Volker Mehnert was born in 1951 and spent many years living in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the US as a freelance travel writer and author. His travels early on led him to follow in Alexander von Humboldt's footsteps. He lives in Germany. Claudia Lieb studied communication design in Munster and at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. She lives in Munich, where she works as an illustrator and graphic artist in a studio community.
"[A] lively, detailed narrative . . . the beautiful, mixed-media illustrations aptly give the volume the feel of a scientist's sketchbook. . . . The overall effect is an attractive resource for studying early scientific inquiry and discovery.-- ""Booklist"" Claudia Lieb is unbelievable in condensing atmospheres. When she shows Humboldt in the tropical rainforest, he runs through the picture with his giant telescope on a tripod in his hand, and is surrounded by an overgrowing green . . . Beautifully done.--Susanne Billig, Deutschlandfunk Kultur Great illustrations. A work for the whole family.--Ute Wegmann, Deutschlandfunk, The Best 7 On the occasion of his 250th birthday, [Mehnert] offers an account of the life and exploits of the 19th century's most renowned celebrity scientist. . . . Hats off for a now-unconscionably little-known hero of science.-- ""Kirkus Reviews"" You will be drawn into this reading adventure from place to place, and you will inevitably consider yourself Humboldt's personal traveling companion, and like to start your own journey to new shores.-- ""Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung"" Praise from Germany ""So much more than the biography of a great man . . . it shows the diversity of the world, in all its facets, and how that needs to be protected.-- ""German Academy for Children's and Young Adult Literature"""