**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.
