List Books Concering Measuring the World
| Original Title: | Die Vermessung der Welt |
| ISBN: | 0375424466 (ISBN13: 9780375424465) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Alexander von Humboldt, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Eugen Gauss, Aimé Bonpland |
| Literary Awards: | Exclusive Books Boeke Prize Nominee (2007), Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Nominee for Shortlist (2008), PEN Translation Prize Nominee for Carol Brown Janeway (2007), Deutscher Buchpreis (German Book Prize) Nominee for Shortlist (2005) |
Daniel Kehlmann
Hardcover | Pages: 259 pages Rating: 3.73 | 12418 Users | 940 Reviews
Narrative During Books Measuring the World
The young Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann conjures a brilliant and gently comic novel from the lives of two geniuses of the Enlightenment. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, two young Germans set out to measure the world. One of them, the Prussian aristocrat Alexander von Humboldt, negotiates savanna and jungle, travels down the Orinoco, tastes poisons, climbs the highest mountain known to man, counts head lice, and explores every hole in the ground. The other, the barely socialized mathematician and astronomer Carl Friedrich Gauss, does not even need to leave his home in Göttingen to prove that space is curved. He can run prime numbers in his head. He cannot imagine a life without women, yet he jumps out of bed on his wedding night to jot down a mathematical formula. Von Humboldt is known to history as the Second Columbus. Gauss is recognized as the greatest mathematical brain since Newton. Terrifyingly famous and more than eccentric in their old age, the two meet in Berlin in 1828. Gauss has hardly climbed out of his carriage before both men are embroiled in the political turmoil sweeping through Germany after Napoleon’s fall. Already a huge best seller in Germany, Measuring the World marks the debut of a glorious new talent on the international scene.
Declare Regarding Books Measuring the World
| Title | : | Measuring the World |
| Author | : | Daniel Kehlmann |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 259 pages |
| Published | : | November 7th 2006 by Pantheon (first published 2005) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. European Literature. German Literature |
Rating Regarding Books Measuring the World
Ratings: 3.73 From 12418 Users | 940 ReviewsArticle Regarding Books Measuring the World
I don't read a lot of fiction, but this is fictionalised - and appears to contain a lot of fact related to the travel and the science (and mathematics) of the two central characters - Alexander von Humboldt & Carl Friedrich Gauss. Both German, and contemporary, it is not clear to me if they ever met or were colleagues / friends, as they are in this book.Both fascinating men, but very different in their approach to their fields. Humboldt embodies inductive science - based on observation andWhenever things were frightening, it was a good thing to measure them.Two science supernovas, the Prussian aristocrat Alexander von Humboldt and the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss both try to understand the world in their own way. Humboldt with a hands-on approach, as he climbs volcanos, sails rivers and fights himself through jungles. Gauss, on the other hand, is quite the opposite, hates to travel, stays at home, and works solely with his mind. Apart from the famous Gauss curve, he managed
Fictional account of the lives and meeting (towards the end of their lives at a scientific congress that Humboldt holds) of two great German scientists the naturalist and geographer Alexander von Humboldt (whose brother was also a great politician and linguist) who explored and opened up and the mathematician and physicist Gauss. The translated English is written in a simple and slightly stilting style but is easy to read and the range of ideas and concepts covered is what makes the book.As
The Gene(ius) Pool In the early 19th century Germany ruled the intellectual world. Or more accurately, given that Germany didnt yet exist, German was the globally dominant language of science, philosophy, and most other cultural pursuits. Measuring the World is a light-hearted docudrama of the intersecting life of two of the most important intellectual leaders of the period: The explorer and naturalist (and Prussian) Alexander von Humboldt, and the mathematical prodigy Carl Friedrich Gauss
Whenever things were frightening, it was a good idea to measure them. This is a delightful historical picaresque about two late-eighteenth-century German scientists: Alexander von Humboldt, who valiantly explored South America and the Russian steppes, and Carl Friedrich Gauss, a misanthropic mathematician whose true genius wasnt fully realized in his surveying and astronomical work. Both difficult in their own way, the men represent different models for how to do science: an adventurous one who
A huge success in Germany. For the life of me I can't figure out why. Which were more boring - the parts about Gauss, or the parts about Humboldt? Trick question - they were equally soporific. What in hell was the point of this book? if I hadn't been confined to an aeroplane, I'd never have finished it. 5 Yawns on the snoozometer.
So 200 years ago the world was a pretty big place. Not any bigger than it is now but it had the feel of a larger ball of rock as many humans were still scrambling about "discovering" places. Note - most of these places had already been discovered by the people who lived in them. They just didn't shout about it in quite the same way. It is also interesting to note that the people doing the scrambling about were, for the most part, European. Is this because all Europe-ers are massive nosy
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