Absolutely stunning.--Times Literary Supplement The Discovery of Slowness] is about a guy who is so incredibly slow in his perception that he . . . actually sees shadows moving. T]he amazing thing that I remember from reading that book is, whenever I looked up from that book, I felt I had this view from the book in my real world. This book made my life more interesting.--Christoph Niemann (as described in the Netflix series Abstract: The Art of Design)This remarkable, superbly translated novel derives from the life of the real 19th century explorer John Franklin... whose] adventures are conveyed with spellbinding skill.--Publishers WeeklyThe Discovery of Slowness--a huge commercial and critical success across Europe, where it is considered the popular author's masterpiece--recounts the life of the nineteenth-century British explorer Sir John Franklin (1786-1847).Through the author's acute reading of history and his marvelous storytelling prowess, the reader follows John Franklin's development from awkward schoolboy and ridiculed teenager to expedition leader, governor of Tasmania, and icon of adventure. Slow and deliberate from boyhood, Franklin appeared destined to be a misfit. But he escaped from the ever-expanding world of industry and Empire to the sea's silent landscape, where the universe seemed more manageable. At age fourteen he joined the navy. After surviving the harrowing battles of Copenhagen and Trafalgar, he embarked on several voyages of discovery into the Canadian North, and served as governor of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). Everyone with whom he came into contact sensed that Franklin was a rare man, one who was "out of his time" and who moved to a different, grander beat. That beat eventually led Franklin to sail once more--on his final, fateful voyage--into the Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage.The Discovery of Slowness is a riveting account of a remarkable and varied life. And it is also a profound and thought-provoking meditation on time. The result is an unforgettable and deeply moving reading experience that justifies the novel's reputation as one of the classics of contemporary world literature.***Nadolny evinces remarkable empathy with his unlikely Odysseus and Ralph Freedman's translation captures the crystalline freshness of the author's imagery.--Washington Post Book WorldThe Discovery of Slowness is a masterpiece of characterization, a portrait of inwardness in the most outward-thrusting of lives.--The New Repu