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 ...
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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 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 an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. In North America, his name still graces four counties, thirteen towns, a river, parks, bays, lakes, and mountains. His restless life was packed with adventure and discovery, whether he was climbing the highest volcanoes in the world or racing through anthrax-infected Siberia or translating his research into bestselling publications that changed science and thinking. Among Humboldt's most revolutionary ideas was a radical vision of nature, that it is a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for the use of humankind alone. Now Andrea Wulf brings the man and his achievements back into focus: his daring expeditions and investigation of wild environments around the world and his discoveries of similarities between climate and vegetation zones on different continents. She also discusses his prediction of human-induced climate change, his remarkable ability to fashion poetic narrative out of scientific observation, and his relationships with iconic figures such as Sim�n Bol�var and Thomas Jefferson. Wulf examines how Humboldt's writings inspired other naturalists and poets such as Darwin, Wordsworth, and Goethe, and she makes the compelling case that it was Humboldt's influence that led John Muir to his ideas of natural preservation and that shaped Thoreau's Walden . With this brilliantly researched and compellingly written book, Andrea Wulf shows the myriad fundamental ways in which Humboldt created our understanding of the natural world, and she champions a renewed interest in this vital and lost player in environmental history and science.
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Add this copy of The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt's New to cart. $5.40, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Knopf Publishing Group.
Add this copy of The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt's New to cart. $7.50, fair condition, Sold by Peninsula FOL rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Palos Verdes Estates, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Knopf.
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Fair. Size: 6x1x9; All proceeds benefit local libraries. Book has considerable underlining some marginal writing. Cover has some fading and stains. Name of previous owner is stamped on the book's edges. Dust cover is intact and has a label on it's spine edge. Binding is very good.
Add this copy of The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt's New to cart. $7.70, good condition, Sold by Eyes and Hour Used Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Omaha, NE, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Knopf Publishing Group.
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Good. Missing DJ. Text is w/o highlighting, marginalia, etc. --a few sharply creased page corners; binding is sound; lightly soiled text block; a spot of adhesive residue to top corner of front board; minor bumps to upper spine; discolored rear board. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 473 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade.
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Very Good-in Very Good dust jacket. 038535066X. Scuffs to the exterior edge of pages only. Great overall condition. Minor cosmetic wear. No noteworthy blemishes. No writing.; 6.75 X 1.5 X 9.75 inches; 496 pages.
Humboldt was certainly an important scientist and an interesting fellow. Author Wulf traces the high-lights of his career, and even glossing over some areas, or making passing mention, it is still a pretty big book.
I don't understand the title, as Wulf doesn't make a convincing case that Humboldt fundamentally changed the way humankind and the planet interact- she is right that he saw how much human activity can change the environment before others did, but that lesson of his life seems to have been forgotten for a long time...making me doubt his work changed anything in the sciences.
