At the end of the eighteenth century, two brilliant and eccentric young scientists set out to measure the world.

Recreates the parallel but contrasting lives of two geniuses of the German Enlightenment, the naturalist Alexander Von Humboldt and the mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss. The most successful German novel since Patrick Suskind's "Perfume", it's sold over 600,000 copies in Germany. There will be a major author tour and heavy promotion.

'Kehlmann is one of the brightest, most pleasure-giving writers at work today, and he manages all this while exploring matters of deep philosophical and intellectual import. He deserves to have more readers'