“He did not believe in nothing,
said Humboldt tickly. He believed in the abundance and richness of nature”
I
simply fell in love with Measuring the
World! A book about science but written like a fairy tale. This historical
novel made me wreathed in smiles. Who would imagine that a book can give so
much joy?
Towards
the end of the eighteenth century, two scientists set out to measure the world.
Alexander von Humboldt was a naturalist and a geographer. He spent his life on
travelling and measuring everything on the planet. Every mountain, hill, cave, volcano,
even leaves on the trees were of the most importance for him. He would
sacrifice his own body for the sake of science. That is why he drank poison to
determine its toxicity. On the other
hand, Carl Friedrich Gauss was a mathematician and a physicist focusing on
number theory, geometry and magnetism. Working at home was his way of exploring
the world. He preferred to use his imagination over experiment to prove
theories.
The
approach to "the measuring the world" was not the only thing contrasted those two
geniuses of Enlightenment. Humboldt was an aristocrat, who received the best
education. Gauss was son of an illiterate parents and his village teacher was
not a highly intelligent man. Further, they could not be more different in
terms of relations with women. There was nothing more important than science
for Humboldt; women could not distract his attention from measuring another
piece of the Earth. In other words, he preferred romance with science rather
than romance with women. On the
contrary, Gauss could not imagine life without women; he had a lover and he married
twice. Nevertheless, science was the biggest love of his life. He postponed his
wedding night to write down the idea that just came to his mind.
So
what Humboldt and Gauss had in common besides love for science? Both of them
were extremely lonely. There was no one in their lives to share their passions
with. Simply, nobody was smart enough to become their companion. When Gauss
proposed to Johanna for the first time, he was refused. She said that it was
not personal, but “she doubt anyone could exist side by side with him”. In fact, home “meant nothing to him”. He was
deeply disappointed with his six children who were nothing like him. Another
thing connecting two scientists was terrifying vision that they would not go
any further; the limits were sources of their unhappiness. There is nothing
worse for scientists than the inability to do more research.
Measuring the World
is comic and ironic. When Gauss realized that barber pulled wrong tooth he
thought “he would have given his soul to live a hundred years when there would
be medications for pain and doctors who deserved the name”. When Humboldt was in intimate situation with a
woman he was asking himself “how she could fail to understand he was in hell”…the
only thing he was concerned with “was a tree he had never inspected until now”.
Since their lives were all about science they had to question the existence of
God: “God created you the way you were, but then you were supposed to spend
your life perpetually apologizing to Him. It wasn’t logical”.
I
am deeply impressed with Kehlmann’s writing skills. His humor steals your heart
and the only thing you can do is to smile. It is worth noting that he published
Measuring the World when he was only
32.
There
is something magical and sweet about this novel. Wouldn’t the world be better
place to live, if we could read more books like this?
