Geographers study everything and, some would say, nothing. They take their lead from Alexander von Humboldt's Kosmos: Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung (1845-62, in five vols.), a holistic digest of the scientific study of terrestrial phenomena. Where does this vision place the geographer in the twenty-first century? Having made the decision to become an academic geographer at the tender age of 13, Olav Slaymaker describes the meandering, braided and anastomosing path that has opened up the potential richness of a life in academia.