The Invention of Nature
The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the Lost Hero of Science: Costa & Royal Society Prize Winner
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The Invention of Nature
Narrated by:
David Drummond
Buy Now for $26.99
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Narrated by:
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David Drummond
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By:
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Andrea Wulf
About this listen
WINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY PRIZE 2016
'Dazzling' Literary Review
'Brilliant' Sunday Express
'Extraordinary and gripping' New Scientist
'A superb biography' The Economist
'An exhilarating armchair voyage' GILES MILTON, Mail on Sunday
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) is the great lost scientist - more things are named after him than anyone else. There are towns, rivers, mountain ranges, the ocean current that runs along the South American coast, there's a penguin, a giant squid - even the Mare Humboldtianum on the moon.
His colourful adventures read like something out of a Boy's Own story: Humboldt explored deep into the rainforest, climbed the world's highest volcanoes and inspired princes and presidents, scientists and poets alike. Napoleon was jealous of him; Simon Bolívar's revolution was fuelled by his ideas; Darwin set sail on the Beagle because of Humboldt; and Jules Verne's Captain Nemo owned all his many books. He simply was, as one contemporary put it, 'the greatest man since the Deluge'.
Taking us on a fantastic voyage in his footsteps - racing across anthrax-infected Russia or mapping tropical rivers alive with crocodiles - Andrea Wulf shows why his life and ideas remain so important today. Humboldt predicted human-induced climate change as early as 1800, and The Invention of Nature traces his ideas as they go on to revolutionize and shape science, conservation, nature writing, politics, art and the theory of evolution. He wanted to know and understand everything and his way of thinking was so far ahead of his time that it's only coming into its own now. Alexander von Humboldt really did invent the way we see nature.
Recorded by arrangement with Doubleday, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC; (P)2015 Highbridge, a division of Recorded Books©2015 Andrea Wulf
Critic Reviews
A big, magnificent, adventurous book - so vividly written and daringly researched - a geographical pilgrimage and an intellectual epic! Brilliant, surprising, and thought-provoking . . . a major achievement
A truly wonderful book . . . Andrea Wulf has told the tale with such brio, such understanding, such depth. The physical journeyings, all around South America when it was virtually terra incognita, are as exciting as the journeys of Humboldt's mind into astronomy, literature, philosophy and every known branch of science. This is one of the most exciting intellectual biographies I have ever read, up there with Lewes's Goethe and Ray Monk's Wittgenstein
Andrea Wulf's marvellous book should put this captivating eighteenth century German scientist, traveller and opinion-shaper back at the heart of the way we look at the world . . . irresistible and consistently absorbing life of a man whose discoveries have shaped the way we see
Andrea Wulf is a writer of rare sensibilities and passionate fascinations. I always trust her to take me on unforgettable journeys through amazing histories of botanical exploration and scientific unfolding. Her work is wonderful, her language sublime, her intelligence unflagging
Engrossing . . . Wulf successfully combines biography with an intoxicating history of his times
Extraordinary, and often still sadly relevant too
The phrase 'lost hero of science' in the subtitle of [Wulf's] book is no exaggeration . . . A big book about a big subject, written with scholarship and enthusiasm
In her coruscating account, historian Andrea Wulf reveals an indefatigable adept of close observation with a gift for the long view
[A] gripping study . . . No one who reads this brilliant book is likely to forget Humboldt
This book sets out to restore Humboldt to his rightful place in the pantheon of natural scientists. In the process Wulf does a great deal more. This meticulously researched work - part biography, part cabinet of curiosity - takes us on an exhilarating armchair voyage through some of the world's least hospitable regions (Giles Milton)
Thrilling . . . It is impossible to read The Invention of Nature without contracting Humboldt fever. Wulf makes Humboldtians of us all . . . At times The Invention of Nature reads like pulp explorer fiction . . . She has gone to near-Humboldtian lengths to research her book
Engrossing . . . Andrea Wulf magnificently recreates Humboldt's dazzling, complex personality and the scope of his writing
The amazing life of an amazing man.
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What did you like most about The Invention of Nature?
A great read, I learned so much about this great man and his legacy.What did you like best about this story?
A good easy to read story tying together various scientists as they learn from nature.What about David Drummond’s performance did you like?
Easy to listen to.Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Not for me, I needed to put it down, just to think about its message and how it affects us now.Any additional comments?
Highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand more of nature.Fantastic
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This is the only book that I have ever felt that I want to reread at the moment I have finished.
An important relevatory book
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Apologies if I am wrong but i think the narrator is a robot which distracts by ‘his’ metronomic unbreathing delivery as well as a few nouns pronounced consistently incorrectly. Teneri-fay? (Tenerife) Joo-an (Juan).
An excellent historical narrative read robotically
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Forgotten Contribution Still Relevant.
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