The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World

Worthy of an Award
Science privileges measurable observations. Alexander von Humboldt, probably the most acclaimed scientist of his day, provided a vast number of such measurements, and voluminous publications. He was concerned to provide comparisons of scientific observations—botanical and geological ones especially–from different parts of the world, and he was able to do that through extensive travels on three continents and reports from reliable observers about things he did not directly observe. Thus his stature as a scientist is assured. In fact, many of his discoveries are so established that they are taken for granted today.But this is not all Humboldt cared about, and this is not what Wulf sees as his main significance today, I believe. Humboldt had a large scientific vision of the connectedness of all things in the natural world and accordingly became the first ecologist. He also believed in qualitative observation, and was driven by his emotional responses to the natural world, which puts him at the head of a long succession of what came to be called “nature writers.” He measured the heights of mountains and the boiling temperature of water at different altitudes, through hazardous and painful personal costs, but he thrilled at what some of his contemporaries called the sublime appearance of those mountains. In effect, he combined the rationality of the Enlightenment with the emotional subjectivity characteristic of the romantics. Wulf does not put this is precisely these terms, but for me, as a sometime cultural and intellectual historian, this is much of the value of her book.What Wulf also does, at length (in addition to giving Humboldt’s significant social views about colonialism and slavery) is show (1) Humboldt’s friendly association with important contemporaries such as Goethe and Thomas Jefferson (he was born within a year of Beethoven’s birth); (2) his influence on Darwin, as well as the important evolutionist Haeckel, who was also an artist and who happened to influence the development of art nouveau, through the example of his ostensibly scientific drawings,) and (3) Humboldt’s strong influence on later figures such as Thoreau and John Muir, who were overwhelmingly concerned with nature and its preservation in an emotional way.The Invention of Nature can be compared to Richard Holmes outstanding book, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, which dealt with several scientists more or less contemporary with Humboldt. including another botanist, Joseph Banks, and the astronomer William Herschel, who discovered the planet Uranus.This book is the result of expert and extensive research and at the same time is so well written as to be completely intelligible to the educated general reader. (I found only a couple of editorial oversights–Frankfurt on the Oder is not west of Berlin but on the present German-Polish border; and the short final paragraph in Chapter 23 is a proofreader’s glitch). I also would quibble about the way the author finds contradictions in Humboldt’s character. But these are very minor matters. This is a significant book and I believe that it is worthy of an award as an outstanding accomplishment.

Loved the book and learned a lot about our past

Oh my god …how do I describe this book..I will try ..If you want an adventure, if you are looking to be alive, if you are looking for a hero, if you are in love with your work and love nature.. read it..A man who inspired from Bolivar(to free his country from spain) to Darwin…It is one of the best books I have ever read…

Alexander Von Humbolt foi um indivíduo iluminado, que nasceu predestinado, com uma missão a cumprir. Durante a sua juventude esteve sempre relegado ao andeio de buscar o novo, explorar novos destinos, buscar lugares ainda desconhecidos para o europeu da virada dos anos 1790 e 1800. Após ser considerado disperso, até menos dotado intelectualmente que seu irmão, Wilhen, o jovem Alexander buscou no gosto pelas ciências, uma base formidável de conhecimentos nas mais diversas áreas. Não tendo apoio familiar, vindo de uma criação clássica prussiana, sua origem nobre lhe proveu dos recursos necessários para ter uma educação primorosa. NO entnato, apenas após a morte de sua mãe, o jovem adulto Humbolt teve a liberdade para utilizar sua herança para realizar a primeira de suas muitas viagens, porém a mais marcante: exploração dos trópicos e da América do Sul. Em sua expedição, Humbolt cruzou territórios da atual Venezuela, Peru, Colômbia, Chile, Equador, vindo a ser o primeiro explorador científico da Cordilheira dos Andes. Seus amplos conhecimentos em geologia e botânica, bem como sua veia artística, proveram relatos riquíssimos que futuramente seriam editados em coleções de livros de sucesso mundial. Humbolt criou sua teoria da interconectividade da natureza, tendo sido reconhecido como o maior cientista de sua época, com grande influência em governos da Prussia, França, Espanha e Inglaterra. Manteve contato próximo com movimentos revolucionários, pois tinha afeição pela liberdade de pensamento e das ciências. Por fim ainda esteve nos montes Urais, na Rússia, já na meia idade, após esperar mias de uma década para ter autorização explorar as Índias Britânicas, onde sonhava em escalar o Pico Everest. Ao morrer, em idade avançada, mais de 80 anos, deixou longa lista de publicações científicas, cujo termo residiu em sua grande obra: Cosmus. Seu mérto esteve em popularizar o conhecimento científico para as massas. Humbolt é pouco conhecido fora de países que não adota a língua germânica, em grande parte pelo sentimento anti-germâmico oriundo das duas grande guerras do século XX.