Imagine being famous. Being recognized on the street, adored by people who have never even met you, known the world over. Wouldn’t that be great? But what if, one day, you got stuck in a country where celebrity means nothing, where no one spoke your language and you didn’t speak theirs, where no one knew your face (no book jackets, no TV) and you had no way of calling home? How would your fame help you then? What if someone got hold of your cell phone? What if they spoke to your girlfriends, your agent, your director, and started making decisions for you? And worse, what if no one believed you were you anymore? When you saw a look-alike acting your roles for you, what would you do? And what if one day you realized your magnum opus, like everything else you’d ever written, was a total waste of time, empty nonsense? What would you do next? Would your audience of seven million people keep you going? Or would you lose the capacity to keep on doing it? Fame and facelessness, truth and deception, spin their way through all nine episodes of this captivating, wickedly funny, and perpetually surprising novel as paths cross and plots thicken, as characters become real people and real people morph into characters. The result is a dazzling tour de force by one of Europe’s finest young writers.
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"There is no way to review this without ruining it for the next reader. I will say that I enjoyed the ride. It is well worth the read. "
— Josette (5 out of 5 stars)
" Clever book with surprising ideas and really well concept for characters. I really enjoyed every single page. "
— Iva, 6/19/2011" One of the best books I have the pleasure to read. "
— Sergio, 5/30/2011" Very strange book. German novel translated to English - very confusing but nice writing style. "
— Nancy, 3/12/2011" All about identity, this little page turner is filled with overlapping narratives and literary devices. 'Think League of Gentleman' scripted by Italio Calvino... "
— Kris, 2/21/2011" The first story was pretty good, then they just got stranger, confusing, bleak and frustrating. "
— Bea, 1/8/2011" I'm sorry but this book bored me. I actually enjoyed the first story but after that it just didn't mesh well. The characters were a little flat or even a little too out there, and the conversations were not believable. I don't know, I didn't care for this. "
— Angie, 1/6/2011" I liked this book very much to begin with, and then it became quite confusing. I wish the 9 stories were more connected, or maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention. This is the 6th book I've read almost nonstop since Friday. "
— Jennifer, 12/26/2010Daniel Kehlmann’s Measuring the World was translated into more than forty languages. He has received numerous awards, including the Candide Prize, the Literature Prize of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Heimito von Doderer Literature Prize, the Kleist Prize, the WELT Literature Prize, and the Thomas Mann Prize. Kehlmann divides his time between Vienna and Berlin.
George Newbern is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and a television and film actor best known for his roles as Brian MacKenzie in Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride Part II, as well as Danny in Friends. As a voice actor, he is notable for his role as Superman on the Cartoon Newtork series Static Shock, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited. He has guest starred on many television series, including Scandal, The Mentalist, Private Practice, CSI: Miami, and Numb3rs. He holds a BA in theater arts from Northwestern University.