Measuring the World - Daniel Kehlman

In September 1828, the greatest mathematician in the country left his hometowm for the first time in years, to attend the German Scientific Congress in Berlin. Naturally he had no desire to go. He had been declining to accept for months, but Alexander van Humboldt had remained adament, until in a moment of weakness and the hope the day would never come, he had said yes.
So now Professor Gauss was hiding in bed. When Minna told him he must get up, the coach was waiting and it was a long journey, he wrapped his arms around the pillow abd tried to make his wife disappear by closing his eyes.

I liked the premise of this book--a historical novel about a famous mathematician and a naturalist both measuring the world in their own way. The book had its moments, but overall was disappointing. It may be that the translation from German to English did not well convey what made this a bestseller in Germany. It may be that Germans liked this book more because of the two famous Germans featured. For me, every time I started to getting interested, the book took a strange direction. There is little character development to get the reader interested and keep interest in the odd lives of the two scientists. I found myself wanting to read historical accounts of the scientists rather than this fictionalized tale.