The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World
By Andrea Wulf
Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Science & Math
Andrea Wulf tells the life of Alexander von Humboldt, the Prussian naturalist and explorer whose ideas shaped how we understand nature today. She follows his travels through South America, Russia and Europe and explains his view of nature as a single interconnected web of life. Wulf also shows how Humboldt influenced thinkers such as Darwin, Thoreau, John Muir and Simón Bolívar, and argues that he invented the modern idea of nature and ecology.
Recommended by 1 person
- Shane Parrish: “What an interesting book. I had never heard of Von Humboldt, and by the end I was surprised by this.”