The Invention of Nature – The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt | Hacker News Reader

The Invention of Nature – The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt

sydneyreviewofbooks.com

53 pointsetiam7 comments

There's a nice article from The Economist about the same book: http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21677608-why-pr...

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.

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.

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.

Google reveals this mention:

http://darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/Chancello...

"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."

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...

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.

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