Andrea Wulf

A portrait of the German naturalist reveals his ongoing influence on humanity's relationship with the natural world today, discussing such topics as his views on climate change, conservation, and nature as a resource for all life.

Alexander Von Humboldt's New World

The Invention of Nature

One January morning in 1734, cloth merchant Peter Collinson hurried down to the docks at London’s Custom House to collect cargo just arrived from John Bartram, his new contact in the American colonies. But it was not reels of wool or bales of cotton that awaited him, but plants and seeds… Over the next forty years, Bartram would send hundreds of American species to England, where Collinson was one of a handful of men who would foster a national obsession and change the gardens of Britain forever, introducing lustrous evergreens, fiery autumn foliage and colourful shrubs. They were men of wealth and taste but also of knowledge and experience like Philip Miller, author of the bestselling Gardeners Dictionary, and the Swede Carl Linnaeus, whose standardised botanical nomenclature popularised botany as a genteel pastime for the middle-classes; and the botanist-adventurer Joseph Banks and his colleague Daniel Solander who both explored the strange flora of Tahiti and Australia on the greatest voyage of discovery of modern times, Captain Cook’s Endeavour. This is the story of these men – friends, rivals, enemies, united by a passion for plants – whose correspondence, collaborations and squabbles make for a riveting human tale which is set against the backdrop of the emerging empire, the uncharted world beyond and London as the capital of science. From the scent of the exotic blooms in Tahiti and Botany Bay to the gardens at Chelsea and Kew, and from the sounds and colours of the streets of the City to the staggering vistas of the Appalachian mountains, The Brother Gardeners tells the story how Britain became a nation of gardeners.

Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession

The Brother Gardeners

Alexander von Humboldt und die Erfindung der Natur

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Invention of Nature, comes a breathtakingly illustrated and brilliantly evocative recounting of Alexander Von Humboldt's five year expedition in South America. Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. His restless life was packed with adventure and discovery, but his most revolutionary idea was a radical vision of nature as a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for the use of humankind alone. His theories and ideas were profoundly influenced by a five-year exploration of South America. Now Andrea Wulf partners with artist Lillian Melcher to bring this daring expedition to life, complete with excerpts from Humboldt's own diaries, atlases, and publications. She gives us an intimate portrait of the man who predicted human-induced climate change, fashioned poetic narrative out of scientific observation, and influenced iconic figures such as Simón Bolívar, Thomas Jefferson, Charles Darwin, and John Muir. This gorgeous account of the expedition not only shows how Humboldt honed his groundbreaking understanding of the natural world but also illuminates the man and his passions.

The Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt

The award-winning author of The Brother Gardeners chronicles the 18th-century quest to observe the transit of Venus and measure the solar system, explaining the political strife and weather challenges that were overcome to enable an international team of astronomers to work together. 30,000 first printing.

The Race to Measure the Heavens

Chasing Venus

The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self

Magnificent Rebels

The award-winning author of The Brother Gardeners presents a tour of the lives of the founding fathers from their perspectives as gardeners, farmers and plantsmen, revealing how a shared passion for agriculture shaped their beliefs and decisions.

The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation

Founding Gardeners

La espl�ndida biograf�a de Alexander von Humboldt, el h�roe perdido de la ciencia y padre de la ecolog�a. La invenci�n de la naturaleza revela la extraordinaria vida del visionario naturalista alem�n Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) y c�mo cre� una nueva forma de entender la naturaleza. Humboldt fue un intr�pido explorador y el cient�fico m�s famoso de su �poca. Su agitada vida estuvo repleta de aventuras y descubrimientos: escal� los volcanes m�s altos del mundo, rem� por el Orinoco y recorri� una Siberia infestada de �ntrax. Capaz de percibir la naturaleza como una fuerza global interconectada, Humboldt descubri� similitudes entre distintas zonas clim�ticas de todo el mundo, y previ� el peligro de un cambio clim�tico provocado por el hombre. Convirti� la observaci�n cient�fica en narrativa po�tica, y sus escritos inspiraron no solo a naturalistas y escritores como Darwin, Wordsworth y Goethe, sino tambi�n a pol�ticos como Jefferson o Sim�n Bol�var. Adem�s, fueron las ideas de Humboldt las que llevaron a John Muir a perseverar en sus teor�as, y a Thoreau a escribir su Walden. Wulf rastrea la influencia de Humboldt en las grandes mentes de su tiempo, a las que inspir� en �mbitos como la revoluci�n, la teor�a de evoluci�n, la ecolog�a, la conservaci�n, el arte y la literatura. La invenci�n de la naturaleza est� entre los mejores libros del a�o seg�n The New York Times, The Independent y Publishers Weekly entre otros. Rese�as: �Una lectura sensacional. El estupendo nuevo libro de Andrea Wulf se atreve con la figura de Alexander von Humboldt. La invenci�n de la naturaleza es un elogio de alt�sima calidad a una figura cautivadora.� Simon Winder, The Guardian �Un libro emocionante. [...] Es imposible leerLa invenci�n de la naturaleza sin contraer la fiebre Humboldt.Wulf tiene el poder de volvernos a todoshumboldtianos. Por momentos se lee como literatura de aventuras, y la investigaci�n deWulf tiene dimensiones casihumboldtianas.� New York Review of Books �Consigue su objetivo de rescatar la reputaci�n de Humboldt de la grieta en la que �l y muchos otros escritores y cient�ficos alemanes cayeron despu�s de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.� The Independent �Wulf demuestra que Humboldt fue un aut�ntico visionario, cuya perspectiva es hoy m�s pertinente que nunca.� Booklist �Una biograf�a brillantemente escrita. Como demuestra este maravilloso libro, la figura de Humboldt deber�a incorporarse a toda prisa en todos los programas educativos de la Tierra.� The Scotsman ENGLISH DESCRIPTION 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. NATIONAL BEST SELLER One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The James Wright Award for Nature Writing, the Costa Biography Award, the Royal Geographic Society''s Ness Award, the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Kirkus Prize Prize for Nonfiction, the Independent Bookshop Week Book Award A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Economist, Nature, Jezebel, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, New Scientist, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Evening Standard, The Spectator 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 Sim�n Bol�var 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.

La Invencion de la Naturaleza: El Mundo Nuevo de Alexander Von Humboldt / The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt's New World

Meet the first Romantics... [in this] witty, gossipy, sparkling history, full of bright jewels of anecdote: Goethe lowering a piece of cake on a string from his study window to children playing below; Hegel dodging Napoleon's invading soldiers to get the manuscript of The Phenomenology of the Spirit out of town. But above all the glitter of the parties, feuds and gossip that are so inseparable from intellectual life... Delightful and invigorating... Magnificent Rebels is a triumph.' THE TIMES, Book of the Week 'Extraordinary... A thrilling intellectual history that reads like a racy, intelligent novel, with a cast of unforgettable characters...Jena blazed with a youthful daring and intellectual creativity rarely matched elsewhere and Wulf captures this brilliantly.' SUNDAY TIMES 'Magnificent Rebels is a magnificent book: a revelation which could easily become an obsession. Jena was a prototype of Silicon Valley, a factory in which a handful of geeks open up our skulls and rewire our brains. The Jena set invented the self, and in doing so invented us all; we now think with their thoughts and feel with their emotions.' SPECTATOR 'A thrilling page-turner, by turns comical & tragic... brilliant studies of titanic personalities & epoch-shaping ideas. My book of the year so far.' TOM HOLLAND 'Elegantly written, deeply researched and totally gripping' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE In the 1790s an extraordinary group of friends changed the world. Disappointed by the French Revolution's rapid collapse into tyranny, what they wanted was nothing less than a revolution of the mind. The rulers of Europe had ordered their peoples how to think and act for too long. Based in the small German town of Jena, through poetry, drama, philosophy and science, they transformed the way we think about ourselves and the world around us. They were the first Romantics. Their way of understanding the world still frames our lives and being.We're still empowered by their daring leap into the self. We still think with their minds, see with their imagination and feel with their emotions. We also still walk the same tightrope between meaningful self-fulfilment and destructive narcissism, between the rights of the individual and our role as a member of our community and our responsibilities towards future generations who will inhabit this planet. This extraordinary group of friends changed our world. It is impossible to imagine our lives, thoughts and understanding without the foundation of their ground-breaking ideas.

La aventura filosófica de un grupo de jóvenes rebeldes, el Círculo de Jena, que dieron lugar al Romanticismo y a nuestra comprensión moderna de la libertad. EL REGRESO DE ANDREA WULF TRAS LA INVENCIÓN DE LA NATURALEZA «Magníficos rebeldes vibra con la pasión salvaje y las ideas radicales de un nuevo mundo libre creado a partir de la poesía, el sexo, la música y el romanticismo. Absolutamente fascinante». –SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE ¿Cuándo empezamos a exigir el derecho a decidir sobre nuestras vidas? ¿En qué momento nos volvimos tan egocéntricos como lo somos hoy? ¿Cuándo nos planteamos por primera vez la pregunta «¿Cómo puedo ser libre?». Todo comenzó en una tranquila ciudad universitaria de Alemania en la década de 1790, cuando un grupo de dramaturgos, poetas y escritores pusieron el yo en el centro del escenario de su pensamiento, su escritura y sus vidas. Este brillante círculo incluía a los famosos poetas Goethe, Schiller y Novalis; a los visionarios filósofos Fichte, Schelling y Hegel; a los polémicos hermanos Schlegel; y, en un maravilloso cameo, a Alexander Von Humboldt. En el corazón de este grupo estaba la formidable Caroline Schlegel, gran instigadora de sus deslumbrantes conversaciones sobre el yo, la naturaleza, la identidad y la libertad. La colaboración entre estas figuras lanzó el romanticismo al escenario mundial. En sus vidas exuberantes se nos revelan peleas épicas, historias de amor apasionadas, penas desgarradoras y, sobre todo, ideas radicales en torno al poder creativo del yo, así como las más altas aspiraciones del arte y la ciencia, la unidad de la naturaleza y el verdadero significado de la libertad. Así fue como estos jóvenes románticos incitaron una revolución mental que transformó nuestro mundo para siempre. Hoy seguimos avanzando por la misma cuerda floja entre la autorrealización personal y el narcisismo destructivo, entre los derechos individuales y las responsabilidades hacia la comunidad y las generaciones futuras. En el corazón de este libro inspirador se encuentra la tensión, extremadamente moderna, entre los peligros del egoísmo y las emocionantes posibilidades que ofrece la libertad del individuo. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION From the best-selling author of The Invention of Nature comes an exhilarating story about a remarkable group of young rebels—poets, novelists, philosophers—who, through their epic quarrels, passionate love stories, heartbreaking grief, and radical ideas launched Romanticism onto the world stage, inspiring some of the greatest thinkers of the time. "Make[s] the reader feel as if they were in the room with the great personalities of the age, bearing witness to their insights and their vanities and rages.” —Lauren Groff, New York Times best-selling author of Matrix When did we begin to be as self-centered as we are today? At what point did we expect to have the right to determine our own lives? When did we first ask the question? How can I be free? It all began in a quiet university town in Germany in the 1790s, when a group of playwrights, poets, and writers put the self at center stage in their thinking, their writing, and their lives. This brilliant circle included the famous poets Goethe, Schiller, and Novalis; the visionary philosophers Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel; the contentious Schlegel brothers; and, in a wonderful cameo, Alexander von Humboldt. And at the heart of this group was the formidable Caroline Schlegel, who sparked their dazzling conversations about the self, nature, identity, and freedom. The French revolutionaries may have changed the political landscape of Europe, but the young Romantics incited a revolution of the mind that transformed our world forever. We are still empowered by their daring leap into the self, and by their radical notions of the creative potential of the individual, the highest aspirations of art and science, the unity of nature, and the true meaning of freedom. We also still walk the same tightrope between meaningful self-fulfillment and destructive narcissism, between the rights of the individual and our responsibilities toward our community and future generations. At the heart of this inspiring book is the extremely modern tension between the dangers of selfishness and the thrilling possibilities of free will.

Magníficos rebeldes: Los primeros románticos y la invención del Yo / Magnificent Rebels The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self

Alexander von Humboldtun Yeni Dünyasi

Doganin Kesfi

A invenção da natureza revela a extraordinária vida do explorador, geógrafo e naturalista alemão Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), o cientista mais conhecido de seu tempo. Com suas descobertas, fruto de expedições pelo mundo afora (escalando os vulcões mais altos do mundo, cruzando a Siberia em plena epidemia de praga, navegando pela então ameaçadora Amazônia), gerou inveja em Napoleão Bonaparte, inspirou Simón Bolívar em sua revolução e Darwin a zarpar com seu navio Beagle. Sua história é contada neste livro de forma saborosa e profunda, partindo de uma ampla pesquisa sobre o homem que concebeu a maneira como vemos a natureza hoje. Best-seller nos Estados Unidos e na Inglaterra, e com os direitos vendidos a mais de 20 países, A invenção da natureza foi aclamado pela crítica e ganhou prêmios como o Costa Biography Award e o Los Angeles Times Book Prize de 2016.

A invenção da natureza

Was hat Alexander von Humboldt, der vor mehr als 150 Jahren starb, mit Klimawandel und Nachhaltigkeit zu tun? Der Naturforscher und Universalgelehrte, nach dem nicht nur unzählige Straßen, Pflanzen und sogar ein »Mare« auf dem Mond benannt sind, hat wie kein anderer Wissenschaftler unser Verständnis von Natur als lebendigem Ganzen, als Kosmos, in dem vom Winzigsten bis zum Größten alles miteinander verbunden ist und dessen untrennbarer Teil wir sind, geprägt. Die Historikerin Andrea Wulf stellt in ihrem vielfach preisgekrönten – so auch mit dem Bayerischen Buchpreis 2016 – Buch Humboldts Erfindung der Natur, die er radikal neu dachte, ins Zentrum ihrer Erkundungsreise durch sein Leben und Werk. Sie folgt den Spuren des begnadeten Netzwerkers und zeigt, dass unser heutiges Wissen um die Verwundbarkeit der Erde in Humboldts Überzeugungen verwurzelt ist. Ihm heute wieder zu begegnen, mahnt uns, seine Erkenntnisse endlich zum Maßstab unseres Handelns zu machen – um unser aller Überleben willen.

Andrea Wulf

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