The invention of nature Alexander von Humboldt's new world

"The acclaimed author of Founding Gardeners reveals the forgotten life 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. Alexander von Humboldt (1769 -- 1859) was an intrepid explorer...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wulf, Andrea
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2015.
Edition:First American Edition.
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

MARC

LEADER 00000cam a22000008i 4500
001 ocn911240481
003 OCoLC
005 20230810161800.0
008 150616t20152015nyuab b 001 0 eng
010 |a  2015017505 
019 |a 898909702 
020 |a 9780385350662 (hardcover) 
020 |a 038535066X (hardcover) 
020 |a 9780345806291  |q (pbk.) 
035 |a (OCoLC)911240481  |z (OCoLC)898909702 
040 |a DLC  |b eng  |e rda  |c DLC  |d OCLCO  |d YDXCP  |d BTCTA  |d BDX  |d JAI  |d OCLCO  |d CLE  |d XLM  |d PCB 
042 |a pcc 
043 |a e-gx--- 
050 0 0 |a Q143.H9  |b W85 2015 
082 0 0 |a 509.2  |a B  |2 23 
100 1 |a Wulf, Andrea. 
245 1 4 |a The invention of nature :  |b Alexander von Humboldt's new world /  |c Andrea Wulf. 
250 |a First American Edition. 
264 1 |a New York :  |b Alfred A. Knopf,  |c 2015. 
300 |a xix, 473 pages :  |b illustrations, maps ;  |c 25 cm 
504 |a Includes bibliographical references and index. 
505 0 |a Part 1. Departure: Emerging ideas. Beginnings -- Imagination and nature: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Humboldt -- In search of a destination. -- Part 2. Arrival: Collecting ideas. South America -- The Llanos and the Orinoco -- Across the Andes -- Chimborazo -- Politics and nature: Thomas Jefferson and Humboldt. -- Part 3. Return: Sorting ideas. Europe -- Berlin -- Paris -- Revolutions and nature: Simon Bolivar and Humboldt -- London -- Going in circles: Maladie Centrifuge -- Part 4. Influence: Spreading ideas. Return to Berlin -- Russia -- Evolution and nature: Charles Darwin and Humboldt -- Humbolt's Cosmos -- Poetry, science and nature: Henry David Thoreau and Humboldt -- Part 5. New worlds: Evolving ideas. The greatest man since the deluge -- Man and nature: George Perkins Marsh and Humboldt -- Art, ecology and nature: Ernst Haeckel and Humboldt -- Preservation and nature: John Muir and Humboldt. 
520 0 |a "The acclaimed author of Founding Gardeners reveals the forgotten life 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. Alexander von Humboldt (1769 -- 1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. In North America, his name still graces four counties, thirteen towns, a river, parks, bays, lakes, and mountains. His restless life was packed with adventure and discovery, whether he was climbing the highest volcanoes in the world or racing through anthrax-infected Siberia or translating his research into bestselling publications that changed science and thinking. Among Humboldt's most revolutionary ideas was a radical vision of nature, that it is a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for the use of humankind alone. Now Andrea Wulf brings the man and his achievements back into focus: his daring expeditions and investigation of wild environments around the world and his discoveries of similarities between climate and vegetation zones on different continents. She also discusses his prediction of human-induced climate change, his remarkable ability to fashion poetic narrative out of scientific observation, and his relationships with iconic figures such as Simón Bolívar and Thomas Jefferson. Wulf examines how Humboldt's writings inspired other naturalists and poets such as Darwin, Wordsworth, and Goethe, and she makes the compelling case that it was Humboldt's influence that led John Muir to his ideas of natural preservation and that shaped Thoreau's Walden. With this brilliantly researched and compellingly written book, Andrea Wulf shows the myriad fundamental ways in which Humboldt created our understanding of the natural world, and she champions a renewed interest in this vital and lost player in environmental history and science."--From publisher's website. 
600 1 0 |a Humboldt, Alexander von,  |d 1769-1859. 
650 0 |a Scientists  |z Germany  |v Biography. 
650 0 |a Naturalists  |z Germany  |v Biography. 
690 0 |a Barber, Kenneth F. tribute. 
938 |a Brodart  |b BROD  |n 111842433 
938 |a Baker and Taylor  |b BTCP  |n BK0016274135 
938 |a YBP Library Services  |b YANK  |n 12221451 
994 |a C0  |b PCB 
949 |a CH  |b NadNFB  |c 92 Humboldt  |d i  |e 39241503325990  |f 590635  |g ddc  |j 01/26/2016 
949 |a schlow  |b SANBIO  |c Humboldt  |d i  |e 39635104494152  |f 753627  |g loc  |j 08/10/2023 
999 |a 378340