Invention of Nature (2016)

This biography follows Alexander von Humboldt, the German naturalist and polymath whose vision of nature as a complex, interconnected global force transformed our understanding of the natural world and helped lay the foundations of modern environmentalism. Andrea Wulf traces Humboldts life, from his expeditions to the highest peaks of South America and the anthrax-infected steppes of Siberia to his relationships with figures such as Simn Bolvar and Thomas Jefferson. The book also explores his prediction of human-induced climate change and the lasting influence of his writings on Darwin, Wordsworth, Goethe, Muir, Thoreau, and others.