NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the visionary German naturalist whose ideas changed the way we see the natural world--and in the process created modern environmentalism. - From the acclaimed author of Magnificent Rebels.
"Vivid and exciting.... Wulf's pulsating account brings this dazzling figure back into a dazzling, much-deserved focus." --The Boston Globe
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was the most famous scientist of his age, a visionary German naturalist and polymath whose discoveries forever changed the way we understand the natural world. Among his most revolutionary ideas was a radical conception of nature as a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for the use of humankind alone. In North America, Humboldt's name still graces towns, counties, parks, bays, lakes, mountains, and a river. And yet the man has been all but forgotten.
In this illuminating biography, Andrea Wulf brings Humboldt's extraordinary life back into focus: his prediction of human-induced climate change; his daring expeditions to the highest peaks of South America and to the anthrax-infected steppes of Siberia; his relationships with iconic figures, including Simón Bolívar and Thomas Jefferson; and the lasting influence of his writings on Darwin, Wordsworth, Goethe, Muir, Thoreau, and many others. Brilliantly researched and stunningly written, The Invention of Nature reveals the myriad ways in which Humboldt's ideas form the foundation of modern environmentalism--and reminds us why they are as prescient and vital as ever.
[Makes an] urgent argument for Humboldt's relevance. The Humboldt in these pages is bracingly contemporary; he acts and speaks in the way that a polyglot intellectual from the year 2015 might, were he transported two centuries into the past and set out to enlighten the world's benighted scientists and political rulers. . . . At times The Invention of Nature reads like pulp explorer fiction, a genre at least partially inspired by Humboldt's own travelogues. . . . It is impossible to read The Invention of Nature without contracting Humboldt fever. Wulf makes Humboldtians of us all."
-- New York Review of Books
"Alexander von Humboldt may have been the preeminent scientist of his era, second in fame only to Napoleon, but outside his native Germany his reputation has faded. Wulf does much to revive our appreciation of this ecological visionary through her lively, impressively researched account of his travels and exploits, reminding us of the lasting influence of his primary insight: that the Earth is a single, interconnected organism, one that can be catastrophically damaged by our own destructive actions."
--The New York Times Book Review, Top 10 Books of the Year
"Engrossing. . . . Wulf magnificently recreates Humboldt's dazzling, complex personality and the scope of his writing. . . . Her book fulfills her aim to restore Humboldt to his place 'in the pantheon of nature and science, ' revealing his approach as a key source for our modern understanding of the natural world."
-- The Wall Street Journal
"A magnificent work of resurrection, beautifully researched, elegantly written, a thrilling intellectual odyssey."
-- The Sunday Times (London)
"The most complete portrait of one of the world's most complete naturalists."
-- The Spectator (UK)
"From Russia to the jungles of South America to the Himalayas, an intrepid explorer's travels make for exhilarating reading. . . . Wulf imbues Humboldt's adventures . . . with something of the spirit of Tintin, relishing the jungles, mountains and dangerous animals at every turn. . . . A superior celebration of an adorable figure."
-- The Guardian (London), Best Books of the Year
"Part biography, part vicarious travelogue, part history-of-ideas. . . . Argues, lyrically and compellingly, that the man who gave us 'the concept of nature as we know it' deserves not merely to be remembered, but to be celebrated once again."
--The Atlantic
"A superb biography. Andrea Wulf makes an inspired case for Alexander von Humboldt to be considered the greatest scientist of the 19th century. . . . Wulf is especially good, [on the ways that] his ideas enjoyed an afterlife. . . . Ecologists today, Ms. Wulf argues, are Humboldtians at heart. With the immense challenge of grasping the global consequences of climate change, Humboldt's interdisciplinary approach is more relevant than ever."
-- The Economist, Best Books of the Year
"Marvelous. . . . On one level, [ The Invention of Nature] is a rollicking adventure story. . . . Yet it is also a fascinating history of ideas."
-- Financial Times
"This book sets out to restore Humboldt to his rightful place in the pantheon of natural scientists. In the process, Wulf does a great deal more. This meticulously researched work--part biography, part cabinet of curiosities--takes us on an exhilarating armchair voyage through some of the world's least hospitable regions, from the steaming Amazon basin to the ice-fringed peaks of Kazakhstan."
-- Mail on Sunday (London)
"Arresting. . . . readable, thoughtful, and widely researched, and informed by German sources richer than the English canon."
-- The New York Times Book Review, "Editor's Choice"
"In its mission to rescue Humboldt's reputation from the crevasse he and many other German writers and scientists fell into after the Second World War, it succeeds."
-- The Independent (London)
ANDREA WULF was born in India and moved to Germany as a child. She lives in London, where she trained as a design historian at the Royal College of Art. She is the author of Chasing Venus, Founding Gardeners, and The Brother Gardeners, which was long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize and awarded the American Horticultural Society Book Award. She has written for The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. She appears regularly on radio and TV, and in 2014 copresented British Gardens in Time, a four-part series on BBC television.
Vintage
Pub Date: October 04, 2016
1.3" H x 8.2" L x 5.4" W
576 pages
paperback