the invention of nature the adventures of alexander von humboldt

This is one of the most exciting intellectual biographies I have ever read, up there with Lewes's Goethe and Ray Monk's Wittgenstein' The physical journeyings, all around South America when it was virtually terra incognita, are as exciting as the journeys of Humboldt's mind into astronomy, literature, philosophy and every known branch of science. 'A truly wonderful book Andrea Wulf has told the tale with such brio, such understanding, such depth. – Richard Holmes, author of The Age of Wonder and Coleridge 'A big, magnificent, adventurous book – so vividly written and daringly researched – a geographical pilgrimage and an intellectual epic! Brilliant, surprising, and thought-provoking a major achievement' Alexander von Humboldt really did invent the way we see nature. He wanted to know and understand everything and his way of thinking was so far ahead of his time that it's only coming into its own now. Humboldt predicted human-induced climate change as early as 1800, and The Invention of Nature traces his ideas as they go on to revolutionize and shape science, conservation, nature writing, politics, art and the theory of evolution. Taking us on a fantastic voyage in his footsteps – racing across anthrax-infected Russia or mapping tropical rivers alive with crocodiles – Andrea Wulf shows why his life and ideas remain so important today. He simply was, as one contemporary put it, 'the greatest man since the Deluge'.

Napoleon was jealous of him Simon Bolívar's revolution was fuelled by his ideas Darwin set sail on the Beagle because of Humboldt and Jules Verne's Captain Nemo owned all his many books. His colourful adventures read like something out of a Boy's Own story: Humboldt explored deep into the rainforest, climbed the world's highest volcanoes and inspired princes and presidents, scientists and poets alike.

There are towns, rivers, mountain ranges, the ocean current that runs along the South American coast, there's a penguin, a giant squid – even the Mare Humboldtianum on the moon. Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) is the great lost scientist: more things are named after him than anyone else.

The invention of nature the adventures of alexander von humboldt