The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New WorldNATIONAL 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. |
Contents
Beginnings | 13 |
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | 25 |
South America | 51 |
The Llanos and the Orinoco | 61 |
Across the Andes | 75 |
Thomas Jefferson and Humboldt | 94 |
Europe iii | 111 |
io Berlin | 124 |
Russia | 201 |
Charles Darwin and Humboldt | 217 |
Humboldts Cosmos | 235 |
Henry David Thoreau | 249 |
The Greatest Man Since the Deluge | 265 |
George Perkins Marsh and Humboldt | 283 |
Ernst Haeckel and Humboldt | 298 |
John Muir and Humboldt | 315 |
Paris | 135 |
Simón Bolívar and Humboldt | 144 |
London | 162 |
Maladie Centrifuge | 172 |
I5 Return to Berlin | 189 |
Epilogue | 335 |
Illustration Credits | 343 |
A Note on Humboldts Publications | 431 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
AH Ansichten 1849 AH Aspects 1849 AH Cosmos AH Cotta Letters AH Diary AH Geography AH Letters 1973 AH Letters Russia AH Personal Narrative AH to Carl AH to Johann AH to WH AH Views AH's Alexander von Humboldt animals April Arago August Beagle Beck Berlin Biermann Bogotá Bolívar Bonpland Bruhns Cancrin Carl Freiesleben Carl Ludwig Willdenow Charles Lyell Chimborazo climbed colonies Cotta Letters 2009 Cumaná Darwin Correspondence December Emerson Europe expedition February forests French Friedrich Wilhelm Friedrich Wilhelm IV Georg von Cotta German Goethe Goethe's Haeckel Humboldt wrote ibid ideas January Jefferson Jena JM online John Stevens Henslow July June Lake Valencia later Letters Russia 2009 Lyell March mountains Muir Muir's November numbers October Orinoco Paris Personal Narrative 1814–29 plants Prussian Russia scientific scientists South America Spanish Spencer Fullerton Baird trees Varnhagen volcano Walden WH CH Letters WH to CH William Darwin Fox Yosemite