2005
Measuring the World
Daniel Kehlmann · b. 1975 · Germany / Austria
Originally Die Vermessung der Welt (German) · translated by Carol Brown Janeway
Why it matters
Reclusive mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss and restless explorer Alexander von Humboldt pursue the same Enlightenment ambition (measuring the world exactly) from opposite ends of a life. Kehlmann's international bestseller turns genius and eccentricity into deadpan historical comedy.
At a glance
historical fictioncomedy
Difficulty 4/10fast pace259 pagesBrisk, accessible prose despite alternating between two historical timelines.
Deep dive
One genius travels to the ends of the earth counting everything he sees; the other never leaves his desk and considers that cheating. Kehlmann sets the Enlightenment's two methods of knowing the world loose on each other.
Where to go next
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