具体描述
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.
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 Simón Bolívar 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.
用户评价
##509.2 HUM
评分##写得比较杂 似乎是洪堡一生的事迹也不够填满一本书 而对于其他人物/事件的介绍如果是第一次看还有意思 如果本身就比较熟悉 就有些重复了
评分##像讲某个人的故事，串起来，看不下去
评分##洪堡的传记帮助我们了解为什么他曾被称为大洪水后最伟大的人物，为什么在19世纪初的欧洲他是仅次于拿破仑最有影响力的人。他改变了欧洲看待自然的观念，深深影响了后代的人们观察研究自然的方式。这是一次“理解我们今天为何如此思考自然的旅程”。
评分##The book provides a comprehensive account of Humboldt’s work and his scientific spirit that influenced and inspired two generations of scientists, poets and writers, which compensates for a regrettable lack of intellectual depth and rigor, though it may very well be that a more intellectually challenging work was not what she set out to achieve.
评分##这阵子读得最开心的一本书，展示了一个胸怀天地大爱的人，是如何贯彻信念，克服各种困难，并终其一生燃烧热情的。根据洪堡压抑的家庭氛围和求学经历、对艺术与美的敏感、迷茫期的郁郁寡欢、以及开创事业时惊人的充沛精力，不负责任地猜测他有可能曾是bipolar II 。本书作者文笔很好。
评分##百科全书式学者的消失并不是偶然的，自然科学的演化已经超越了观察和经验所及，所以洪堡本人也算是最后之人吧。作者花了很多笔墨描写洪堡的社交圈和影响力，大概也是想强调洪堡的个例性，最后200页的索引真心佩服。下一步要把Cosmos找出来读读。
评分##在书柜里躺灰很久又拿了出来，发现英文版还是能看得懂的。那种一刻不停探索未知领域的热切，蛮久违的，希望自己也还有。
评分##写得比较杂 似乎是洪堡一生的事迹也不够填满一本书 而对于其他人物/事件的介绍如果是第一次看还有意思 如果本身就比较熟悉 就有些重复了
