Book Description
This volume contains 27 refereed research articles and survey papers written by experts in the field of stochastic analysis and related topics. Most contributors are well known leading mathematicians worldwide and prominent young scientists. The volume reflects a review of the recent developments in stochastic analysis and related topics. It puts in evidence the strong interconnection of stochastic analysis with other areas of mathematics, as well as with applications of mathematics in natural and social economic sciences. The volume also provides some possible future directions for the field. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Wonderful!
Kehlmann makes you part of the story.
Measuring the world takes you along the process of measuring our earth.
It's the funny vivid story of two of the most famous adventurers Gauss and Humboldt.
If you ever wanted to learn what drives a scientist - here it is!

Measuring the world: metrics in parallel
In September 1828, Professor Carl Friedrich Gauss sets out, reluctantly, to attend the German Scientific Congress in Berlin. Gauss, a mathematician and phyicist, will meet Alexander von Humboldt, naturalist and explorer.And so begins a delightful novel, full of humour and contrast.

At the end of the 18th century two brilliant young Germans attempt to measure the world. Alexander von Humboldt journeys to South America and undertakes all manner of physical adventures.By contrast, Carl Friedrich Gauss, does not need to leave his home town to learn that parallel lines meet and space is curved.

Those interested in the life, times and discoveries of these brilliant scientists will quench that thirst elsewhere.This novel is for those who enjoy reading fiction, imbued with subtle and sometimes sly humour, in which real people feature. Some of the irony is delicious: a scientist concerned with space who does not like travel.

Highly recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Exploration by introspection
Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann is a tongue in cheek biographic novel contrasting two heros of the romantic enlightenment, Carl Friedrich Gauss and Alexander von Humboldt. Gauss is a dispeptic and erratic genius lacking the will or capacity for social intercourse or sustained relationships (unable to overcome his intolerance of lesser minds). He stays at home in Braunschweig, makes great demands on all around him, is oblivious to wars and human turmoil, and travels the universe through mathematical theories of fundamental physical phenomena such as the nature of space. Humboldt is himself a force of nature - inperturbably energetic, with a restless itch to travel, discover, define, quantify and describe, not only the world around but also its emotional effects on the observer. Measurement trumps ignorance, fear and superstition. An experiment or expedition that fails is forgotten in an instant, superceded by plans for another. He is the complete diplomat, ready for any situation or society, always with one eye on the mirrors of posterity and the press. Yet perhaps they are not completely dissimilar; Humboldt's manipulations exert a similar toll on those close at hand. Their lives intersect with each other and with other great romantics, including Goethe, Schiller, Georg Forster and the other Humboldt (his brother, the linguist, diplomat and politician, who is near as well famed but regularly, to his annoyance, mistaken for the other). They are molded by political circumstances in Europe and the Americas: either anachronisms or revelations, in process or prospect of social revolution. As our heros age they weary, their sharp focus dulls, and their energy is dissipated in the bureaucracy of fame. They are forced into uncomfortable compromises, financially, politically and socially, and they lose the ability to dictate their circumstances on brilliance alone.

I particularly liked the fidelity to Humboldt's writings (I hope it is as well done for Gauss). Kehlman's images of anecdotes from "Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent" (just an excerpt from Humboldt's momentous volumes on the Americas) are so vibrant that you feel claustrophobia in the jungle and sense the incredulity of locals, with their own forms of explanation, to this mad Prussian baron who collects skeletons for science. There are tales of the echolocating oilbirds in the caves of the dead, an adopted dog which disappears in green wilderness along the Orinoco, Humboldt's mystical encounter with a jaguar, a bloody experiment in Cuba involving dogs and crocodilians, a random attack by a madman on Amé Bonpland - Humboldt's collaborator, or possibly his assistant depending on who is asked, and deprivations suffered on their semi-successful climb up Chimborazo (then believed the highest mountain on earth - they climbed higher than anyone before but didn't make the summit). If these events were not chronicled through Humboldt's romantic lens they would be relegated as novelists fantasies. It is also true that in his later years Humboldt became somewhat of an icon, stifled and overshadowed by his own devotees, including Darwin. Gauss similarly discovers ambition in its breach, through the publication by associates and correspondents of ideas he had years before but never bothered to write down. Much like Darwin, when confronted with Wallace's succinct description of evolution by natural selection, these breakthroughs are sent to Gauss for review - hisresponse gains him a reputation in Russia as a plagiarist.

As important as these episodes are those curious ellipses in Humboldt's writing (some perhaps from later editors, in response to his digressions). Kehlman portrays these as evasions, short-cuts and unexpected hiccups in an otherwise dogged and methodical commitment to the measurement of the world. Nor does the book shy away from some deeper ommissions - it discretely portrays Humboldt as a self-repressed homosexual (possibly paedophile - not the first such suggestion) probably a misogynist, definitely prudish and hysterical. Gauss, on the other hand, finds release from the slow witted through Nina (among others), a prostitute in a Göttingen brothel. Despite intellect and promises he never does learn Russian. In any case, both Gauss and Humboldt emerge as human, fallible and worthy of respect.

Like good histories this novel chimes with current and timeless resonance. The subtext considers the nature of exploration and discovery, human relationships, the individual versus public image, and a nexus between science and society. Playful introspection into what it means to be German - methodical? dedicated? expansive? ruthlessly ambitious? humourless? - is written in exactly contrasting terms. Gauss even decries the novel's genre. The characters' perspectives on the future and present contrast with their personalities but both feel that their life's work is misunderstood. Humboldt's disbelief at the self-destructive bloodcraze that preceeded the collapse of the world's most technologically advanced society, the Aztecs, probably refers not only to Nazi Germany but to the USA today (a more pointed insinuation is given as a rebuke to Humboldt, when in the US, for his impolitic disgust at slavery; Jefferson, the leader of this liberal, brave new world, has plantations). Humboldt moans that he never discovered anything, he sought only to visit, measure and describe - meanwhile governments and notables laud him for things (Russian diamonds) that he never found. Gauss is miserably optimistic about the future; trivial tasks of today will be performed by machines tomorrow, small discomforts, medical ailments, and impediments to communication will be similarly solved, perhaps everyone will understand calculus. Maybe it is true...unfortunately, he must live in a present (~200 years ago), in which his formulae can not be accurately applied, much less understood, and he must cope with an annoying wife, an unattractive daughter and a son who, seemingly, thinks too slow!

The world according to two unhinged scientists
A bizarre tale of two social misfit historical figures: Gauss, who writes an earth-shattering mathematical treatise before he's 20, and Humboldt, a brilliant, multi-talented, intrepid scientist and explorer. This book won't bore the ordinary mind with elusive math proofs or theories (although G and H sure DID. Gauss wonders from early childhood why other people think so slowly and has no patience for his only above-average son). Never a dull moment, the story features parrots speaking sarcastically in an extinct South American language; experiments with curare (for poison arrows); hallucinations of future cities with skyscrapers and bullet trains; flying saucers buzzing Humboldt's boat in the far reaches of the Orinoco; a forgotten Spanish soldier sending a message with the explorers to request a transfer after 12 years "ruling" a village in the remote jungle surrounded by two-headed murderous "Cat" people; a lone German in the jungle not interested in returning to Germany (too many Germans there); hair-raising climbs up mountains and over ice bridges; clouds of mosquitos and swarms of crocodiles and electric eels.....

An engaging book for "armchair" adventurers and those who just like quirky humor.

Lack of action!
First of all let me say that the book is very well written, although its takes a bit of time to get the story right. Before I read the book, I had heard that it should be better than "the da vinci code" by Dan Brown but I truly disagree. The story is well plotted but lacks true action and excitement. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Robert Wilson, whose award-winning A Small Death in Lisbon brokehim out as an international thriller writer in the Ambler, le Carré, and Fursttradition, scores with this exceptionally well-plotted novel of wartime intriguein England and Portugal. Andrea Aspinall, a brilliant young Britishmathematician, is recruited by the British Secret Service and put through a rushcourse in spycraft before being sent to Lisbon, where she quickly falls in lovewith a disenchanted German agent and, in less than two weeks, manages to loseher virginity, unmask a conspiracy, and interrupt Germany's plan to build thefirst atomic bomb. The action covers a long time span--from the early years ofWord War II to the era of glasnost, when Andrea, now an Oxford mathematicianlong retired from spying, encounters the man she once loved and lost. Karl Vosshas become an East German double agent who's bent on revealing the Russian molein England's service. The narrative wanders a bit, but the strong, spare writingand deft characterization set this apart as one of the year's betterinternational espionage novels, one that should introduce Wilson to a biggeraudience. --Jane AdamsBook Description

Customer Reviews (38)

Very Good, Not Great
I picked this up hoping it would be a good spy novel, and it was.Wilson spends plenty of time developing his characters, and you can feel connected to them throughout the tale.

The story starts during The Blitz in London and is broken into three parts, each taking place roughly 25 years apart, although nearly all the action takes place in the first two parts.

The plot is rather intricate, and if you'll have to pay attention if you want to have any idea who's on what side by the end, but it's basically a real-world, as opposed to super-hero, spy story.

Wilson's writing style sometimes bogs down, particularly when describing places and their names as characters move about.If I was from Lisbon I probably would have enjoyed the turn-by-turn directions from street to street, but since I'm not it became somewhat tedious.Also, characters occasionally speak languages other than English without translation.

All in, a good story with plausible characters that keeps you entertained.

Confused
I love a good spy novel, so I ploughed my way through this even though I sometimes found it not credible.I loved the first part set in 1944 Lisbon with all of its Casablanca-like atmosphere and intrigue.Supposedly the heroine had led a sheltered life; yet she is sent off at age 18 to engage in a most dangerous game, and she actually comes across as quite worldly.I found the whole idea of inter-generational spying not very believable.At the end I found my self paging back through the book to see if I had overlooked a key character in the plot.I don't think I would go out of my way to read another by Robert Wilson.

The Company of Strangers
I think this book is better than the last few LaCarre books.And that's a pretty high standard.

In the Company of .... Well-Developed Characters
Excellent wartime and post-war thriller by Robert Wilson.His writing is a dimension above most spy-book scribes, his characters are vivid and well-developed and he doesn't rely on serendipitous, contrived plot wild cards that other writers seem to favor.For those of us who like to follow the action with a map of the city or countryside, wilson obligingly provides street names and landmarks.This book covers a lot of ground, from wartime Lisbon to post-Soviet Berlin and London.At times, it's a little hard to tell what's going on -- sometimes the spy versus counterspy versus double agent, etc. -- gets a little confusing.But by the tender ending (and like other reviewers here note:you can see it coming a mile away) you know that you have read and thoroughly enjoyed a supberb spy thriller.

When Your Spy is a Mathematician, Everything Adds Up in the End
Anne Aspinall is the daughter of an SIS (think MI 6) secretary who during WW2 is recruited to go to Lisbon to spy on the Germans.She's working for a Shell Oil manager, but her real job is to translate German technical manuals looking for info about their nuclear program.A situation occurs and she is forced into operations involving spies (German, English, Russian, American and independent operators) double agents, Portuguese fascist police (the PVDE under Dr.Salazar).She falls in love, things blow up and she and her lover both try to get out of Lisbon in one piece.She doesn't and ends up married to a Portuguese military man for 24 years. After her husband and son are killed in the Colonial Wars, she goes back home to England.

In England she comes to terms with her mother and ends up working for "the Company" again and finds herself involved with many of the same people she worked with in Lisbon many years before.Once again she is being used by someone but she's never sure who is using who and whose agenda is at the top of the list, or even who's making the decisions.All this comes to a head when she's sent back into East Berlin to look for an agent known only as "the Snow Leopard". He turns out to be her ex-lover who is now an agent (a double agent) of the East German Stasi.With her help he is able to deflect suspicion from himself and onto a dangerous rival.

The third part of the story is a little too pat and the ending isn't anything you don't see coming down the road, but it's a 'good show' all the way and well worth your time.

... Read more