The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf will appeal to most people who visit a green blog like mine regularly. I bought it in audio book format so I could listen to it at work when, on occasion, I work solo. The price is usually lower than print but the one downside is that I miss out on pictures, charts and maps.
Surprise
I expected this book to discuss nature but I didn’t expect this book to be centred around the German Alexander von Humboldt. He was a naturalist and explorer. And after listening to this book, I realized this was my kind of guy. This is a man I would invite over for supper but he died in 1835.
Humboldt’s work would today be classified as physical geography and biogeography, both of which I studied as an undergraduate at the University of Saskatchewan. Sadly, I didn’t jump on a ship to sail around the world. My only real adventure was a summer position surveying forest streams with the United States Forest Service in Idaho. But I digress.
Key point about Humboldt
This one paragraph will summarize the entire book for you. Humboldt was the first guy to consider the entire picture (forests, oceans, climate) and showed us that nature can’t just be measured; it must also be experienced with all of our senses.
Wulf writes that Humboldt predicted and worried about Global Warming way, way before it would become a real problem. He understood what we now know from ecology, that all things in nature are interconnected.
As a bonus, he hated any form of slavery and mistreatment of natives. (My kind of guy). And, unfortunately, he got to witness a lot of abuse on his travels.
And it is precisely these travel accounts that I find fascinating. Even Charles Darwin was inspired by Humboldt’s travels and writing. Wulf writes that Darwin even started writing in Humboldt’s style.
Also, like Humboldt, Darwin “got dirty” and fully experienced nature by observing, measuring, recording and writing about it. Darwin’s travel accounts are also highly recommended.
Conclusion
This is a well-written and produced book. Because of it, I discovered that Alexander von Humboldt was a fascinating man. I would give it 5/5 stars. Amazingly, this book tied together many of the issues and people I studied as an undergraduate.
The book gives you a great view into Humboldt’s life but also examines the larger issues of nature. The travel accounts are a huge bonus. Getting lost in travel accounts from another century is one of my pleasures in life. I think you will enjoy it, too.
