Maren Meinhardt

Alexander von Humboldt was the most admired scientist of his day. But the achievements for which he was most celebrated in his lifetime always fell short of perfection. When he climbed the Chimborazo, then believed to be the highest mountain in the world, he did not quite reach the top; he established the existence of the Casiquiare canal, between the great water systems of the Orinoco and the Amazon, but this had been well known to local people; and his magisterial work, Cosmos, was left unfinished. This was no coincidence. Humboldt's pursuit of an all-encompassing, immersive approach to science was a way of finding limits: of nature and of the scientist's own self. A Longing for Wide and Unknown Things portrays a scientific life lived in the era of German Romanticism - a time of radical change, where the focus on the individual placed a new value on feeling, and the pursuit of personal desires. As Humboldt himself admitted, he 'would have sailed to the remotest South Seas, even if it hadn't fulfilled any scientific purpose whatever'.

The Life of Alexander von Humboldt

A Longing for Wide and Unknown Things

Michael Mitchell

Ray Keenoy

The Babel Guide is a new way in to the excitement of world fiction with lively original reviews and excerpts of the best books by the writers of Austria, Germany and Switzerland. It includes full listings of all translations published since 1950. A unique introduction to the wealth of fiction in translation. Babel Guides is a new series on contemporary world fiction in English. The Reviews introduce the best, most representative books, with a quotation as a taster. The Database gives useful details on fiction.

Maren Meinhardt

Books

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