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The invention of nature : Alexander von Humboldt's new world / Andrea Wulf.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2015Edition: First American editionDescription: xix, 473 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cmISBN:
  • 9780385350662
  • 038535066X
  • 9780345806291
  • 0345806298
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 509.2 B 23
Other classification:
  • K835.165.89
Online resources:
Contents:
Beginnings -- Imagination and nature: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Humboldt -- In search of a destination -- South America -- The llanos and the Orinoco -- Across the Andes -- Chimborazo -- Politics and nature: Thomas Jefferson and Humboldt -- Europe -- Berlin -- Paris -- Revolutions and nature: Simón Bolívar and Humboldt -- London -- Going in circles: Maladie centrifuge -- Return to Berlin -- Russia -- Evolution and nature: Charles Darwin and Humboldt -- Humboldt's Cosmos -- Poetry, science and nature: Henry David Thoreau and Humboldt -- 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.
Summary: " ... Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age ... 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 case that it was Humboldt's influence that led John Muir to his ideas of natural preservation and that shaped Thoreau's Walden ..."--Jacket.
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode
Book State Botanical Collection RBG 925.8 HUM (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available RBG00011087

"THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 345-455) and index.

Beginnings -- Imagination and nature: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Humboldt -- In search of a destination -- South America -- The llanos and the Orinoco -- Across the Andes -- Chimborazo -- Politics and nature: Thomas Jefferson and Humboldt -- Europe -- Berlin -- Paris -- Revolutions and nature: Simón Bolívar and Humboldt -- London -- Going in circles: Maladie centrifuge -- Return to Berlin -- Russia -- Evolution and nature: Charles Darwin and Humboldt -- Humboldt's Cosmos -- Poetry, science and nature: Henry David Thoreau and Humboldt -- 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.

" ... Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age ... 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 case that it was Humboldt's influence that led John Muir to his ideas of natural preservation and that shaped Thoreau's Walden ..."--Jacket.

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