Sven Persson (1861-1928), a self-assured goat farmer known as “Bagga-Sven” or “Baggen” (“The Ram”), left behind a legacy that defies convention. In 1906, he inscribed a tribute to himself on a naturally flat upright stone near his cottage in the forest outside Ballingslöv in southern Sweden. The immodest inscription reads: “Memory of Laborer Sven Persson, The Wisest in the Christian Religion and the Greatest Astronomer in the World.” Alongside his role as a shepherd, Sven also wrote three self-published books, notably The Right Textbook on How Humans and Children Shall Live on…
