In 2019, Alexander von Humboldt was very present in the media, as his 250th birthday was celebrated. Television programs, newspapers, and new books euphorically reported on a man who had achieved superhuman things. There was talk of the "Shakespeare of science," the "German Indiana Jones," or even a "Prussian Columbus." This glorification and hero worship sometimes degenerated into a completely exaggerated cult of saints. But saints, as we know, are often fictitious creatures or hypocrites. Despite all the enthusiasm for the achievements of the great polymath, one should not forget that this is about a man of flesh and blood, a man who was certainly many things, but not an asexual neutral devoted solely to science. Among other things, this book deals with the following questions: Did he have an illegitimate son? Did he have a love triangle in South America? Or was he not sexually active during the five years of his journey?

Nicolas Montemolinos is a German-Ecuadorian author born in 1969 and winner of the 2013 Esmeralda Book Prize