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Liked It “Two mathematician/scientists from 18th century Germany learn how to measure the world in very different ways.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Measuring the World follows the lives of Carl Friedrich Gauss and Alexander von Humboldt, two geniuses of Germany in the 1800s. Gauss was a mathematician who rarely left home, but by the age of 20 had grasped a number theory that would be his greatest work. Humboldt was an explorer who had...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Two mathematician/scientists from 18th century Germany learn how to measure the world in very different ways.”
Jane H wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Measuring the World follows the lives of Carl Friedrich Gauss and Alexander von Humboldt, two geniuses of Germany in the 1800s. Gauss was a mathematician who rarely left home, but by the age of 20 had grasped a number theory that would be his greatest work. Humboldt was an explorer who had been everywhere around the globe, and when Humboldt and Gauss meet their “measures” of the world are thrown into contrast.
Peach wrote this review Tuesday, October 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Before reading this book I had learned about Gauss but not about Humboldt, although in their time they may have been approximately as famous. And perhaps for that reason, I loved the sections about Gauss, but the sections about Humboldt bored me.
Their biographies are loosely centered on their lives. I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, but I felt almost as if it were not fictionalized enough. I wanted to know more about Gauss’ relationships with the women in his life, and what they thought of him. I wondered about Humboldt’s interior life, since his sections were adventures based on his journals. While fictionalized, this book stopped short of imaging their lives entire.”
“Riveting. Funny. Thought-provoking. Instructive. Gripping. Word-perfect. Clever without being condescending. And who knew all this stuff? Absolutely flawless. And beautifully translated. I loved this! Grade: A+”
Anne S wrote this review Sunday, October 4 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“it got stolen from me before I could finish it. gah, the last 80 pages :(”
LizzieBlack wrote this review Wednesday, September 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A beauty. A Diploma class text for 2009-11 that raises a whole raft of questions about the ways we perceive the planet. A must.”
Andrew Macoustra wrote this review Monday, September 7 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Perhaps as a reader of mostly fiction / cultural and artsy books, I found this a starkly different read. It's direct, simply written and not too technical. Perhaps if I were a student of Mathematics / Science I would've connected with it better. All in all, a nice book to get to know the personal lives of two eminent men who helped measure the world as we know it today.”
Arpita Dey wrote this review Saturday, June 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Very much to my surprise I found the German version in Melbourne uni's library, and I think I finished within a few days. Good read, nice interweaving of "facts" with personal stuff.”
bernd p wrote this review Monday, May 25 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I have no idea what it is with all these German books that I've been reading lately - might have something to do with the fact that German books make for better Gym-books. Its just turns out its easier to read my native language when I am moving a lot ;). Ok, duh, admittedly but that's how it turned out. Plus, I have been a bit low on German lit - still am but I thought I should be a little more diverse.
Laila wrote this review Sunday, May 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
But back to the book, its definitely the new German-export-success in literature, having been translated into tons of languages and having sold well around the globe. I get why that is - its is interesting, quite unique in a way, good dialogues, good stories to tell and generally enjoyable. Now just for me it wasn't something to really get excited about but a good read.
It is the story of two men very important to German and scientific history: Carl Gauß and Alexander von Humboldt. Both intriguing characters with minds way ahead of their time. Its cool to read about them and the atmosphere the book creates is really - it seems very authentic and it takes you there in certain places of the book. The of course I am never completely sure about these kind of fictional biographies - the author takes these characters, plucks them out of their time and spins a tale around them full of things we couldn't possibly know. Like that Humboldt had a thing for little boys and hated him so much for it that he never actually consumated his desires but once beat a boy into a pulp in the middle of nowhere on an expedition in south-america.
That does bring me to a different point - however well the story it is told and however well the dialogues are written - I am just sick of books filled with characters that really are hard to emphasize with. These two mean are both mean and arrogant (probably rightfully so) and impatient and one as sexually repressed as the other is very very strange with women and his children.
And I don't mean every character has to be nice - not at all, but I must end up finding them interesting and fascinating and wanting them to suceed and to go ahead. And these two - not so much unfortunately.
In the end I think its a good effort, its really well written, might be a technical masterpiece - but for me it simply doesn't sparkle. It doesn't have life in it, it's cold to me. And I know that is highly subjective - there were books full of fire and sparkle for me that were painfully boring for others - but this simply hasn't hit home for me. Intellectually I want to like it but I just didn't like it emotionally.”
“very nice read, but i found it lacking something and the ending was a bit poor.”
Sonia V wrote this review Sunday, February 10 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Measuring the World is a really wonderful book. Totally unexpected for me - it arrived when my best friend who lives in Kobenhavn sent it to me as a gift. Apparently it has been a bestseller in Europe for some time. (The author is German. The translation is so good that I can't imagine it not being written in English.)
Rich D wrote this review Tuesday, January 8 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I know quite a bit about Gauss' mathematics, and almost nothing about his life. About Humboldt I knew even less - other than I have come across references to his travels in other books (e.g. McCullough's Passage Between the Seas).
Even though Measuring the World is fiction (and wonderfully written - very offbeat, charming, odd, and witty all at the same time), I can't help but feel that I learned much more about Gauss and Humboldt than by reading "official" biographies.
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