The Invention of Nature
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The Invention of Nature
First edition (US)
Author Andrea Wulf
Language English
Subject Biography
Genre Non-fiction
Publisher Knopf (US)
John Murray (UK)
Publication date September 2015
Pages 496 pp.
ISBN 978-0385350662
The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World is a nonfiction book released in 2015, by the historian Andrea Wulf about the Prussian naturalist, explorer and geographer Alexander von Humboldt. The book follows Humboldt from his early childhood and travels through Europe as a young man to his journey through Latin America and his return to Europe. Wulf makes the case that Humboldt synthesized knowledge from many different fields to form a vision of nature as one interconnected system, that would go on to influence scientists, activists and the public.
Sections[edit]
Part 1. Departure: Emerging Ideas Wulf describes Humboldt's childhood with his emotionally distant mother. As a child his interests in nature and travel were not taken seriously. His mother, on whom he was financially dependent, insisted he become a civil servant. As a young man, Humboldt became friends with Goethe and other German intellectuals. His mother's death allowed him the freedom and financial independence needed to journey to the New World.
Part 2 Arrival: Collecting Ideas
Humboldt arrives in Venezuela with his companion Bonpland and begins his journey through Central and South America. He brought with him a plethora of scientific instruments. He chronicles his travels and the measurements he obtained using scientific instruments in his journals. Humboldt climbs Chimborazo, a volcano in the Andes, which was then believed to be highest mountain in the world. The trip concludes with his visit to the United States where he visited the White House to discuss science and politics with Thomas Jefferson before returning to Europe.
Part 3 Return: Sorting Ideas
Humboldt returns to Europe where he is greeted as a celebrity. He lives as an expat in Paris for seven months as he finds the city and its scientific culture more stimulating than that of Berlin. While in France, he meets a young Simon Bolivar, who is impressed with Humboldt's knowledge and passion for his home country of Venezuela, and they discuss South American politics. Humboldt returns to Prussia, to earn a salary in the King's court before returning to Paris. At this point he begins to work on several manuscripts based on his travels. The books are widely read. As Bolivar begins to plan and execute revolutions in South America, Humboldt publishes a series of books on the politics of Latin America that criticize colonialism.
Part 4 New Worlds: Spreading Ideas
Wulf discusses Humboldt's personal correspondence and influence on a young Charles Darwin, who attributed to Humboldt the inspiration for an interest in natural science leading to his voyage on the Beagle. Humboldt's influence on the American poet and philosopher Henry David Thoreau is explored. Humboldt's magnum opus Cosmos, where he talks of the interconnections of the natural world, is discussed.
Reception[edit]
Invention of Nature became a New York Times bestseller.[1] Some critics felt that the book could have covered Humboldt and his travels more thoroughly instead of focusing on people he influenced.[2][3] Others found that the book showed the relevance of Humboldt to our times.[4] In September 2016, the book was awarded the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize[5][6]
References[edit]
^ "Best Sellers: Expeditions". New York Times. December 13, 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
^ Price, M. (2015, October 03). ‘The Invention of Nature’ by Andrea Wulf. Boston Globe. Retrieved from https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2015/10/03/book-review-the-invention-nature-alexander-von-humboldt-new-world-andrea-wulf/13dl6jtIkrrkkahAWtjvkI/story.html
^ Winder, S. (2015, November 13). The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the Lost Hero of Science by Andrea Wulf – review. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/13/the-invention-of-nature-the-adventures-of-alexander-von-humboldt-andrea-wulf-review
^ Rich, N. (2015, October 22). The Very Great Alexander von Humboldt. The New York Review of Books. Retrieved from http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2015/10/22/very-great-alexander-von-humboldt//
^ Associated Press (2016, September 19). "Andrea Wulf's Humboldt biography wins Science Book Prize." Seattle Times. Retrieved from http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/science/andrea-wulfs-humboldt-biography-wins-science-book-prize/ on 30 Sep 2016.
^ "The Royal Society announces the winner of the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2016". Royal Society. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
Categories:
2015 non-fiction books
History books about science
Books about scientists
Alexander von Humboldt
Alfred A. Knopf books
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‘The Invention of Nature,’ by Andrea Wulf
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Alexander von Humboldt
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By Colin Thubron
Sept. 25, 2015
Alexander von Humboldt was the pre-eminent scientist of his time. Contemporaries spoke of him as second in fame only to Napoleon. All over the Americas and the English-speaking world, towns and rivers are still named after him, along with mountain ranges, bays, waterfalls, 300 plants and more than 100 animals. There is a Humboldt glacier, a Humboldt asteroid, a Humboldt hog-nosed skunk. Off the coast of Peru and Chile, the giant Humboldt squid swims in the Humboldt Current, and even on the moon there is an area called Mare Humboldtianum. Darwin called him the “greatest scientific traveler who ever lived.”
Yet today, outside Latin America and Humboldt’s native Germany, his name has receded into near oblivion. His insights have become so ingested by modern science that they may no longer seem astonishing. As Andrea Wulf remarks in her arresting “The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World,” “it is almost as though his ideas have become so manifest that the man behind them has disappeared.”
This formidable genius was born in 1769 to a Prussian court official and a forceful mother of Huguenot descent. He was brought up in the shadow of his precocious elder brother, Wilhelm, a linguist and philosopher, but Alexander flowered into a brilliant polymath: a slight, apparently delicate man driven by furious ambition and insecurity. People remarked on the dazzling speed and reach of his speech, on his prodigious memory — and on his waspish tongue.
As with Darwin’s voyage on the Beagle 32 years later, all of Humboldt’s work was founded on a single momentous journey, which becomes the centerpiece of Wulf’s book. In 1799, Humboldt set off for the Americas with a botanist, Aimé Bonpland, making landfall in modern Venezuela. Together they plunged by canoe into the botanic richness of the rain forests, ascending the Upper Orinoco, where Humboldt was the first to map the great river’s union with a tributary of the Amazon — a juncture that defied contemporary assumptions.
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Continuing on a nine-month, 1,300-mile trek along the northern Andes, the two men traversed a switchback of snow-swept passes and humid jungle, through regions unseen by any naturalist before. Scientific passion all but blinded Humboldt to danger. When an earthquake broke around him, he calmly set out his instruments to measure and time it; his experiments with electric eels might well have killed him. In the plateau lands of Peru, he discovered the magnetic equator and soon afterward studied the cold, nutrient-filled waters of the future Humboldt Current, whose rainless air parches the coasts of northern Chile and Peru.
But Humboldt’s achievement lay less in geographic discovery than in the insights that the journey sparked. Wulf, whose books include “Chasing Venus” and “Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature and the Shaping of the American Nation,” is anxious above all to establish Humboldt’s relevance today, and her fluency in German facilitates the sifting of his massive oeuvre for impressive data. He had barely started across Venezuela before he was alerted by the falling water level in the idyllic lake of Valencia. This, he came to realize, was caused not only by the siphoning of streams for irrigation but also by the felling of the surrounding forests.
Humboldt, Wulf writes, “was the first to explain the fundamental functions of the forest for the ecosystem and climate: the trees’ ability to store water and to enrich the atmosphere with moisture, their protection of the soil, and their cooling effect. He also talked about the impact of trees on the climate through their release of oxygen. The effects of the human species’ intervention were already ‘incalculable,’ Humboldt insisted, and could become catastrophic if they continued to disturb the world so ‘brutally.’ ”
Humboldt reached his epiphany on the slopes of Mount Chimborazo in today’s Ecuador, a mountain then considered the highest in the world. Climbing to more than 19,000 feet, he attained a mountaineering record unsurpassed for 30 years and gazed with awe at the vast landscape spread before him. Here, Wulf claims, he was struck anew by his founding conviction: that the world was a single, weblike, interconnected organism.
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Later he created a complex cross-section of Chimborazo, depicting in minuscule detail the strata of its plant life. His chart related it to other mountains, stratifying phenomena such as animal species and gravity and humidity, the chemical composition of the air and the blueness of the sky. It was a pictorial diagram encapsulating his primary insight that ecosystems were universally linked. This was a view of nature — God-less and intricately whole — that would re-educate his age.
It was five years before Humboldt returned to Europe, via Cuba and Mexico. In North America, which he loved, he hobnobbed with a delighted President Thomas Jefferson. The only subject they avoided was slavery. Humboldt was revolted by its inhumanity. His detestation of colonial greed meshed with his sensitivity to environmental degradation and found its voice in two formidably researched books after his return.
In Europe, Humboldt was gloriously received. In Paris, where he settled for many years, he was lionized. In his more oppressive native Berlin, he was financially supported by successive kings. He went on to invent isotherms — the temperature lines that still flow across weather charts — and inaugurated a chain of stations across the globe to measure geomagnetism.
But above all he settled to write the monumental 34-volume account of his great journey’s findings, “Voyage to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent.” Part of it, the multivolume “Personal Narrative,” a travelogue that blended scientific exactitude with poetic evocation, became especially influential. Darwin wrote that the work had saturated his youth and crucially spurred his travels.
The transcendentalism in much of Humboldt’s writing deeply affected Whitman, Thoreau, Poe and the English Romantics. In South America the liberator Simón Bolívar, whom Humboldt had known in Paris, asserted that the German’s vision had awakened the South American people to pride in their continent. Later, environmentalists from George Perkins Marsh to John Muir saw Humboldt as their spiritual ancestor.
But behind the veil of celebrity, the man himself recedes. He had intense friendships with a series of young men but was self-confessedly lonely. His consolation was the beauty of nature. Mountains, he wrote enigmatically, offered him balm for the “deep wounds” that pure “reason” inflicted. (The most bitter regret of his old age was that he had never climbed the Himalayas.) The gulf between reason and emotion — the scientific study of nature and its imaginative evocation — was a gulf he healed in his writing.
Especially in Germany, there have been many Humboldts. His works are so voluminous and wide-ranging that successive regimes have extracted from them the person they desire (even, during the Third Reich, an Aryan supremacist). Andrea Wulf’s Humboldt is the ecological visionary and humanist. Despite some reiteration, her book is readable, thoughtful and widely researched, and informed by German sources richer than the English canon. It is the first formal biography in English for many years and may go some way toward returning this strange genius to the public.
He died in his 90th year, a few days after sending to the publisher the final volume of his monumental “Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe.” His science was still touched by the lyrical evocation of a holistic world. Beside him on his deathbed, mourners found a scribbled note from Genesis: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.”
THE INVENTION OF NATURE
Alexander von Humboldt’s New World
By Andrea Wulf
Illustrated. 473 pp. Alfred A. Knopf. $30.
Colin Thubron is a travel writer and novelist. His latest book is “To a Mountain in Tibet.”
A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 27, 2015, Page 19 of the Sunday Book Review with the headline: Nature’s Web. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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The acclaimed author of Founding Gardeners reveals the forgotten life 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.
NATIONAL BEST SELLER
One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The James Wright Award for Nature Writing, the Costa Biography Award, the Royal Geographic Society's Ness Award, the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award
Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Royal Society Science Book Prize, the Kirkus Prize Prize for Nonfiction, the Independent Bookshop Week Book Award
A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Economist, Nature, Jezebel, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, New Scientist, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Evening Standard, The Spectator
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.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
NATIONAL BEST SELLER
“Andrea Wulf reclaims Humboldt from the obscurity that has enveloped him. . . . [She] is as enthusiastic as her subject. . . . Vivid and exciting. . . . Wulf’s pulsating account brings this dazzling figure back into a dazzling, much-deserved focus.”
—Matthew Price, The Boston Globe
“[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.”
—Nathaniel Rich, 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.”
—Jenny Uglow, The Wall Street Journal
“A magnificent work of resurrection, beautifully researched, elegantly written, a thrilling intellectual odyssey.”
—Christopher Hart, The Sunday Times (London)
“The most complete portrait of one of the world’s most complete naturalists.”
—Mark Cocker, 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.”
—Simon Winder, 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.”
—Sarah Darwin, 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.”
—Giles Milton, Mail on Sunday (London)
“Arresting. . . . readable, thoughtful, and widely researched, and informed by German sources richer than the English canon.”
—Colin Thubron, 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.”
—Joy lo Dico, The Independent (London)
“Luminously written.”
—Roger Cox, The Scotsman (Edinburgh)
“A dazzling account of Humboldt’s restless search for scientific, emotional and aesthetic satisfaction. Unapologetically in awe of her subject and intent on restoring Humboldt’s reputation, [Wulf] brings his ideas to the foreground—their emergence, spread and evolution after his death. . . . Wulf goes as far as to say that modern environmentalists, ecologists and nature writers are still drawing from his oeuvre, even if they have never heard of him. . . . With the environmental movement, ecology and climate science, Wulf argues, we may have entered another period in which connections predominate over isolated proofs, bringing renewed relevance to Humboldt’s grand visions of nature, the world and the universe.”
—Patrick Wilcken, Literary Review (UK)
“Wulf, a historian with an invaluable environmental perspective, presents with zest and eloquence the full story of Humboldt’s adventurous life and extraordinary achievements. . . . Humboldt, Wulf convincingly argues in this enthralling, elucidating biography, was a genuine visionary, whose insights we need now more than ever.”
—Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
“I lavish praise on Andrea Wulf’s new book, The Invention of Nature. . . . The gist of my praise is simple. Wulf recognized not only a good story but also an important one. She has written a fascinating book about a fascinating man whose work influences our thinking even though his name is no longer widely remembered. . . . Wulf’s book is about a long-dead great man but also about ourselves.”
—Bill Streever, The Dallas Morning News
“Humboldt . . . electrified fellow polymaths such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, discovered climate zones, and grasped the impact of industrialization on nature. In her coruscating account, historian Andrea Wulf reveals an indefatigable adept of close observation with a gift for the long view, as happy running a series of 4,000 experiments on the galvanic response as he was exploring brutal terrain in Latin America.”
—Barbara Kiser, Nature
“Why is the man who predicted climate change forgotten? . . . German-born Andrea Wulf, author of The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World, has made it her mission to put a new shine on his reputation—and show why he still has much to teach us.”
—Simon Worrall, National Geographic
“Gripping. . . . Wulf has delved deep into her hero’s life and travelled widely to feel nature as he felt it. . . . No one who reads this brilliant book is likely to forget Humboldt.”
—Stephanie Pain, New Scientist
“Exuberant, delightful. . . . Wulf is unquestionably right that von Humboldt—a happy, sarcastic, preternaturally talented polymath—is far less well-known outside of Germany than he should be. If The Invention of Nature reaches the wide readership it deserves, we can hope that situation will change.”
—Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly
“Wulf (Chasing Venus) makes an impassioned case for the reinstatement of the boundlessly energetic, perpetually curious, prolific polymath von Humboldt (1769–1859) as a key figure in the history of science. . . . Wulf’s stories of wilderness adventure and academic exchange flow easily, and her affection for von Humboldt is contagious.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review), Best Books of the Year
“Engrossing. . . . Humboldt was the Einstein of the 19th century but far more widely read, and Wulf successfully combines a biography with an intoxicating history of his times.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review), Best Books of the Year
“Andrea Wulf is a writer of rare sensibilities and passionate fascinations. I always trust her to take me on unforgettable journeys through amazing histories of botanical exploration and scientific unfolding. Her work is wonderful, her language sublime, her intelligence unflagging.”
—Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of The Signature of All Things and Big Magic
“The Invention of Nature is a big, magnificent, adventurous book—so vividly written and daringly researched—a geographical pilgrimage and an intellectual epic! With brilliant, surprising, and thought-provoking connections to Simón Bolívar, Charles Darwin, William Herschel, Charles Lyell, Walt Whitman, Edgar Allen Poe, Henry David Thoreau, and George Perkins Marsh. The book is a major achievement.”
—Richard Holmes, author of Coleridge and The Age of Wonder
“This is a truly wonderful book. The German-speaking world does not need to be reminded of Alexander Humboldt, the last universal genius of European history. The English-speaking world does, astonishingly, need such a reminder, and Andrea Wulf has told the tale with such brio, such understanding, such depth. 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. This is one of the most exciting intellectual biographies I have ever read, up there with Lewes’s Goethe and Ray Monk’s Wittgenstein. And all around the subject is the world, gradually learning to be modern—sometimes it knew it was being taught by Humboldt, sometimes not, but there is hardly a branch of knowledge which he did not touch and influence. Hoorah, hoorah!!”
—A. N. Wilson, author of The Victorians and Victoria: A Life
“Andrea Wulf’s marvelous book should go a long way towards putting this captivating eighteenth century German scientist, traveler and opinion-shaper back at the heart of the way we look at the world which Humboldt helped to interpret, and whose environmental problems he predicted. She has captured the excitement and intimacy of his experiences within the pages of this irresistible and consistently absorbing life of a man whose discoveries have shaped the way we see.”
—Miranda Seymour, author of Noble Endeavors: A History of England and Germany --This text refers to the paperback edition.
About the Author
David Drummond has narrated over seventy audiobooks for Tantor, in genres ranging from current political commentary to historical nonfiction, from fantasy to military, and from thrillers to humor. He has garnered multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as an Audie Award nomination. Visit him at drummondvoice.com. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Five months after his arrival, Humboldt finally left Quito on 9 June 1802. He still intended to travel to Lima, even though Captain Baudin wouldn’t be there. From Lima Humboldt hoped to find passage to Mexico, which he also wanted to explore. First, though, he was going to climb Chimborazo – the crown of his obsession. This majestic inactive volcano – a ‘monstrous colossus’ as Humboldt described it – was about one hundred miles to the south-west of Quito and rose to almost 21,000 feet.[7]7
As Humboldt, Bonpland, Montúfar and José rode towards the volcano, they passed thick tropical vegetation. In the valleys they admired daturas with their large trumpet-shaped orange blossoms and bright red fuchsias with their almost unreal-looking sculptural petals. Then, as the men slowly ascended, these voluptuous blooms were replaced by open grass plains where herds of small llama-like vicuñas grazed. Then Chimborazo appeared on the horizon, standing alone on a high plateau, like a majestic dome. For several days as they approached, the mountain stood out against the vibrant blue of the sky with no cloud smudging its imposing outline. Whenever they stopped, an excited Humboldt took out his telescope. He saw a blanket of snow on the slopes and the landscape around Chimborazo appeared barren and desolate. Thousands of boulders and rocks covered the ground, as far as he could see. It was an otherworldly scenery. By now Humboldt had climbed so many volcanoes that he was the most experienced mountaineer in the world but Chimborazo was a daunting prospect even to him. But what appeared unreachable, Humboldt later explained, ‘exerts a mysterious pull’.
On 22 June they arrived at the foot of the volcano where they spent a fitful night in a small village. Early the next morning, Humboldt’s team began the ascent together with a group of local porters. They crossed the grassy plains and slopes on mules until they reached an altitude of 13,500 feet. As the rocks became steeper, they left the animals behind and continued on foot. The weather was turning against them. It had snowed during the night and the air was cold. Unlike the previous days, the summit of Chimborazo was shrouded in fog. Once in a while the fog lifted, granting them a brief yet tantalizing glimpse of the peak. It would be a long day.
At 15,600 feet their porters refused to go on. Humboldt, Bonpland, Montúfar and José divided the instruments between them and continued on their own. The fog held Chimborazo’s summit in its embrace. Soon they were crawling on all fours along a high ridge that narrowed to a dangerous two inches with steep cliffs falling away to their left and right – fittingly the Spanish called this ridge the cuchilla, or ‘knife edge’. Humboldt looked determinedly ahead. It didn’t help that the cold had numbed their hands and feet, nor that the foot that he had injured during a previous climb had become infected. Every step was leaden at this height. Nauseous and dizzy with altitude sickness, their eyes bloodshot and their gums bleeding, they suffered from a constant vertigo which, Humboldt later admitted, ‘was very dangerous, given the situation we were in’. On Pichincha Humboldt’s altitude sickness had been so severe that he had fainted. Here on the cuchilla, it could be fatal.
Despite these difficulties, Humboldt still had the energy to set up his instruments every few hundred feet as they ascended. The icy wind had chilled the brass instruments and handling the delicate screws and levers with half-frozen hands was almost impossible. He plunged his thermometer into the ground, read the barometer and collected air samples to analyse its chemical components. He measured humidity and tested the boiling point of water at different altitudes. They also kicked boulders down the precipitous slopes to test how far they would roll.
After an hour of treacherous climbing, the ridge became a little less steep but now sharp rocks tore their shoes and their feet began to bleed. Then, suddenly, the fog lifted, revealing Chimborazo’s white peak glinting in the sun, a little over 1,000 feet above them – but they also saw that their narrow ridge had ended. Instead, they were confronted by the mouth of a huge crevasse which opened in front of them. To get around it would have involved walking across a field of deep snow but by now it was 1 p.m. and the sun had melted the icy crust that covered the snow. When Montúfar gingerly tried to tread on it, he sank so deeply that he completely disappeared. There was no way to cross. As they paused, Humboldt took out the barometer again and measured their altitude at 19,413 feet. Though they wouldn’t make it to the summit, it still felt like being on the top of the world. No one had ever come this high – not even the early balloonists.
Looking down Chimborazo’s slopes and the mountain ranges in the distance, everything that Humboldt had seen in the previous years came together. His brother Wilhelm had long believed that Alexander’s mind was made ‘to connect ideas, to detect chains of things’. As he stood that day on Chimborazo, Humboldt absorbed what lay in front of him while his mind reached back to all the plants, rock formations and measurements that he had seen and taken on the slopes of the Alps, the Pyrenees and in Tenerife. Everything that he had ever observed fell into place. Nature, Humboldt realized, was a web of life and a global force. He was, a colleague later said, the first to understand that everything was interwoven as with ‘a thousand threads’. This new idea of nature was to change the way people understood the world.
Humboldt was struck by this ‘resemblance which we trace in climates the most distant from each other’. Here in the Andes, for example, grew a moss that reminded him of a species from the forests in northern Germany, thousands of miles away. On the mountains near Caracas he had examined rhododendron-like plants – alpine rose trees, as he called them – which were like those from the Swiss Alps. Later, in Mexico, he would find pines, cypresses and oaks that were similar to those that grew in Canada. Alpine plants could be found on the mountains of Switzerland, in Lapland and here in the Andes. Everything was connected.
For Humboldt, the days they had spent travelling from Quito and then climbing up Chimborazo had been like a botanical journey that moved from the Equator towards the poles – with the whole plant world seemingly layered one on top of the other as one ascended the mountains. The vegetation zones ranged from the tropical plants down in the valleys to the lichens that he had encountered near the snow line. Towards the end of his life, Humboldt often talked about understanding nature from ‘a higher point of view’ from which those connections could be seen; the moment when he had realized this was here, on Chimborazo. With ‘a single glance’, he suddenly saw the whole of nature laid out before him.
When they returned from Chimborazo, Humboldt was ready to formulate his new vision of nature. In the Andean foothills, he began to sketch his so-called Naturgemälde, an untranslatable German term that can mean a ‘painting of nature’ but it also implies a sense of unity or wholeness. It was, as Humboldt later explained, a ‘microcosm on one page’. Unlike the scientists who had previously classified the natural world into tight taxonomic units along a strict hierarchy, filling endless tables with categories, Humboldt now produced a drawing.
‘Nature was a living whole,’ he later said, not a ‘dead aggregate’. One single life, he said, had been poured over stones, plants, animals and mankind. It was this ‘universal profusion with which life is everywhere distributed’ that most impressed Humboldt. Even the atmosphere carried the kernels of future life – pollen, insect eggs and seeds. Life was everywhere and those ‘organic powers are incessantly at work’, he wrote. Humboldt was not so much interested in finding new isolated facts but in connecting them. Individual phenomena were only important ‘in their relation to the whole’, he explained. They were the parts that made the whole.
Depicting Chimborazo in cross-section, the Naturgemälde strikingly illustrated nature as a web in which everything was connected. On it, Humboldt showed plants distributed according to their altitudes, ranging from subterranean mushroom species to the lichens that grew just below the snow line. At the foot of the mountain was the tropical zone of palms and, further up, the oaks and fern-like shrubs that preferred a more temperate climate. Every plant was placed on the mountain precisely where Humboldt had found them.
Humboldt produced his first sketch of the Naturgemälde in South America and then published it later as a beautiful three-foot by two-foot drawing. To the left and right of the mountain he placed several columns that provided related details and information. By picking a particular height of the mountain (as given in metres in the first left- and right-hand column), one could trace connections across the table and the drawing of the mountain to learn about gravity, say, or the blueness of the sky, humidity, atmospheric pressure, temperature, chemical composition of the air, as well as what species of animals and plants could be found at different altitudes. Humboldt showed eleven zones of plants, along with details of how they were linked to changes in altitude, temperature and so on. All this information could then be linked to the other major mountains across the world, which were listed according to their height in the fourth column to the left.
This variety and richness, but also the simplicity of the scientific information depicted, was unprecedented. Humboldt was the first scientist to present such data visually. The Naturgemälde showed for the first time that nature was a global force with corresponding climate zones across continents. Humboldt saw ‘unity in variety’. Instead of placing plants in their taxonomic categories, he saw vegetation through the lens of climate and location: a radically new idea that still shapes our understanding of ecosystems today.
Excerpted from The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf. Copyright © 2015 by Andrea Wulf. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. --This text refers to the paperback edition.
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ASIN : B00PW4O1SQ
Publisher : John Murray; 1st edition (October 22, 2015)
Publication date : October 22, 2015
Language : English
File size : 13565 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
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Print length : 586 pages
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Best Sellers Rank: #331,970 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
#97 in History of Biology & Nature
#256 in Biographies of Scientists
#469 in Natural History (Books)
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von humboldt alexander von andrea wulf john muir south america charles darwin invention of nature climate change thomas jefferson well written henry david simon bolivar natural world david thoreau george perkins must read perkins marsh never heard ernst haeckel highly recommend
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Montana Skyline
4.0 out of 5 stars Good biography & argument for understanding nature passionately
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2015
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On first reading, I made the mistake of taking Wulf's book primarily as a biography of Alexander von Humbolt: It is that (and a good one), but foremost it is an argument for a new understanding of nature. I should have paid more attention to the first part of the book's title: "The Invention of Nature" Alexander von Humbolt's New World. Ms. Wulf is making the case that a proper understanding (not simply appreciation) of nature includes, perhaps requires, a passionate enthusiasm for nature, as well. She shows Humbolt as the embodiment of that new understanding -- romantic and poetic, as well as scientific. She then traces his influence in subsequent scientists, including Darwin, but even more in Thoreau, Marsh, Haeckel and Muir --- partly in their science, but particularly in their embrace of his enthusiasm. There is an inevitable tension between writing a personal biography and analyzing the intellectual/cultural history of an idea, i.e., a new "invention" or way of thinking about nature. On the whole, Wulf succeeds on both counts, and her book is both a pleasure to read and a genuine contribution to our history of thinking about nature. But the tension in her purposes does require some concessions.
Wulf deserves applause for her effort to restore Humbolt to his rightful place "in the pantheon of nature and science." The man was nothing short of remarkable and recognized as such in his time. It is unfortunate, and curious, that his fame has been largely eclipsed in the last century. Partly, this is a matter of accessibility: Not only was he remarkably prolific, but much of the work is simply unavailable to English-language readers. Some recent popular books have helped, e.g., Gerhard Helferich's 2011 "Humbolt's Cosmos," but much is either narrowly focused, outdated or unavailable outside research libraries. Wulf's remedy is the best contemporary biography of Humbolt, and that alone would make this book worth reading. Her particular service, however, is in providing an excellent summary of his principle ideas and new way of thinking about nature. From this foundation, she proceeds to make a strong case for his influence on subsequent generations of scientists and nature writers. Because Wulf is focused on Humbolt as the progenitor of a new ("invented") way of thinking about nature, a more comprehensive, and perhaps more complex, examination of the man gives way to the theme of influence on successors. This is not a defect in the book: It is a choice by the author to focus on the theme of a more subjective and impassioned understanding of nature, as embodied by Humbolt and then his successors. But it does mean that a more purely biographical "life" of Humbolt remains to be written.
Wulf's shifting focus from the man to the theme creates some tension. At times, Wulf works so hard at restoring a deserved luster to Humbolt and his ideas that she may go too far. One might get the impression not only that all his ideas were original, but that much (if not most) of subsequent nature science was derivative of Humbolt, from Darwin's thinking on evolution to contemporary climate science. Indeed, many of Humbolt's astute observations can find an echo is contemporary nature science. But many of his ideas regarding geology, species and the complex interaction in nature were "in the air" and under discussion at the time. In addition to some genuinely original concepts (e.g., climate bands or zones), Humbolt's great contribution was to focus and lend excitement to this new thinking. No small thing that! Moreover, Humbolt certainly was an inspiration to many subsequent (but equally original) scientists -- my own first inklings of Humbolt's influence came from reading Darwin's account of being inspired by Humbolt's South American explorations. In short, Humbolt not only made major substantive contributions to science, but his remarkable travels and passion for nature inspired many then and since. But how much contemporary science derives from his work, and why his contribution is nowadays less appreciated, is a larger and still open question.
This points to an additional caveat: In making the case not only for Humbolt's historical influence but contemporary relevance, Wulf sometimes leaves the impression that we are listening to her pronounce on contemporary issues, e.g., climate change, in Humbolt's voice. As noted, Wulf is making an unapologetic case for a subjective understanding and appreciation of nature. When Wulf relates the tale of an occasion when John Muir "jumping around and singing to 'glory in it all" derides a hiking companion for evidently too "cool" an appreciation of nature, she leaves no doubt where her sympathies lie. Fair enough, so long as one recognizes that this stance occasionally colors her treatment of Humbolt, as well as his successors. Since I suspect that most prospective readers are (like me) inclined to sympathize, this is unlikely to be a problem for most.
A final, non-trivial recommendation: In addition to being strong on substance, Wulf writes a very nice and expressive style, highly readable and nearly always interesting. This is a needed and well-done biography. As to Wulf's broader argument about the legitimacy and importance of including subjectivity and passion in our scientific understanding of nature, she makes a strong case and (needless to say) makes it passionately.
[Note: I re-wrote this review significantly upon reflecting on some thoughtful comments and responses by other readers -- thanks!]
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Ashutosh S. Jogalekar
4.0 out of 5 stars Scientist, explorer, polymath; the father of modern environmentalism
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2016
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If I ask my learned friends to make a list of the top ten scientists in history, Alexander von Humboldt probably won't figure on the list; he probably wouldn't have figured on my own. And yet when he was alive, for a while Humboldt was the most famous scientist in the world. Thousands thronged to hear him speak, and the most distinguished personalities of the age visited him at his home in Paris and Berlin. He was a polymath in the true sense, excelling in science, philosophy, writing and adventure. He also laid the foundations for modern environmentalism and inspired scores of later writers and naturalists, including Charles Darwin, Henry David Thoreau, George Perkins Marsh and John Muir. Dozens of streets, mountains, forests, universities and scholarships around the world are named after him.
Andrew Wulf has written an excellent biography of this remarkable mind which secures Humboldt’s place both as a brilliant scientist and explorer and as one of the founding fathers of modern environmentalism. It would not be off the mark to say that he paved the way for Darwin and natural selection. He was born in Prussia in 1769, when Europe was starting to crackle with reform and intellectual ferment. Humboldt inherited a large sum of money from a strict, authoritarian mother who wanted him to enter the law and civil service. But Humboldt was smitten by nature and exploration from a very young age and wanted nothing more than to travel to the far, wild reaches of the planet. His brother Wilhelm on the other hand took to law and diplomacy like a fish and held a succession of important ambassadorial posts in France and Italy; throughout their lives the brothers along with Wilhelm’s wife Caroline were to be close, in spite of their occasional disagreements. In his young days Humboldt’s scientific temper was molded by a short career as a mining inspector. This career gave him a chance to travel throughout Europe and appreciate some of the finer details of geology and the chemistry of minerals.
Humboldt's early intellect was shaped in part by his own burning curiosity for reading and nature and in part by a formative friendship with Goethe; the two often visited each other and spent long evenings debating everything from science to poetry. Until Humboldt met Goethe he was a strict rationalist, but Goethe taught him that a true appreciation of nature comes when its scientific study is infused with a sense of wonder and feeling about its workings. The heady mix of Romanticism and Enlightenment thinking that pervaded Humboldt’s discussions with Goethe primed Humboldt for a novel appreciation of nature.
Armed with these twin pillars of natural philosophy, Humboldt set off in 1799 on what would turn out to be the most important trip of his career. He decided to traverse as much of South America and especially Venezuela as he could. His goal, just like Darwin's twenty-five years later, was to study the native flora and fauna, including the mighty river systems of the South and the indigenous tribes. Humboldt was accompanied by a French botanist named Aime Bonpland who shared his enthusiasm for adventure and science. And what adventures they had. They climbed mountains in freezing weather and hailstorms, navigated rivers and forests filled with dangerous snakes, crocodiles, scorpions and spiders and came face to face with ferocious tribes who had never seen a European before. The duo’s hardiness – some would call it foolhardiness – in the face of extreme weather and dangerous conditions alternately evokes a sense of bravery and stupidity. The most vivid experience they had which really stood out for me was when they trotted in horses in a pool filled with electric eels so that the dangerous creatures would be roiled up to the surface by the horses’ hooves, ready for capture and study.
Humboldt’s South American adventures took five years and planted seeds for two key ideas which laid the foundations for similar thinking by many of the world’s most important scientists, humanists and writers. Traversing diverse environments like mountains, rivers, oceans and rain forests, Humboldt was struck by the similarity in flora and fauna that he observed; many of the plant species at higher altitudes for instance were similar to ones he had seen in Europe. At the same time he also observed how crucial the dependence of life in these environments was on climatic conditions. These observations led Humboldt to conceive of life as a seamless whole whose parts are critically dependent on each other; perturb one part and you risk perturbing the whole. Without giving it a name Humboldt had discovered the biosphere. This was a profound insight in an age when the environment was considered as a limitless resource that was ripe for man’s taking. The sensitive dependence of various parts of life on each other was a novel idea at the time, and it became the precursor for much thinking on ecology, biology and climate change that we take for granted; it underlies for instance James Lovelock’s idea of Gaia, of seeing the earth as a living and breathing organism with interdependent parts.
Humboldt also acquired a lifelong disdain for colonialism and slavery during his American sojourn. By the time he arrived in Venezuela the Spanish had already established a sizable stronghold in much of the continent. Humboldt was struck by the plight of both the natives and the lowly status of the Spaniards who were born in the exploited countries. He also appreciated the wealth of knowledge that infused the way of life of the indigenous tribes and their ancient civilization; a way of life that was slowly being eroded by the Conquistadors. Humboldt got a further opportunity to shape his thinking on these issues when he made his way to Philadelphia and Washington DC in his way back home. His goal was to meet Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson had already heard of Humboldt’s observations, and he thought Humboldt’s notes on South America and Mexico would be especially helpful to him as the United States sought to expand its territories in the South and the West. The two men struck up a warm, cordial relationship. The president and the scientist-explorer had much in common; they were both polymaths and leading intellects whose thinking was permeated by an appreciation of nature and exploration. Humboldt stayed at Monticello and admired Jefferson’s experiments in agriculture and architecture. He also found much to admire in the forward-looking and spirited Americans. But he also openly criticized slavery in the United States and made the obvious observation that the founding ideals of the country were in stark contrast to its exploitation of other human beings. These discussions made Jefferson uneasy but it did not affect the intellectual relationship that the two men enjoyed.
Humboldt arrived back in Paris to thousands of spectators; stories of his adventures and his vivid writings had already made him famous. Paris with its museums and intellectuals was the place to be, and Humboldt developed friendships with several leading French scientists including the chemist Gay-Lussac and the paleontologist Georges Cuvier. But he also watched with dismay as, after what seemed to be a bloody but successful people’s revolution, Napoleon turned France into an empire-building state and semi-dictatorship. At the same time Napoleon did have some appreciation of science, so Humboldt could still work relatively unfettered in France. Humboldt’s most interesting friendship in France was with the South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar who was spending a short period in the world’s cultural capital after the death of his young wife, immersing himself in wine, women and song to recover from the grief. After meeting Humboldt, Bolivar had a renewed sense of urgency regarding the freedom of South Americans from the Spanish, and when he returned he started his incredibly resilient and successful campaigns for Latin American independence.
While Humboldt thrived in France and wrote bestselling books on South America’s flora and fauna, his restless mind could not stop thinking of other places to explore. He set his sights on India and the Himalayas, and his determined sadly unsuccessful search is one of the great what-could-have-beens of the times. The culprit was the East India Company which had established a stronghold in India and whose express permission was needed to travel to the country. When Humboldt visited London – mobbed by famous scientists and crowds as usual – he tried to pull all the scientific and diplomatic strings which he could to secure passage to India. But the thorn in the East India Company’s side was his vocal criticism of colonialism, of which India was Britain’s self-proclaimed “jewel in the crown”; the Company would never agree to let this upstart intellectual who threatened to create a publicity nightmare for them enter India. Humboldt continued to try to get to India for the rest of his life, and one can only wonder what kind of perspicacious observations he would have unearthed had he been able to make the trip.
If not India, Humboldt’s next choice was Russia which was still under the yoke of the Tsars. By this time Humboldt’s inheritance was gone and he was being funded by a stipend from the German King; it was a stipend that Humboldt grumbled about since it often involved accompanying the king on menial trips and small talk with court ministers. Humboldt was therefore gratified to secure funds from the Russian monarch. He was then 59 but still in his element. Accompanied by a few assistants and fellow scientists, Humboldt covered almost 10,000 miles in less than a month. The journey was again dangerous, and at one point involved barreling through a region stricken with an epidemic of anthrax. The official mandate of the trip was a mining exploration, but Humboldt often violated this mandate and strayed several thousand miles off the chosen route to perform his own experiments on the native flora and fauna. The result was again a view of the unity of life spread across diverse geographical and biological environments.
Humboldt finally came home to Berlin after what turned out to be his last international trip. But his restless spirit was not done yet. He spent the next thirty years corresponding with leading lights like Darwin, Jefferson and Louis Agassiz. The crowning achievement of those years was a vast, multivolume, audaciously ambitious compendium of earth’s biosphere and the universe called “Cosmos”. Predating Carl Sagan’s Cosmos by a hundred and fifty years, Humboldt’s “Cosmos” sought to put all physical and biological phenomena on the same footing. Here was Humboldt the polymath at his best. In Cosmos Humboldt put together everything he knew about geology, anatomy, geography, paleontology, ecology and humanity to create a unified view of life. The volumes were lavishly illustrated with Humboldt’s own drawings as well as those from scores of correspondents. They were works not just of science but of literature, stamped with the influence of Goethe and the age of Romanticism. The volume of letters that Humboldt received from both scientists and fans during this time reached into the thousands. “Cosmos” was Humboldt’s last great work, and he died in 1859 at the ripe age of eighty-nine years, in his last years becoming one of the most famous people in the world. He was feted in all the world’s major capitals, and celebrations of his life lasted many days and drew crowds of thousands.
The last part of the book charts the influence of this remarkable intellect on some of the best-known and most influential naturalists and writers of the nineteenth and twentieth century. Darwin found commonalities in his own observations of similarities among species and Humboldt’s work in Venezuela. Humboldt also had a great influence on Henry David Thoreau who took inspiration from Humboldt’s sensitive appreciation of nature in writing his famous ‘Walden’; Thoreau’s words exemplify the kind of poetry that Humboldt learnt from Goethe. The American naturalist George Perkins Marsh was also quite taken by Humboldt’s observations on the destructive influence of human activity on the environment, and especially on deforestation. Marsh’s “Man and Nature” anticipated Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”; Marsh today is regarded as America’s first serious environmentalist. Finally, John Muir whose wanderlust took him on foot from his home in Indiana to first Florida and then to Yosemite became America’s foremost influence on the founding of its national parks. Muir, Thoreau and Marsh all had heavily marked copies of Humboldt’s works on their shelves, and all extensively referenced Humboldt in their writings.
What all of these naturalists and a horde of other successive writers gained from Humboldt was an appreciation of the unity of life, the seamless interdependence of its various parts on each other, and its great fragility and sensitivity to human intervention. As we debate climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, as we discuss nature’s depiction in art and poetry, as we pick up a snowflake and wonder at its multifaceted aspects of geometry and beauty, we are all walking in Alexander von Humboldt’s shoes.
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Roberto Rigolin F Lopes
5.0 out of 5 stars Connecting the republic of freedom together: a biography
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2019
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We are in 2015, Andrea is writing about Humboldt (1769-1859) the naturalist who inspired Darwin (1809-1882) and Thoreau (1817-1862); + a bunch of other interesting people that I never read (say Marsh, Haeckel, and Muir). Curious to understand how the world works, Humboldt eluded boring jobs to engage in expeditions around the world. Producing thrilling books that mixed vivid descriptions, stunning illustrations, and precise measurements. The man was a freethinker raised within the intellectual elite in Germany (e.g. Goethe was his friend and his brother created the first university in Berlin). Always trying to connect ideas together, Humboldt concluded that nature is a fragile web of diverse life. And was also the first to depict different species of plants in a single map putting together the geography of a volcano and the life surrounding it (Naturgemälde). This book is also packed with history from Europe (say Prussian organization and Napoleon’s enterprises), South America (say Bolivar’s revolution) and the USA (say Jefferson’s administration and Muir’s fights). Inspiring biography.
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Desmond J. Keenan
3.0 out of 5 stars Germany's most famous scientist
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 11, 2020
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Alexander von Humboldt was, probably, Germany's and Europe's most famous scientist in the 19th century, and had vast influence in many diverse fields. His work strongly influenced Charles Darwin. But today he is almost forgotten in Britain and America.
He was a meticulous scholar, who kept exact records of his observations, had a prodigious memory, and could make connections over many different disciplines. He took extreme risks in exploring the flora, fauna, climate and soils in the Andes. But his wish to do a comparative study in the Himalayas was prevented by the British East India Company.
He was also interested in the human population in the countries, was strongly opposed to slavery, and supported liberation movements in South America. These had not however the result he wanted.
The book however is far to long, digressing into studies of people he had influenced. His death is recorded half way through the book, which then explored his legacy. I never finished the book.
Still I recommend the book for its first half, for he was an extraordinary man
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Mr. G. Savage
2.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly dull and repetitive
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 14, 2019
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An interesting life rendered surprisingly dull. The author reiterates her thesis on every single page, sometimes several times, that humboldt was a proto environmentalist who saw nature as a whole rather than just taxonomically distinct parts. Even though it's obviously both, there's absolutely no need to endlessly spell it out in marginally different ways ad nauseum. And of course he saw the indigenous people with more clarity than colonising types around him, even though she is clearly skirting over much that doesn't fit her thesis. It's really off putting. O yea and it's not actually very gripping considering the subject matter.
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CRH
5.0 out of 5 stars A good read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2017
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Although I was familiar with some of Humboldt's work before I read this book I was largely unaware of the world-wide fame he achieved in his lifetime and the huge influence he had on 18th Century biology. A post-enlightenment polymath born of Prussian nobility and a contemporary of Goethe and Schiller, he was a founding father of ecology and biogeography. Yet, as Andrea Wulf describes his colourful and adventurous life in a bright and energetic style, she also reminds us that this 'lost hero of science' has been largely forgotten in the post-Darwinian era of biology. In view of the superstar status he achieved in his life, this is curious. Perhaps, as Wulf summarises in the epilogue, he may have been erased from the scientific memory of the English speaking world as part of the anti German sentiment that followed World War 1.
This book won the Costa Biography Award in 2015 and it is a good read. Humboldt's life has been well-researched here and there is a long list of sources and references in the bibliography.
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markr
5.0 out of 5 stars Very fine biography, travelogue, popular science, and history writing - a wonderful book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 4, 2016
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What a wonderful book. Such entertaining reading and yet packed with information. I learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed the process. Alexander von Humboldt was an explorer, scientist, artist and traveller who formed an understanding of the interconnectedness of life and nature. His vision was holistic and in the early 19th century radical. He explored Latin America and Russia, was friends with Goethe, met Napoleon, was friends with Simon Bolivar who liberated much of South America, and was the inspiration for Charles Darwin.
Although little known today Humboldt created our view of nature and ecology. His influence led to the creation of national parks and concern for the environment, he inspired others, and lived a full and fascinating life - and this book relates the tale in very engaging way. Andrea Wulf has clearly researched very thoroughly, but this is no dry academic work. It is biography, travelogue, popular science, and history writing of the highest order. This is synthesis at its best - and I suspect Humboldt would have been delighted. I will look forward to the author's next book very eagerly.
I read a great deal - and for me this is one of the best books I have ever read
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Jules
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly educational and equally enjoyable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 5, 2016
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Capturing the evident energy of this unbelievable man to whom we owe such a debt of gratitude for developing our thinking and inspiring many of the geographic, evolutionary, environmental and scientific tenets we take for granted today.
I knew about the current and squid being named after him but I had no idea how prolific his thinking, doing and writing were.
This is a triumph of a book, well written with an easy style and so jam packed with facts and stats that it probably merits another read.
A fitting tribute to a scientific powerhouse who embraced life and pushed away the boundaries of thinking. A colossus of a man about whom more should be taught in schools - with this book more widely read.
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William2
Dec 30, 2015William2 rated it liked it
Shelves: 21-ce, germany, nonfiction, biology, nature, uk
3.5 stars. For me, this book was — like Why Nations Fail, Guns, Germs, and Steel and Orlando Figes’s The Whisperers— a keystone narrative that linked up many formerly disparate threads of my personal reading. Such books are rare pleasures. I had always known that Alexander von Humboldt’s story was a link missing from my general knowledge. The praises of Oliver Sacks and Stephen Jay Gould alone told me as much. But I didn't know this was generally due to anti-German sentiment so powerful in the U.S. and Europe after World War II.
During his Latin American explorations (1799-1804), Humboldt was front page news in the West. He and his team climbed volcanoes, pressed plants, murdered fascinating new animal species, reset the coordinates, often grossly incorrect, for scores of cartographic features (rivers, mountains, etc.), slept on the shores of the Orinoco River, dodged leopards, crocodiles and other predators, and were eaten alive by mosquitoes. This was a time when his name was a byword for adventure on the lips of every schoolboy, even in the U.S.
Afterward Humboldt returned to Europe, settling in Paris, where he wrote up his findings. What resulted was a series of paradigm-smashing publications for both scientists and general readers. He is the first true naturalist as we understand that term today. It helped that Humboldt was a writer of startling clarity and concision. Until then, it seems, writing for the masses was not considered a career-expanding opportunity by men of science. Author Andrea Wulf does not say why, but I think it probably had something to do with the presumed loss of reputation for so craven an act of moneymaking. Humboldt changed all that. Sacks and Gould and countless other writers would become beneficiaries of his breakthrough.
But his insight into the unplumbed market for science writing is secondary to his real achievement. Humboldt’s revolutionary act was to view nature as a unified force dependent upon myriad interactions and mutual reciprocities, not reduced to mind-numbing categories as taxonomists and other systematists were then doing. Humboldt saw the full ecological impact of forests; therefore, he was the first to warn about deforestation. He saw how greedy cash crops (monoculture), cleared needed forest, leeched the ground of minerals and emptied aquifers, thus touching the fates of countless animal species, including humans. Moreover, he saw the importance of expressing one’s personal emotional responses to nature and he wrote with a passion that repelled some cold men of science, but enlisted scores of readers from all walks of life.
He had as personal acquaintances Simón Bolívar, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, U.S. presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, and Napoleon Bonaparte, who had him arrested briefly as a German spy. They all read him. His works constituted an epiphany for Charles Darwin, who took Humboldt’s Personal Narrative on board H.M.S. Beagle with him and who later met his hero. Henry David Thoreau could not have written Walden without Humboldt's example. The English Romantic poets William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Lord Byron all read and were influenced by him; as was Edgar Allan Poe, who dedicated his Eureka: A Prose Poem to him.
The major figures succeeding Humboldt and carrying his torch, if you will, include George Perkins Marsh, whose Man and Nature coalesced Humboldt’s environmental warnings, previously scattered throughout many volumes, into a clarion call for the conservation of the natural world; Ernst Haeckel, the prolific marine biologist, who virtually broadcast the Humboldtian sensibility to countless millions through his own popular books and articles; and John Muir, the almost comically ecstatic naturalist largely responsible for creating the U.S. federal parks system.
P.S. Humboldt was almost certainly homosexual. He usually had some slender young man with him in the guise of assistant. He avoided women like the plague, except those who could talk science, and he was said, if we are to believe Wulf (I do), to have disappointed entire cities of women who thought he'd make a fine match. His life was, in part, another bullet to the gizzard of that ridiculous fiction, the celibate bachelor. (less)
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David
May 24, 2016David rated it it was amazing
Recommended to David by: Charlene Lewis Estornell
Shelves: geology, natural-history, biography, ecology, environment, evolution, travel
This is a wonderful biography of a man about whom I knew very little. Today, in the United States, his name is practically unknown, despite being a world-wide celebrity in his day. Humboldt was a great explorer and scientist. He saw nature as a unified whole, an "organism in which parts only worked in relation to each other." His approach was holistic, and was entirely against the reductionist approach to science. Perhaps because of the influence of Goethe, Humboldt strongly advocated merging of art and science. In 1806, his writings were about evolutionary ideas, long before Darwin. In fact, Darwin took Humboldt's seven-volume book Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent along with him during his voyage aboard the Beagle. In his book Views of Nature, Humboldt wrote about how weather and geography influence the moods of people--and this was a revelation. He inspired generations of scientists, writers and poets, including Thoreau, Emerson, Darwin, and Jules Verne. Humboldt was also a strident abolitionist: He equated colonialism with slavery and "European barbarism." He befriended and greatly influenced Simón Bolívar's efforts to free South America from the tyranny of its colonial status. He was the world's foremost expert on Latin America.
When Humboldt was young, he yearned to participate in adventures and exploration. At the age of 27, he went off on an exploration of South America, an adventure that lasted five years. He survived terrible conditions, jungle heat, mountain cold, high-altitude sickness, and the torment of mosquitos. He did not take a large retinue, but only traveled with one scientist friend and a couple of guides. Along the way he took copious notes, a multitude of measurements with his scientific instruments, and lots of specimens of flora and fauna. He sent them back to Europe at regular intervals, in case he never made it back home alive.
Humboldt invented the concept of isotherms, that enabled a global understanding of climate. Back in Europe, he gave many free lectures in Berlin, encouraging people of all classes to attend. Half of the attendees were women. His lectures were unique, connecting "seemingly disparate disciplines and facts." He talked about the complex web of nature with "extraordinary clarity." He organized a remarkable conference of 500 scientists from all across Europe.
When Humboldt was 59 years old, he went on an expedition to Siberia. After analyzing the geology of certain areas in the Ural mountains, he predicted that he would find diamonds, and everyone thought he was crazy. But, he did find them!
He was at heart an environmentalist. He wrote a lot about the destruction of forests and long-term changes to the environment. He described three ways in which humans change the climate; deforestation, ruthless irrigation, and through steam and gas in industrial centers. He proposed a global network of stations to measure the Earth's magnetic field, and when it came about, he collected two million measurements over a three-year period.
Humboldt was a great explorer. He strongly encouraged explorers and artists to travel. He decried people who tried to do arm-chair science. He aided less fortunate scientists and explorers, giving them funds even though his own financial position was precarious. One American travel writer wrote that he "came to Berlin not to see museums and galleries, but 'for the sake of seeing and speaking with the world's greatest living man.'"
In this book, Andrea Wulf does much more that merely narrate the life of Humboldt. She also goes to great lengths to give the biographies of some other amazing people who were strongly influenced by Humboldt. In this way, we get a picture of how important Humboldt was, and still is. Humboldt was one of the first environmentalists and wrote so much about ecology. The book is well-written, well-organized, and fun to read. The descriptions of Humboldt's travels are gripping, as she writes about the dangerous climbs, diseases, and predators all around. I highly recommend it to everyone interested in nature, science, and exploration. (less)
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Beata
Oct 19, 2018Beata rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: favorites
This was an absolutely phenomenal read!! It’s a non-fiction but rarely do I read fiction books written so well and so well translated. And Alexander …… a most unusual man „since the deluge”. I’m delighted Andrea Wulf decided to write this book, which, in fact, is a homage to the scientist who undertook most extraordinary expeditions, who was interested in how nature works, and whose detailed observations regarding wildlife laid foundations for modern science and environmental studies. I’m not go ...more
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Jan-Maat
Aug 01, 2017Jan-Maat added it · review of another edition
Shelves: science, 21st-century, biographical, modern-history
Overall a nice book.
If I was giving star ratings then at times this book for me soared into five stars, at others it dredged through three star territory but because of the charm and vivacity and surprisingly upbeat approach to the book's subject I would not begrudge the book four stars and would generally encourage others to read it.
However I feel that Wulf's mind was pregnant with two books and in this one, both are conjoined and stillborn. There is the oddly optimistic and breezy book about ...more
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P.E.
Feb 13, 2020P.E. rated it it was amazing
Shelves: transcendentalism, ecology, biography, voyage, geography, treasure-hunt, vivid-dream, book-about-books, dossier-de-partage
He saw the earth as one great living organism where everything was connected, conceiving a bold new vision of nature that still influences the way that we understand the natural world.
I immensely appreciated reading this narrative. The Invention of Nature portrays polymath Alexander von Humboldt in the wider scheme of things, linking his expeditions and research to the times of swift and radical economical transformations, of lasting and growing social unrest, of wars and revolutions he live ...more
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Michael
Feb 11, 2016Michael rated it really liked it
Shelves: non-fiction, geology, history, biography, russia, biology, colonialism, ecology, philosophy, travel
This biography of Alexander von Humboldt was a revelation and a fun ride for me. This German scientist is credited with developing core concepts of ecology and documenting impacts of human development on the environment in early part of the 19th century. Wulf, who studied history of design and has written previously on the history of horticulture, aims with this accessible and well-illustrated account to rectify the near absence of recognition of Humboldt’s accomplishments in U.S. science education. Indeed, he didn’t come up in my studies of biology, and I only became aware of him through a recent read of Holme’s popular history of 18th and early 19th century science, “The Age of Wonder.” Through Wulf’s book I came to learn how he justifiably become the most well-known and respected scientist of his age and inspired so many other scientific developments and cultural movements more readily recognized today.
The book delves into Humboldt’s childhood in Prussia at the end of the 18th century. Though bookish and eager to study the natural sciences, he was pushed by his father toward more practical education and career in as a mining engineer while his older brother, Wilhelm, was supported in taking a more academic track. At least the work he subsequently engaged in for a mining company allowed him to dig into the fields of geology, chemistry, and metallurgy and fulfilled some of his interests in travel and exploration. Great minds attracted him like a magnet, and through a visit to his brother in Jena he soon immersed himself in the great ferment of culture and science there that led to the birth of German Romanticism. He formed a seminal friendship with Goethe, who lived nearby, and together they worked on experiments in ‘animal electricity’, theories of botany and geology, and digested the powerful ideas of Kant. The latter’s “Critique of Pure Reason” pointed a way for them for the subjective self to create knowledge and not just to passively mirror and reflect on external reality through the senses. The creative force of the mind and emotions became for them a key to knowledge and making a valid model of reality knowledge. This form of systems thinking was a foundation for his revelations on nature as an interconnected whole and man’s integral part within it.
After his father died, he inherited enough money to fund his keen desire to explore great unknowns in the world. The teeming life of equatorial jungles especially hungered him. However, a proper expedition required more money than he had and the colonial empires were proprietary about their new possessions. After getting shut out of a chance at French territories he eventually wangled permissions and financial support for an expedition to Venezuela. In his five years away, he supplemented his studies of botany and zoology in the rainforest with systematic approaches to climate and biogeography through study of progression from the lowlands to high altitudes of volcanic peaks. He consolidated his theories with further explorations in the Andes, Central America, and Cuba. Through ethnographic observations he came to appreciate the integrity and wisdom of indigenous peoples and become disturbed with the common vision of them as savages suitable for slavery and exploitation in colonial enterprise. He saw clearly the connection of colonialism, with its deforestation, focus on cash crops, and destructive mining practices, to degradation of the environment and prospects for extinction of species and native cultures. On his way back to Europe, he found a good ear for his discoveries in a stop in America with President Jefferson, who also favored progressive agrarian approaches and responsible stewardship for vast new territories acquired from France and just explored by Lewis and Clark.
Humboldt’s great skills in public speaking and marshalling his ideas into accessible writing made him an instant worldwide star in both intellectual circles and the populace at large. His non-stop talking and flitting from soiree to soiree in Paris inspired many significant thinkers and scientists who came into his path (others found him to be a egocentric bore). His work over decades in writing many volumes based on his field work was subsidized by King Friedrich Wilhelm III, who allowed him to set up shop in Paris, despite France being a frequent enemy in conflicts over these years. His successor forced him to work in Berlin, where he was led to found a university to make up for a gap in centers of learning. Eventually he was able to talk Wilhelm IV into subsidizing a scientific expedition to Russia, ostensibly to review mining practices but which Humboldt used as a platform for a jaunt of his own interest into remote regions of Siberia.
His magnum opus, Cosmos, written over a long swath of his later years, harnessed the work of many other scientists in a synthesis of many fields of science with their political, economic, and philosophical implications. Wulf works to bring his personality and personal life alive, but his choice to never marry or forge serious romantic relationships leaves the question of his sexuality or general deficiencies in sustaining intimate relationships a mystery. Wulf spends the last third of the book making a story of how his inspiration and seminal influences contributed to Darwin’s theory of evolution and Lyell’s formulation of geological principles. Direct links to Thoreau’s concepts of man’s integral part of nature and contribution to Transcendentalism are documented. The work of George Marsh in his book “Man and Nature” follows Humboldt’s footsteps in its revelations of environmental degradations from exploitive agricultural practices and overfishing in Egypt and the Mideast. The German biologist Hoeckel was inspired by Humboldt’s thinking about ecology and comparative anatomy to advance marine and developmental biology and use the esthetics of his experience of natural form to add ferment to the Art Nouveau movement. Finally. Humboldt’s personal enthusiasm with exploring wilderness and advocacy of conservation of such regions was a foundation for John Muir’s life and accomplishments with respect to establishments of preserves and national parks. Though the absence of a single clear theory on the order of Darwin’s contributed to Humboldt not sustaining a lasting place in the scientific edifice we all are privy to in school, he does deserve the respect Wulf accords him in the history of ideas.
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Bradley
Mar 07, 2019Bradley rated it it was amazing
Shelves: science, 2019-shelf
I was never taught a thing about this man in any of my courses, whether HS or college. Odd, right? Especially since he was a man so unambiguously RIGHT about so many things, had universal acclaim in his lifetime and for a long time afterward, but has, since WWI and WWII, been relegated to the dustbin of history because he HAPPENS to have grown up Prussian. That's Germany for you young whippersnappers not hip to what they called themselves back in Mozart's time.
So, WTF?
Here are some really cool ...more
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Roy Lotz
Jan 15, 2019Roy Lotz rated it liked it
Shelves: nature-writing, biography-memoir-travel
Alexander von Humboldt was a remarkable man. Simultaneously a savant and an explorer, he knew everyone, studied everything, and did his best to travel everywhere. Andrea Wulf brings together the many seemingly divergent worlds that he bridged: the worlds of Thomas Jefferson, Simón Bolívar, Napoleon, Goethe, Charles Darwin, and even Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He left his fingerprints on the worlds of science, literature, art, and even politics. Yet today he is (or was, before Wulf) a fairly obscure figure in the English-speaking world.
Thus this book is not simply a biography, but an attempt at rehabilitation. Wulf wishes to restore Humboldt to his place of honor; and she does this by arguing that his influence has been fundamental and pervasive. But before she can deal with Humboldt’s reputation, she must first narrate the scientist’s own coming of age. Humboldt was one of these figures with seemingly boundless energy, who threw himself into his work with complete abandon. We watch the young Humboldt as he struggles with, and finally throws off, the expectations of his upbringing, and then dashes away to South America. Once he embarks on his voyage, it does not take a strong writer—which Wulf is—to make his story exciting. Humboldt’s own travelogues were bestsellers.
Humboldt emerges from his travels with a concept of nature which, Wulf argues, was revolutionary and which became extremely influential. Wulf identifies three new elements of Humboldt’s approach to nature: First, that nature cannot be understood without both the scientific and the poetic eye; analysis and sentiment are necessary to do justice to the natural world. Second, that the living world must be understood as a gestalt, with organisms depending on one another in an intimate set of relationships that boggles the intellect. And third, that scientists must think on a global scale if they wish to understand the complex interactions between plants, animals, and climates.
This is the meat of the book. Yet it is here that I began to shift from enchantment to disappointment. For Wulf does not do nearly enough work to convince the skeptical reader that Humboldt’s view of nature was so entirely new. I would have appreciated far more background on previous conceptualizations of the natural world. Without this, it is hard to tell where Humboldt was innovative. Further, Wulf is always rather vague with Humboldt’s actual scientific contributions. She elects to keep the narrative pace driving forward, which doubtless helped her sales; yet I would have appreciated an explanation of Humboldt’s thought in more detail, with a good deal more quoting of the man.
Conversely, Wulf could have greatly reduced the space devoted to the men Humboldt influenced. She has individual chapters for John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Darwin, George Perkins Marsh, and Ernst Haeckel—space that she uses as opportunities to prove her thesis that Humboldt’s writings were fundamental to their success. But I found the level of biographical detail excessive, and her point overstated. She makes it seem as if these men owed their accomplishments—if not wholly, at least in large part—to Humboldt’s influence. But you cannot measure influence, and you cannot prove a counterfactual (what would they have done without Humboldt?). In any case, the point is entirely abstract without a more careful discussion of Humboldt’s ideas; lacking that, it is not possible to say where his influence begins or ends.
By now I am convinced that Humboldt was an important and compelling figure in the history of science. But I am far from convinced that his late obscurity was a mere result of anti-German sentiment caused by the two World Wars, as Wulf claims in the Epilogue. Too many other German scientists and philosophers remained famous. Rather, I think Humboldt may have fallen into obscurity because it is difficult to do justice to the nature of his contribution. Unlike Darwin, he did not originate any major scientific theory that could unify a great many phenomena under a simple explanation. Humboldt’s major contributions seems to be perspectival: seeing nature as complex yet whole, as godless yet beautiful, as vast and inhuman yet spiritually refreshing. And it is difficult to work that into a textbook. (less)
