Reviews

Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann

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hannah_reads_books's review against another edition

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adventurous informative fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

paola_mobileread's review against another edition

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3.0

This book chronicles the lives of explorer and polymath Alexander von Humboldt and of Carl Friedrich Gauss, the "Prince of Mathematicians", from childhood to their mature years, during which they struck a friendship.

Kehlmann really does bring personalities to life, so much so that I found myself often wondering "how does he know this?" (and incidentally this is a dimension in which an audiobook loses out on the written word, as I had no way of knowing if there were references and footnotes) - I am certainly going to listen to [a:Hilary Mantel|58851|Hilary Mantel|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1334862633p2/58851.jpg]'s Reith's Lectures on writing historical fiction with some eagerness, as it is really difficult in this book to figure out the border between invention and fact.

The narration is really intent on making the reader "get" the two men, and while we do get a three dimensional depiction of the two, at times feeling a tad too caricatural, Kehlmann does not try very hard to convey the extent of especially Gauss' contribution to knowledge - we are told his were fundamental discoveries, but there is no real insight into what these are, and why they are important, which perhaps the author could have attempted. On the other hand, the background in terms of society and mores is also described quite vividly - but again, how does he know? As maths professor Frans Oort wrote in his review of this book published in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society,

Some people tell me that they are glad to have read a book that gives them this much information about Gauss, about whom they knew little before. This is the main problem. Readers take it for granted that the novel is well-researched, so that historical facts are correct, and that psychological portraits are reasonably accurate. Not so in this novel, and I must strongly advise first to check reliable sources before using factual information mentioned in this novel.

so there you have it!