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Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt's New World

The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt's New World

By Andrea Wulf

A portrait of the German naturalist reveals his ongoing influence on humanity's relationship with the natural world today, discussing such topics as his views on climate change, conservation, and nature as a resource for all life.

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Book Information

Publisher: Vintage
Publish Date: 10/04/2016
Pages: 576
ISBN-13: 9780345806291
ISBN-10: 0345806298
Language: English

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April 03, 2023

A booklist to celebrate new and classic reads that inform on and celebrate our planet. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

Full Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the visionary German naturalist whose ideas changed the way we see the natural world--and in the process created modern environmentalism. - From the acclaimed author of Magnificent Rebels.

"Vivid and exciting.... Wulf's pulsating account brings this dazzling figure back into a dazzling, much-deserved focus." --The Boston Globe

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was the most famous scientist of his age, a visionary German naturalist and polymath whose discoveries forever changed the way we understand the natural world. Among his most revolutionary ideas was a radical conception of nature as a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for the use of humankind alone. In North America, Humboldt's name still graces towns, counties, parks, bays, lakes, mountains, and a river. And yet the man has been all but forgotten. In this illuminating biography, Andrea Wulf brings Humboldt's extraordinary life back into focus: his prediction of human-induced climate change; his daring expeditions to the highest peaks of South America and to the anthrax-infected steppes of Siberia; his relationships with iconic figures, including Simón Bolívar and Thomas Jefferson; and the lasting influence of his writings on Darwin, Wordsworth, Goethe, Muir, Thoreau, and many others. Brilliantly researched and stunningly written, The Invention of Nature reveals the myriad ways in which Humboldt's ideas form the foundation of modern environmentalism--and reminds us why they are as prescient and vital as ever.

About the Author

Andrea Wulf lives in London. She is the author of Chasing Venus, Founding Gardeners, The Brother Gardeners, which was long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize and awarded the American Horticultural Society Book Award, and The Invention of Nature, a national best seller that won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Costa Biography Award, and the Royal Geographical Society Ness Award and was named one of The New York Times Top 10 Books of the Year.

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