The Invention of Nature

As I mentioned in my review of Humboldt's Personal Narrative Alexander von Humboldt was my grandfather's personal hero, and the more I've read about him the more I've come to respect him as well. Not only was he an intrepid adventurer, brilliant scientist, abolitionist, and anti-imperialist, but Andrea Wulf gives a strong argument that he really was the first environmentalist, giving the first voice to the idea that human activity destroys the natural environment. He also wrote Cosmos, a synthesis of all the scientific knowledge and world history of the the age and the inspiration of the show hosted by Carl Sagan 150 years later.
Wulf's biography is detailed and engaging, and goes beyond putting his life in context of the era by connecting it with our understanding of the world today. Not content with just Humboldt's life, she goes on to write mini biographies of many famous figures greatly influenced by Humboldt, such as Charles Darwin, David Thoreau, Ernst Haeckel, and John Muir. My one complaint is it does get repetitive in a few parts, but those are far and few between.

One of the minds born of the Age of Enlightenment was Alexander Von Humboldt. I didn't realise before reading this book how central he is to the way we think about nature and the world. Minds such as Darwin, John Muir, Thoreau, George Marsh, Earnest Haeckel (along with the Art Nouveau movement) and so on were directly influenced by his works and worldview. This worldview saw nature and humanity as a global intertwined system which can only be understood through a combination of great leaps of the imagination (the subjective and emotional experience) as well as hard data (the scientific, empirical and objective mind) together, a radical new theory for the time. I feel after reading this book I understand my passion and profession (I am an MSc earth science student) so much more, as well as the origins of my field. I feel university and the education system in general has pushed me away from the arts, suggesting that I could only pursue EITHER science OR beauty when in fact I have a love of both, and wish to see the natural world in an aesthetic as well as a scientific light. After all, what is more poetic than the communication of an entire woodland by fungal networks, or more humbling than a hundred million years in the geology of a cliff face? What underpins every scientist's passion for their subject? The beauty of it of course! This book has been a great inspiration to me. Learning about Humboldt's life and influence on the world (and thus my worldview) has been a way for me to reconnect with my subject after university education had taken some of the romance out of it. In short, I highly recommend this book, I will certainly go on to read Humboldt's "Cosmos" and "Views on nature"!

I feel like I've read two books.

The first ~half of the book is a biography, the rest is made up of separate stories that are partial biographies of people that are somehow related to Humboldt. I didn't like this structure very much, but thought thta the book was absolutely reading even just for the first part.

The first part is a riveting account of Alexander von Humboldt's life, work, methods, successes and challenges. It gives a glimpse into the mind of a man who was truly ahead of his time, entirely dedicated to the singular purpose of understanding the world, and originator of hundreds of hugely impactful ideas that we take for granted today.

The stories in the second half, while mostly interesting, were only very loosely connected and full of biographical facts that had no relevance to me.

Overall, the book makes a good case for thinking in systems, thinking (and collaborating) across disciplines, and thinking long term. Humboldt's comparative approach to science and his accessible method of science communication unlocked a string of epiphanies for him and others, and the world could use more of that these days.

It is however depressing to read how much Humboldt already understood about our arrogant treatment of minorities and the environment, over 200 years ago, and how little progress has been made on those topics since. Humboldt was concerned about people making unintentional, irreversible changes to the climate and ecosystems of the regions he explored; he would be infuriated if he learned that we've since extended this "method" to the planet as a whole.

You might say "Who needs a nearly 500 page biography of Alexander von Humboldt?" Or, even more likely, "Who the heck is Alexander von Humboldt?" As Wulf's title alludes to, Humboldt was a polymath, a scientist who was more at home in nature than in the lab and writing instead of researching. And his views of nature as a holistic thing, including the works of man, as well as just how destructive man can be, was hugely influential at the dawn of modern science. His works influenced an amazing array of writers and scientists, from Henry David Thoreau to Charles Darwin.

Humboldt lived an amazing life. Early in his 20s, he made an epic trip across South America, measuring, writing and thinking about the world around him. An amazing story and he wrote several hugely influential books when he got back. Amazingly, despite writing these in the very early 1800s, he was already realizing how destructive man could be to the environment.

He was also a tireless abolitionist, castigating America (otherwise a favored place) and the Spanish colonies for their embrace of slavery. Don't say people didn't know in the early 1800s just how awful slavery was. He was also in money troubles for most of his life, despite penning several best sellers. One reason was that translations that appeared in other countries were not covered under copyright, so he never earned a dime from the wide international popularity of his books. Crazy.

His influence started with an early meeting with Goethe and continued for the entirety of his 90+ years. Wulf documents what an effect he had on other writers. It was his Views on Nature that encouraged Thoreu to come to grips with his Walden. It was his writing the spurred Darwin into taking his Beagle journey. He had a huge effect on Simon Bolivar, John Muir (who indexed his own copy of Views of Nature) and Thomas Jefferson.

He was also a huge influence on some people I had never heard of but who themselves were hugely influential in the future of science and nature. Writers like George Perkins Marsh, who corralled Humboldt's thoughts on man's effects on nature and wrote a book documented how human's can wreck things. And Ernst Haeckle, who's writings and illustrations on microscopic sea creatures actually inspired an entire art movement.

Wulf says that more places are named after Humboldt than anyone else. His death inspired a worldwide outpouring of appreciation and his 100th birthday found hundreds of celebrations worldwide. Wulf attributes his lack of recognition today to the ever increasing specialization of scientists and, at least in the English speaking world, to anti-German backlash to the World Wars.

But the book is written with passion, by someone who obviously truly respects and adores her subject. And you will too after reading it. I felt like I was climbing Chimborazo myself and longed to see what he saw. And I already have an order in for a print of his Naturgemälde, his "stunning depiction of nature as an interconnected whole". While the book kind of slowed down in the middle, as did Humboldt's life, it picked up rapidly and finished with a flurry. Fantastic!

This book follows the life of Alexander Von Humboldt and takes us on a rapturous journey with him through South America and Siberia, with detours with Darwin, Thoreau, Emerson and strangely enough with Bolivar during his own revolution. I have criticized other books for this same reason, but Andrea Wolf was both chronological with these detours and stuck with the theme of Humboldt and naturalism. And thus we learn about this great man and our current view of nature.

Alexander Von Humboldt was the first ecologist, environmentalist, a great champion of science and nature popularization and a intellectual godfather to entire generations of scientists. So how in hell have I not heard of him until now?

To me this was incredibly weird considering that Humboldt has also in his latter life written a book titled Cosmos that has thrived to show connections of all of sciences at the time and put on display the glory and beauty of our world and universe. Sound familiar, it should because Carl Sagan did the same in the 70s. Surely he had made some acknowledgements to Humboldt, so I pulled my copy of Cosmos off the shelf and reread the introduction. Nothing. Ok, Sagan started every chapter with a few quotes by notable people, maybe there is some mention there. Still nothing. Oh well ,lets look at the index. Page 89, in a footnote acknowledgement of Humboldts views on comets with the source listed as his book Cosmos volume 5... Oh the Irony! And I know that this was definitely added by one of many editors and research librarians, still something I guess...

This book came at the right time, this mans legacy has to be resurrected and this time remembered for good.

An exceptionally well researched biography about "The Lost Hero of Science", Alexander von Humboldt. Andrea Wulf describes Humboldt's unusual and exploratory life by piecing together his letters to colleagues and friends, and his books, into a narrative from his birth in the late 17th Century to his final days in Berlin in the mid-18th. Humboldt was a polymath, as comfortable with art and philosophy as he was with scientific measurements, and his passion for nature, and for people, resounds today, as Wulf highlights, even if he is often forgotten.

Wulf focuses the narrative not only on Humboldt's achievements, but on how he influnced other scientists, artists, economists, philosophers and politicians. His research into nature, the climate, the 'net' of life, and people was only matched by his generosity and social engagement. In his youth he met and was inspired by the poet Goethe. He travelled with scientists and partied with writers and artists. He held court with the Prussian King, and met Thomas Jefferson in the US. He shared his knowledge with as many as he could, eventually influencing Charled Darwin, Ernst Haeckel, George Perkins Marsh, Frederic Edwin Church and Henry David Thoreau among many others, either directly (by meeting and working with them) or indirectly (through their work).

The depth of Wulf's research is astounding, and few writers have committed so much to a single subject, in an ironic contradiction to he subject's sprawling array of specialisms. Unfortunately, her writing is often filled with superlatives, mixed metaphors or occasional assumptions, and as a result the writing is sometimes frustrating. Nevertheless, the breadth of information, taken as a guiding point to Humboldt and 19th Century science/philosophy, makes this one of the best biographies I have read and an easy one to recommend.

I found this right in a period when I feel I'm rediscovering nature, and here is a fascinating tour through the history behind both my experience and my conception of nature. I'm now aghast that I didn't know more about Humboldt, and determined to read his books.

Read the book; you'll be one-up on the other 99% who only vaguely have heard the name, and can't place it. A visit to Jefferson confirmed the President's natural instincts, providing any remaining inspiration to explore the continent west of Monticello. Interestingly, Pat's and my engagement, in Zurich, happened on the 100th anniversary of the 100th Anniversary celebration of Humboldt's birth. Wulf brings this near past into vivid context, as if we had lived in the time when news took it's time. In so doing, helps us appreciate Humboldt's impact in his own day.