The Invention of Nature

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"!

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!