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The Invention of Nature

The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the Lost Hero of Science

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The Invention of Nature

By: Andrea Wulf
Narrated by: David Drummond
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About this listen

Winner of the Costa Biography Award 2015. Winner of the LA Times Book Prize 2015 (Science and Technology). Shortlisted for the Independent Book Week Award 2016.

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'.

©2015 Andrea Wulf. 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 Biological Sciences Environment Europe Physics Professionals & Academics Science Science & Technology World Technology Astronomy Science Fiction Latin America

Critic Reviews

"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)
All stars
Most relevant  

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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We should all know about and share the brilliant insights of Alexander Von Humboldt. A man centuries ahead of his time. How sad that mankind has not heeded his warnings.
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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Andrea Wulf’s book does well to tell Humbolt’s story whose spanned French Revolution through to American Civil war. It is a shame he is largely forgotten in the west due to Germany being the other side in the 19th century. The book starts drily but the datadump of facts soon gives way to a well woven story detailing this amazing man’s life

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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Timely read with Mankinds' reach into Space Living imminent. How can imagination save Nature from Economic Development?

Forgotten Contribution Still Relevant.

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Absolutely loved it and will reread! What a brilliant mind. Humboldt should be an inspiration for all.

Humboldt is as relevant today as he was during his

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