Towards the end of the 18th century, two brilliant young Germans set out to measure the world. The naturalist Alexander von Humboldt negotiates savannah and jungle, counts lice on the heads of the natives and explores every hole in the ground. The mathematician Carol Friedrich Gauss, does not even need to leave his home in Goettingen to know that space is curved.

A novel of rare charm and readability, Measuring the World brings the two eccentric geniuses to life, their longings and their weaknesses, their balancing act between loneliness and love, absurdity and greatness, failure and success.