regrets and Kyle's ponderings and life experiences around the regrets grouped themes.
This would be an amazing book to share with many people but most influential would be for teens, to show them that people that they admire, aspire to be and perhaps fear are essentially the same as them with negative voices, concerns and fears.
Listened as an audiobook and smashed it quick quickly.
August 18, 2025
I love this book so much that after listening to it on Audible, I purchased the hardback. I also recommended that my daughter buy it for her friends birthday present. I've been following Kyle online for a few years now and have enjoyed seeing the wild projects he comes up with and hearing the reason why he does them. Great motivational book!
May 21, 2022
Kyle writes from such an approachable perspective, in the way that tackling life's heaviest moments feels a little less intimidating. An easy read with some important takeaways!
August 25, 2022
I mostly liked the quirky nature of the author. He reminded me of my brother.
May 21, 2023
This book earned 5 stars for being the most enjoyable book I've read all year. Not the best written, not the most important, not the most enlightening. Rather a book that has a purpose, is fun, and a reminder of what our humanness is, from the perspective of an artist/storyteller. Despite the deep trauma and sadness of some of the regrets/submissions, Scheele manages to have his project overflow with the joy of life.
November 15, 2022
DNR.....I just couldn't get into this book. It was like a chore trying to listen to it. I felt like it went nowhere fast.
August 29, 2022
A beautifully written book on the act of creation and creators, on life and its pitfalls and pick-ups, filled with warmth, humour, and care.
January 14, 2024
Maybe more 4.5, this is a really nice memoir about art and letting go of things that don't serve you, and the ability we all have to reinvent ourselves. Even if you don't burn your regrets and past issues.
February 28, 2022
You can spend all your time trying to defend your definition of what a meaningful life is or you can just go out and life yours. But every moment you spend on the former is a moment you don’t have for the latter.
This book was hilarious, encouraging, and endlessly validating, alternately making me cry and burst into laughter. Affably wise and introspective, How to Host a Viking Funeral makes an impassioned and sensitive case for letting go of our regrets, our former selves, and our self-imposed limitations that are preventing us from living our fullest lives. A joy to experience.
This book was hilarious, encouraging, and endlessly validating, alternately making me cry and burst into laughter. Affably wise and introspective, How to Host a Viking Funeral makes an impassioned and sensitive case for letting go of our regrets, our former selves, and our self-imposed limitations that are preventing us from living our fullest lives. A joy to experience.
August 27, 2022
"You should know that this is gonna get weird." "...this probably won't ever make sense to a sane person..."
Well how can you not like a book that starts like that? And so it goes. This book is full of points that I either agree with, can get behind, or gave me a good laugh. Which in my current frame of mind is really all I'm looking for. Plus setting things safely on fire sounds like fun.
RMCWR:
This is in fact the perfect response to someone who encourages you to run a marathon because it will be fun: "That's a lie. People die running marathons. Dying is not fun."
Apparently my history teacher was far from the only one to turn the lyrics of "We Didn't Start The Fire" into a class project. (For the record, I loved doing that.)
"Yes everything happens for a reason. That's how cause and effect works."
FFA is...the Super Bowl of professional speaking engagements? If you say so.
The world does indeed keep on spinning the day after a big event.
There are in fact plenty more things to fear in addition to fear itself. (Kind of wish he hadn't brought up bees.)
"Reality just can't compete with the fears we manufacture in our imagination."
"The pain of regret fades, but the pain of 'what if' sticks around." (Oooof.)
Vernon the VHS tape
Time limits on pity parties is a useful concept.
Saying "I'm not that person anymore" doesn't let you off the hook for things you did when you were that person, but it means you can stop letting those things define you.
...do I need to buy this book? There were whole paragraphs I'm not going to type out, but they were good. Still...probably not a reread.
Well how can you not like a book that starts like that? And so it goes. This book is full of points that I either agree with, can get behind, or gave me a good laugh. Which in my current frame of mind is really all I'm looking for. Plus setting things safely on fire sounds like fun.
RMCWR:
This is in fact the perfect response to someone who encourages you to run a marathon because it will be fun: "That's a lie. People die running marathons. Dying is not fun."
Apparently my history teacher was far from the only one to turn the lyrics of "We Didn't Start The Fire" into a class project. (For the record, I loved doing that.)
"Yes everything happens for a reason. That's how cause and effect works."
FFA is...the Super Bowl of professional speaking engagements? If you say so.
The world does indeed keep on spinning the day after a big event.
There are in fact plenty more things to fear in addition to fear itself. (Kind of wish he hadn't brought up bees.)
"Reality just can't compete with the fears we manufacture in our imagination."
"The pain of regret fades, but the pain of 'what if' sticks around." (Oooof.)
Vernon the VHS tape
Time limits on pity parties is a useful concept.
Saying "I'm not that person anymore" doesn't let you off the hook for things you did when you were that person, but it means you can stop letting those things define you.
...do I need to buy this book? There were whole paragraphs I'm not going to type out, but they were good. Still...probably not a reread.
September 22, 2022
I purchased this book because I saw a friend’s post hyping it up on Instagram. I then looked it up on Goodreads to see if it fell in the 4+ range.
Sadly it did which prompted me to go buy a copy. I have ADHD like the author so I have made 3 separate attempts to enjoy this book but I’m calling it quits on page 106.
He talks far more about himself and his cardboard boat than about the wisdom that people shared with him.
I felt from the title this would be an interesting format for a self help book but it never got interesting for me and was not helpful.
Sadly it did which prompted me to go buy a copy. I have ADHD like the author so I have made 3 separate attempts to enjoy this book but I’m calling it quits on page 106.
He talks far more about himself and his cardboard boat than about the wisdom that people shared with him.
I felt from the title this would be an interesting format for a self help book but it never got interesting for me and was not helpful.
May 23, 2022
I was delighted and surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I'd picked it off the public library's new book shelf, and it seemed like the perfect follow-up, content-wise, to Daniel Pink's The Power of Regret, which I'd read just before it.
Once I got it home, I read some of the Goodreads reviews, and lowered my expectations. Certainly, there were a number of aspects that might have been drawbacks for me. Scheele is a motivational speaker, and has that millennial "thought influencer" identity that I find annoying. And the first anecdote, something designed to show how adorably annoying he is and how his wife sees right through him in a way he can't see himself, almost made me put the book down, as he seemed more like 15 than 30, and I'm too old to find Peter Pans charming.
But do you know what made me keep reading? I'd hit the point that matched up with an insulting review! A reviewer had been very specific about something he (she?) hadn't liked and found rude and insufferable, at which point he stopped reading. Early on, I got to that point and went "aha! I'm there" but kept reading. One paragraph beyond that person's stopping point, it became obvious that Scheele wasn't being rude; he was being amusingly self-deprecating about his seven-year-old self and a silly mondegreen (of a Billy Joel song) that would be entirely understandable in a second-grader. It spurred me to keep reading.
The book is ostensibly a tale of Scheele following up a cardboard art Viking "funeral" for his twenties with a much larger dragon-themed boat to give a Viking funeral to thousands of people's regrets. But it's really a tale of two+ years resilience in the face of obstacles and a lay-person's examination of the types of regrets humans let weigh them down.
Scheele's take on regrets is not an academic researcher's or journalistic one, as Pink's had been. He frames his "unified theory of regret" in five categories he intuits on his own: fears, experiences, identities, relationships, and beliefs, and posits that it's only the last of these over which we have control. And in each of these categories, he draws on multiple tales from his own speaking and Viking ship-building life to illustrate the lessons he's taken from each of these categories. It could have been boring. It could have been overwrought. But mostly, I found him gently amusing and was surprised at how many of his little stories resonated with me.
Scheele, in addition to being a motivational speaker and a millennial goofball, is a cardboard artist. None of these things should have appealed to me. But the way he wrote, with gentle anecdotes, charmed me. I loved his "five minute pity party" and connected it to my own GenX love of Holly Hunter's unplugged-phone crying scenes in Broadcast News. His story about Vernon, the sad, lonely VHS tape, should have made me annoyed; instead, hand-to-spaghetti-monster, I misted up! And his connection of our fears to the line, "Every now and then I get a little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by" from Total Eclipse of the Heart really resonated with me.
Could an editor have pared down some of the repetitive and self-indulgent parts about the shipbuilding? Absolutely. Would that have been better replaced by a little insight into the author's wife and family as he was on this somewhat silly adventure? Most likely. But I still enjoyed the little stories in the book so much more than I expected.
Look, I've never heard of Scheele, and I'm not one of the 20,000+ people who submitted regrets to him. I didn't follow the story of the Viking ship in real time, and so I have no dog in this hunt, as they say here. But I appreciated the stories and felt like they were well-selected and designed. I am certain that the audio book (assuming it's read by Scheele, himself), would be more effectively presented, given his profession. But I liked it, and if you're curious about the human condition and interested in the concept of moving past regrets, I think you'll like it, too.
Once I got it home, I read some of the Goodreads reviews, and lowered my expectations. Certainly, there were a number of aspects that might have been drawbacks for me. Scheele is a motivational speaker, and has that millennial "thought influencer" identity that I find annoying. And the first anecdote, something designed to show how adorably annoying he is and how his wife sees right through him in a way he can't see himself, almost made me put the book down, as he seemed more like 15 than 30, and I'm too old to find Peter Pans charming.
But do you know what made me keep reading? I'd hit the point that matched up with an insulting review! A reviewer had been very specific about something he (she?) hadn't liked and found rude and insufferable, at which point he stopped reading. Early on, I got to that point and went "aha! I'm there" but kept reading. One paragraph beyond that person's stopping point, it became obvious that Scheele wasn't being rude; he was being amusingly self-deprecating about his seven-year-old self and a silly mondegreen (of a Billy Joel song) that would be entirely understandable in a second-grader. It spurred me to keep reading.
The book is ostensibly a tale of Scheele following up a cardboard art Viking "funeral" for his twenties with a much larger dragon-themed boat to give a Viking funeral to thousands of people's regrets. But it's really a tale of two+ years resilience in the face of obstacles and a lay-person's examination of the types of regrets humans let weigh them down.
Scheele's take on regrets is not an academic researcher's or journalistic one, as Pink's had been. He frames his "unified theory of regret" in five categories he intuits on his own: fears, experiences, identities, relationships, and beliefs, and posits that it's only the last of these over which we have control. And in each of these categories, he draws on multiple tales from his own speaking and Viking ship-building life to illustrate the lessons he's taken from each of these categories. It could have been boring. It could have been overwrought. But mostly, I found him gently amusing and was surprised at how many of his little stories resonated with me.
Scheele, in addition to being a motivational speaker and a millennial goofball, is a cardboard artist. None of these things should have appealed to me. But the way he wrote, with gentle anecdotes, charmed me. I loved his "five minute pity party" and connected it to my own GenX love of Holly Hunter's unplugged-phone crying scenes in Broadcast News. His story about Vernon, the sad, lonely VHS tape, should have made me annoyed; instead, hand-to-spaghetti-monster, I misted up! And his connection of our fears to the line, "Every now and then I get a little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by" from Total Eclipse of the Heart really resonated with me.
Could an editor have pared down some of the repetitive and self-indulgent parts about the shipbuilding? Absolutely. Would that have been better replaced by a little insight into the author's wife and family as he was on this somewhat silly adventure? Most likely. But I still enjoyed the little stories in the book so much more than I expected.
Look, I've never heard of Scheele, and I'm not one of the 20,000+ people who submitted regrets to him. I didn't follow the story of the Viking ship in real time, and so I have no dog in this hunt, as they say here. But I appreciated the stories and felt like they were well-selected and designed. I am certain that the audio book (assuming it's read by Scheele, himself), would be more effectively presented, given his profession. But I liked it, and if you're curious about the human condition and interested in the concept of moving past regrets, I think you'll like it, too.
April 6, 2022
Forget Your Remorses with a Fiery Farewell--Artist and Motivational Speaker Kyle Scheele approached the milestone age of 30 with a certain amount of trepidation that resulted in deep self-reflection on his personal goals, accomplishments, aspirations, and disappointments that he experienced over the past three decades of his life.
In Scheele’s encouraging book, “How to Host a Viking Funeral,” he explains how instead of a 30th birthday bash, he invited guests to help him set fire to a 16-foot cardboard Viking longship he designed and built. Rather than a deceased high-ranking Viking war lord’s body, this dragon boat contained written notes containing Scheele’s many regrets from his earlier years.
As pictures and stories of Scheele’s Viking Funeral went viral on social media, he received thousands of regret messages from fans and followers requesting a fiery grave for theirs. Sheele’s heart-felt book contains numerous photos of some of these personal notes. These notes are one of my favorite parts of the book because they pull at my heart.
Although the title, “How to Host a Viking Funeral,” may sound moribund, it’s an optimistic book about letting go of the past and making today a better place to live.
========================///=======================
The Book Maven’s Journal—Reviews for Word Connoisseurs
STAR RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Title: “How to Host a Viking Funeral”
Author: Kyle Scheele
Genre: Non-Fiction (Adult) | Self-help |
Publication Date: 08 February 2022
Publisher: HarperOne
Sincere thanks and appreciation go to NetGalley, Author Kyle Scheele, and Publisher HarperOne for this Advance Reader’s Copy (ARC) for review.
In Scheele’s encouraging book, “How to Host a Viking Funeral,” he explains how instead of a 30th birthday bash, he invited guests to help him set fire to a 16-foot cardboard Viking longship he designed and built. Rather than a deceased high-ranking Viking war lord’s body, this dragon boat contained written notes containing Scheele’s many regrets from his earlier years.
As pictures and stories of Scheele’s Viking Funeral went viral on social media, he received thousands of regret messages from fans and followers requesting a fiery grave for theirs. Sheele’s heart-felt book contains numerous photos of some of these personal notes. These notes are one of my favorite parts of the book because they pull at my heart.
Although the title, “How to Host a Viking Funeral,” may sound moribund, it’s an optimistic book about letting go of the past and making today a better place to live.
========================///=======================
The Book Maven’s Journal—Reviews for Word Connoisseurs
STAR RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Title: “How to Host a Viking Funeral”
Author: Kyle Scheele
Genre: Non-Fiction (Adult) | Self-help |
Publication Date: 08 February 2022
Publisher: HarperOne
Sincere thanks and appreciation go to NetGalley, Author Kyle Scheele, and Publisher HarperOne for this Advance Reader’s Copy (ARC) for review.
March 14, 2022
How to Host a Viking Funeral by Kyle Scheele is the story of a motivational speaker and his experimental project combining the regrets of others around the world with ...cardboard. The unlikely duo creates a unique testimony to the human experience in relation to the fears/setbacks they experience. The beginning of this project starts with Kyle and his mini version of the cardboard Viking funeral for a birthday celebration, which gains traction locally, and gives him the idea to recreate the project on a much (MUCH) larger scale. The rest of the book follows the unexpected trials and tribulations he faces along the way, while also making connections between the experience and the regrets he receives from his participants around the world. Scheele does an excellent job of cutting these occasionally ruinous trials with humor to keep the reading light and uplifting.
The book bounces back and forth in time, in a way that can be confusing if not paying proper attention. I don't disagree with the way it was written, however. I feel that the chosen timeline is intentional, just something to keep in mind when reading for the first time.
I feel that the people that would benefit the most from this read are young creatives. Not necessarily young in age, but young in their career/journey as an artist. This book follows Scheels' fears and regrets as a creative being, along with what did and what didn't work that readers can apply to their own craft. If any of these things interest or apply to you, I would definitely give this book a read.
The book bounces back and forth in time, in a way that can be confusing if not paying proper attention. I don't disagree with the way it was written, however. I feel that the chosen timeline is intentional, just something to keep in mind when reading for the first time.
I feel that the people that would benefit the most from this read are young creatives. Not necessarily young in age, but young in their career/journey as an artist. This book follows Scheels' fears and regrets as a creative being, along with what did and what didn't work that readers can apply to their own craft. If any of these things interest or apply to you, I would definitely give this book a read.
November 19, 2024
🗒️How to Host a Viking Funeral🗒️ by #KyleScheele is a touching book about letting go of regrets.
I stumbled upon this book in Libby and I decided to give it a chance because the title was so intriguing. This book discusses about an artist, Kyle Scheele, creating a Viking Funeral, at first for himself, where he said goodbyes to his 20s. And then he wanted to make the project larger where he embarked on a multi-year project where he built a bigger boat and gathered the regrets of others to burn away.
Though this book started off as quite a lighthearted one, the author detailed his time creating the boat and his struggles throughout. All throughout receiving regrets of every so many people. I don’t think I’m selling the book well, but while reading it was a book that made me self-reflect on what I regretted in life. The things that I wished I did better, or the traits of myself that I wish were gone, experiences in my life that I wished just disappeared. The author did a great job of convincing me however, that despite these regrets that we just wished went away, all of them make us to the person we are today. He broke down fears, regrets, and deep topics in such a fun and tasteful way I really enjoyed reading this book.
Repost of Review from Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCPdw1coS...
I stumbled upon this book in Libby and I decided to give it a chance because the title was so intriguing. This book discusses about an artist, Kyle Scheele, creating a Viking Funeral, at first for himself, where he said goodbyes to his 20s. And then he wanted to make the project larger where he embarked on a multi-year project where he built a bigger boat and gathered the regrets of others to burn away.
Though this book started off as quite a lighthearted one, the author detailed his time creating the boat and his struggles throughout. All throughout receiving regrets of every so many people. I don’t think I’m selling the book well, but while reading it was a book that made me self-reflect on what I regretted in life. The things that I wished I did better, or the traits of myself that I wish were gone, experiences in my life that I wished just disappeared. The author did a great job of convincing me however, that despite these regrets that we just wished went away, all of them make us to the person we are today. He broke down fears, regrets, and deep topics in such a fun and tasteful way I really enjoyed reading this book.
Repost of Review from Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCPdw1coS...
April 11, 2025
The author is quirky and I enjoy the sense of humor but he says a fair amount that just is off. Example of 47: But no regrets only makes sense if you're perfect. I find this odd bc he went to a therapist for regret that he called dueling fears. Pg. 90 ... about how I was secretly suspicious that all the things in my life were a complete waste of time and talent. That's regret. It would have been nice to allow the reframe the therapist did to be a potential explanation of no regrets for others. Maybe they have no regrets because they worked in some way to accept themselves, maybe they had a reframe like he did in the therapist office. But to really dismiss people who you do not have any clue as to what their story might be? And to take a either/or approach to causality? Regret is a type of fear.
Then just bizarre things like pg 103 and horses have experienced everything they ever will by age 2. This is just false. A little research would go a long way. For an inspirational speaker, there's a lot of reduction going on.
But the book could have been a really cool qualitative research project but it doesn't look like it ever made it that far. Instead it gets very side tracked with things like sleep paralysis/spider rings.
Then just bizarre things like pg 103 and horses have experienced everything they ever will by age 2. This is just false. A little research would go a long way. For an inspirational speaker, there's a lot of reduction going on.
But the book could have been a really cool qualitative research project but it doesn't look like it ever made it that far. Instead it gets very side tracked with things like sleep paralysis/spider rings.
August 29, 2022
Confession, I didn't know anything about Kyle Scheele before this book popped up for sale on Kindle, I haven't so far looked for any of his videos anywhere, and I don't know or care about the latest controversy he's involved in. My understanding of that issue is that someone (Kyle) made a funny video for TikTok about scoring a deal on gas, or meals, or something. But he didn't score a deal, it was more of an ad or marketing piece for the store at which he said he had scored a deal. It's amazing how TikTok doesn't necessarily reflect reality (snort). I think the fault may lie with people who've forgotten how to distinguish reality from fiction and silliness.
With no preconceived notions or video-watching behind me regarding Mr. Scheele, I found myself enjoying this book. It's art project explainer meets "slice of my life" memoir meets self-help book. As an artist and motivational speaker, Scheele found that the process of making a giant cardboard Viking ship/dragon, filling it with mailed-in regrets from thousands of people around the country, and burning it, also taught him some things he wanted to pass on in terms of learning to live better with your regrets - as "living with no regrets" is as he points out, facile and impossible). The book is a little self-serving here and there, and yeah it's pop psychology, but it's also funny and I didn't expect more than to be interested and to get a smile out of it. I got that and also some genuine moments of reflection.
With no preconceived notions or video-watching behind me regarding Mr. Scheele, I found myself enjoying this book. It's art project explainer meets "slice of my life" memoir meets self-help book. As an artist and motivational speaker, Scheele found that the process of making a giant cardboard Viking ship/dragon, filling it with mailed-in regrets from thousands of people around the country, and burning it, also taught him some things he wanted to pass on in terms of learning to live better with your regrets - as "living with no regrets" is as he points out, facile and impossible). The book is a little self-serving here and there, and yeah it's pop psychology, but it's also funny and I didn't expect more than to be interested and to get a smile out of it. I got that and also some genuine moments of reflection.
January 18, 2023
Kyle decides to give his 20s a Viking funeral on his 30th birthday. Inspired by this internet community sends him their regrets so he can give a Viking funeral to those as well. In what I suspected to be a interesting and fun story about going viral on the internet, I found a deep analysis on what regret remorse in the passage of time is. I also found it a heartbreaking memoir on how different people deal with their regrets. This book is both heartbreaking and enlightening and possibly one of the most wisdom packed 6-hour reads I have picked up. This is definitely the best self-help book. That is not a self-help book I have ever read. This book is not world changing, but it does shed light on a pervasive and universal human experience.
To regret is human, regret isn't bad. It's just life. Many of the things we regret are not our fault. Many of the things are, but we needed to make those mistakes in order to learn and grow as people. I had more than one thing I mentally gave to the Viking ship and I suggest pretty much everyone read this book and put their own little notes on a now non-existent Viking ship.
To regret is human, regret isn't bad. It's just life. Many of the things we regret are not our fault. Many of the things are, but we needed to make those mistakes in order to learn and grow as people. I had more than one thing I mentally gave to the Viking ship and I suggest pretty much everyone read this book and put their own little notes on a now non-existent Viking ship.
May 3, 2023
Scheele has a lot of energy and life to him, and his stories were quite heartwarming. The chapter about the high school Viking burning ship was probably the funniest part.
Also, I had some differences with the author regards to how to handle life's setbacks. For example, contrary to the author, I probably wouldn't put "faith" in believing in better outcomes because that just sets one up for disappointment and, depending on how much hope there was, bitterness and anger, likely leading to deincentivization.
Given that the author is not entirely methodical and has a tendency to wing things as he goes, this may be why I differ from him a great deal in approaching life's uncertainties (e.g., I like efficiency, and will take the time, if possible, to assess, plan, and analyze. Many people are graciously willing to share their experiences, and there's so much that can be learned from them).
However, some advice was decent, e.g., I very much agree with him that fears need to be faced and dealt with one by one, rather than avoided.
I also found myself also fascinated by the different regrets people had about themselves, and liked his explanation about his own insecurities and impostor syndrome.
There was a lot more on building the cardboard Viking "ship" than I would've liked (which I ended up just skimming over). Scheele often also goes off on tangents, and chapters vary in strength in how well they tie to his main point.
But overall, a decent read.
Also, I had some differences with the author regards to how to handle life's setbacks. For example, contrary to the author, I probably wouldn't put "faith" in believing in better outcomes because that just sets one up for disappointment and, depending on how much hope there was, bitterness and anger, likely leading to deincentivization.
Given that the author is not entirely methodical and has a tendency to wing things as he goes, this may be why I differ from him a great deal in approaching life's uncertainties (e.g., I like efficiency, and will take the time, if possible, to assess, plan, and analyze. Many people are graciously willing to share their experiences, and there's so much that can be learned from them).
However, some advice was decent, e.g., I very much agree with him that fears need to be faced and dealt with one by one, rather than avoided.
I also found myself also fascinated by the different regrets people had about themselves, and liked his explanation about his own insecurities and impostor syndrome.
There was a lot more on building the cardboard Viking "ship" than I would've liked (which I ended up just skimming over). Scheele often also goes off on tangents, and chapters vary in strength in how well they tie to his main point.
But overall, a decent read.
November 10, 2025
I appreciate the concept of this book, but the execution is excruciating. It could have been about 220 pages shorter.
The author is a motivational speaker, and every chapter felt like a drawn out TedTalk that meandered around the point and used contrived anecdotes to illustrate simple ideas.
The author is full of himself and in love with his own (perceived) cleverness. He has a lot of bizarre interpretations of common phrases that purposefully misunderstand metaphors in order to make some forced, flimsy observation.
The main project of the book--building a massive Viking ship, filling it with postcards of people's written regrets, and lighting it on fire--is interesting, but it's being documented by an obnoxious egomaniac who can't shut up.
I wanted this book to live up to the meaning of the art project it details, and it doesn't. It doesn't deal with the symbolism of what's being done in a meaningful way. The author dissects basic platitudes for entire chapters, laboriously drawing them out with his unnecessary (and often poor) analogies.
I hated the experience of reading this. It wasn't worth getting to the end because the actual Viking funeral is covered in only a few paragraphs.
The author is a motivational speaker, and every chapter felt like a drawn out TedTalk that meandered around the point and used contrived anecdotes to illustrate simple ideas.
The author is full of himself and in love with his own (perceived) cleverness. He has a lot of bizarre interpretations of common phrases that purposefully misunderstand metaphors in order to make some forced, flimsy observation.
The main project of the book--building a massive Viking ship, filling it with postcards of people's written regrets, and lighting it on fire--is interesting, but it's being documented by an obnoxious egomaniac who can't shut up.
I wanted this book to live up to the meaning of the art project it details, and it doesn't. It doesn't deal with the symbolism of what's being done in a meaningful way. The author dissects basic platitudes for entire chapters, laboriously drawing them out with his unnecessary (and often poor) analogies.
I hated the experience of reading this. It wasn't worth getting to the end because the actual Viking funeral is covered in only a few paragraphs.
September 17, 2021
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is an interesting book.
It's a fun read! Scheele shares his experiences making a viking ship for his 30th birthday and then burning it. He also talks about other projects like building a dragon, working with cardboard, and other things he's taken on.
There's a lot of jumping around for my taste. It's not a linear memoir and there's things that are talked about and then elaborated on more later or referenced back to instead of all talked about together. The stories don't necessarily build on each other to tell a clear story. Also at the end of the day this is a book of Scheele talking about the cool things he does and the things his work makes him feel.
Overall the book is kind of inspiring, but also pretty high level. Despite the format and the inspirational tone, it's honestly just a fun read. I enjoyed hearing about Scheele's life and the things he does.
This is an interesting book.
It's a fun read! Scheele shares his experiences making a viking ship for his 30th birthday and then burning it. He also talks about other projects like building a dragon, working with cardboard, and other things he's taken on.
There's a lot of jumping around for my taste. It's not a linear memoir and there's things that are talked about and then elaborated on more later or referenced back to instead of all talked about together. The stories don't necessarily build on each other to tell a clear story. Also at the end of the day this is a book of Scheele talking about the cool things he does and the things his work makes him feel.
Overall the book is kind of inspiring, but also pretty high level. Despite the format and the inspirational tone, it's honestly just a fun read. I enjoyed hearing about Scheele's life and the things he does.
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