
The Invention of Nature – The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt - etiam
http://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/the-invention-of-nature-andrea-wulf-review/
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ucaetano
There's a nice article from The Economist about the same book:
[http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21677608-why-
pr...](http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21677608-why-prussian-
scientific-visionary-should-be-studied-afresh-man-world)

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macintux
Embarrassed to admit I'd not heard of Humboldt. What an astonishing man, and
those are some powerful ripples from his life.

The description of the late 1820s has some notable parallels to today's mood.
Gives me some comfort to be reminded there have been dark periods before that
we've overcome.

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Feuilles_Mortes
This is not so much a review of the book, but a summary of it.

Coincidentally, I'm reading this book right now - my advice would be to read
the actual book as opposed to this summary. It is much more lucid, and gives
you a deeper sense of the man as a human rather than a list of facts and
accomplishments.

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ashark
Anyone know if there's a connection with Mary Shelley? His early childhood,
motivation, and preparation for travels (from the article and Wikipedia) reads
similarly enough to that of the protagonist of the framing story in
Frankenstein that, were his history widely known at the time, it must surely
have been an inspiration for it. Either that or there was _something in the
air_ and that kind of story was (relatively) common.

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theoh
Google reveals this mention:

[http://darwin-
online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/Chancello...](http://darwin-
online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/Chancellor_Humboldt.html)

"Humboldt's world view of one vast interconnected system, through which he
drew three-dimensional lines tracing, for instance, rock formations,
atmospheric and oceanic currents and ecological communities is probably the
most impressive feature of his Personal narrative. The book is a rich store of
facts, history and observations which Darwin and many other writers have been
plundering for almost two centuries. While still a great travel story, it is
perhaps too prolix for modern readers and the ratio of science to (somewhat
tedious) history certainly shrinks in the later volumes. Nevertheless, few
books can provide such an insight into a world divided between 'Old' or 'New'
in a way very hard to appreciate today. When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein
in 1818 she had his 'creation' declare that he and his bride 'will go to the
vast wilds of South America', a place as far from 'civilisation' as possible
where they can do no harm. Those vast wilds were probably known to her from
the Personal narrative."

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tumba
I second the recommendation of this book. I also read this year a historical
novel that features Humboldt which provided an engrossing opportunity to
experience his world in a different way. Also highly recommended.

David Kehlmann, Measuring the World [https://www.amazon.com/Measuring-World-
Novel-Daniel-Kehlmann...](https://www.amazon.com/Measuring-World-Novel-Daniel-
Kehlmann/dp/0307277399/)

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jdpigeon
This was in my top 5 books I read last year. Highly recommend it.

One good thing about it is it also includes biographies of lots of other
interesting greats like Darwin and Muir.

