Measuring the World: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Daniel Kehlmann (Author), Rider Strong (Narrator), Phoenix Books (Publisher)

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 18th century, two young Germans set out to measure the world. One of them, the Prussian aristocrat Alexander von Humboldt, negotiates savannas and jungle, travels down the Orinoco River, 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 had hardly climbed out of his carriage before both men were 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.

Kindle Edition
₹ 332.50

Audiobook
₹ 0.00
with membership trial

Hardcover
from ₹ 1,999.00

Paperback
₹ 350.00

A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook, free
1 credit/month after trial – good for any audiobook, any price
Free exchanges — any audiobook, anytime
Keep your audiobooks, even if you cancel
After your trial, Audible is just ₹ 199.00/month

By completing your purchase you agree to Audible’s Conditions Of Use Amazon's Privacy Notice and if applicable Audible's Recurring Payment Terms.

Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

Related to this topic

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

Product details

Listening Length	7 hours and 10 minutes
Author	Daniel Kehlmann
Narrator	Rider Strong
Audible.in Release Date	30 October 2006
Publisher	Phoenix Books
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B079R45QJN
Best Sellers Rank	#24,896 in Audible Audiobooks & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Audiobooks & Originals) #82 in Political Fiction #272 in Humorous Fiction #764 in Action & Adventure Fiction

Customer reviews

5 star		46%
4 star		25%
3 star		19%
2 star		5%
1 star		5%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Write a product review

Top reviews from India

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya

Don't buy it for the science

Reviewed in India on 19 December 2020

Verified Purchase

I don't know much about Humboldt, but I know about Gauss and very little of his mathematics or science comes through in this novel. For all that shows up in the final product, this book shows no more research than a reading of Wikipedia. The same for European history. Facts and events are namechecked, but no deep picture of that era comes through. Purely as a work of fiction too this is quite mediocre. No plot, no character development. The Humboldt and Gauss tracks are independent for most of the book and in the end are brought together in an altogether formal way. My opinion: skip this.

Helpful

ఏమి?

Historical Fiction meets Tom Sharpe.

Reviewed in India on 30 July 2016

Verified Purchase

A darkly funny, surreal, jounrey into the world of science blended with a tastefully accurate historical fiction. This book was recommended by a friend, and it did not disappoint.

It is a book that can be read multiple times. The references to people, places, and inventions is brilliantly done, and it opens the hitherto closed doors into the scientific past of Germany in particular and Europe in general.

Definitely worth a read.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Santanu Sasidharan

An enjoyable merry go round around the world with a science topping.

Reviewed in India on 19 May 2020

Measuring the World, by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Carol Brown Janeway is a classic read. The story revolves around Alexander Humboldt and Gauss, two scientists and their travel to unravel mysteries of nature. Humboldt conquers the land and sea by meticulous specimen collections and drafting the observations while Gauss, as an astronomer and the Price of Mathematics, conquers land and sky. The hardships they face during their discoveries, the joy of finding something new and the aftermaths of glory and fame are beautifully narrated. A thoroughly enjoying fictional read that flows like a river. The translation is worth mentioning cause while reading, I never felt it was a translated piece. A clean sixer out of the stadium

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Bobbie

Start with chapter 2 and read it aloud - it will hook you.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 February 2017

Verified Purchase

The life stories of two late-18th-century, eccentric-genius scientists dramatised as a novel: Alexander von Humboldt, explorer, and Carl Friedrich Gauss, astronomer and mathematician.
At first I didn’t take to it. Though plainly witty and interesting, it was flowing past me, just one thing after another. But then I tried reading it aloud and became much more involved with the characters and entertained by the wry, throwaway humour. So all in all, great fun and fascinating, lots to enjoy, and with something to say about the human condition.
Three minor quibbles. The lack of speech quotation marks. The ‘he’s and ‘him’s I had to pause to attribute. And the first chapter, which would have worked much better coming in its chronological order in the narrative. My advice is start with chapter 2 and read chapter 1 after the one called ‘The Capital’.

3 people found this helpful

Didier

Delightful book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 May 2009

Verified Purchase

What is there still left to measure in the world today? Precious little, one might argue, except for things of infinitisemal size. How different the world must have seemed in the early 18th century, when the principles of Enlightenment were at their peak, and large parts of the map of the world were still black. European scientist had an almost unbound belief in the possibilities of scientific research, and there was plenty to research!

'Measuring the world' captures this era in a beautiful manner, by contrasting two of its giants: the explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769 - 1859) and the mathematician Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855). In many ways, two people couldn't be further apart: Gauss was a child prodigy of humble birth (his father wanted him to become a mason as he himself was), Humboldt the younger of two sons in a prominent Pomeranian family (his father was a major in the Prussian army). Gauss was by all accounts a difficult man to live with: a perfectionist, having difficulties establishing relations with other people (including his own children), impatient and restless. By contrast, Humboldt was ever sociable and friendly, the epitome of the gentleman-explorer, used to moving in the highest circles. Humboldt traversed the globe, Gauss explored the world (the universe rather) sitting behind his desk...

And yet, in a bizarre way, as Kehlmann demonstrates in this splendid book, both men (or rather: his fictionalized versions of them) are as different sides of the same coin, and are ultimately 'mere men', as we all are. Ambitious and confident as they may be when young and in the prime of their lives, and there hardly seemed to be limits to what they could do and achieve, as they grow older (and more and more lonely) they are confronted with the same ruminations, doubts and regrets we probably all are: did I make a difference? Have I done right by my children? Should I have been more caring towards my wife?

You've probably guessed by now that I enjoyed this book a lot. It's insightful, full of (dry) humour and irony, and utterly charming. Splendid!

14 people found this helpful

manosque

A fascinating story of two extraordinary men.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 November 2012

Verified Purchase

I find that with many books in which their are separate plot lines running in parallel I tend to find one more interesting than the other so that I am disappointed when at chapter end the author switches back to the less engaging one and I am left impatient to get back to the first. For the majority of this novel that is the structure but the excellence of Mr.Kehlmann's work is such that I became totally involved in both character's stories and there was a pang of regret whenever he chose to switch themes. When the principals are intereacting there is an edgy, almost surreal, 'odd couple' relationship between them which is equally fascinating. Added to all this is a fair smattering of layman's level mathematics and natural history to keep you thinking and it all adds up to a totally absorbing portrait of two scientists during the Enlightenment.Highly recommended.

7 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Excellent historical recreation

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 April 2012

Verified Purchase

This is a book about "parallel lives": a man who never went very far from home and a man who travelled far and wide. Both made astonishing discoveries, that helped shape our world and views.

This book also deals with those very exciting times wheh a man of means could travel the world and discover for the Europeans those corners of Earth that were still hidden. That was Humboldt's case. Appart from that, he was gifted with an iron determination and faith in himself.

On the other hand, stands a Genious, Gauss, prince of Matemathicians, who turned Maths upside down when hardly twenty, and went on working on other projects: probability, magnetism, languaje, etc.

The author makes their scientific enterprises the landscape for their developement as persons, a setting in which we can understand them better as men, with their whims, wishes, prejudices, miseries, intuition, inspiration, genius
...
Their society was very different from ours: stamental, rigid, surveiled... many things we take for granted, like freedom of speech, independent pursuits, free research were not casual, were sometimes only tolerated.

This book is a good primer to historical novels, and a good kit-kat for those scientists and interested in science.
Good buy.

One person found this helpful

Heather Tee

Plodding

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 March 2013

Verified Purchase

An excellent idea to compare the lives of Humboldt and Gauss but, in this case, despite a reasonable translation from the German, it just doesn't come off. Both characters emerge as unsympathetic, chronology of the factual events is distorted for no apparent reason, the style is plodding and there are factual errors ; for example the Humboldt current is described as flowing from north to south, when it flows in the opposite direction. I've read worse books but I definitely would not recommend it, either as a story or as background 'information'.

7 people found this helpful

See all reviews

AbeBooks Books, art & collectibles	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services	Audible Download Audio Books	DPReview Digital Photography	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities

Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Business Everything For Your Business	Prime Now 2-Hour Delivery on Everyday Items	Amazon Prime Music 70 million songs, ad-free

Measuring the World: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Free with Audible Trial ₹ 0.00

Buy now ₹ 702.00

Related to this topic

Product details

Customer reviews

Review this product

Top reviews from India

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Free with Audible Trial

₹ 0.00

Buy now

₹ 702.00