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
##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##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##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##4.5.
评分##12.5-12| more than a biography or what a biography should be like with TR and national parks introduced at the end of the book the lives of these beautiful men of nature are tied together accounts of vulnerability in biographies are especially touching reading of noble human beings leaves a cynical reader in serious inner conflict
评分##509.2 HUM
评分洪堡是西方近现代最后一位通才，兴趣广泛笔耕不辍，他的热血都献给了冒险和研究。作者聪明之处在于行文贯彻了主人公所信奉的整体论和万物互联的观点，所以这本书不仅仅回顾了这位德国博学家的传奇一生（在正文三分之二的地方洪堡就死了），还穿插着他对前辈（歌德）、同辈人（例如玻利瓦尔）和后来者（例如达尔文、梭罗、约翰·缪尔）的深远影响。作者对于洪堡的性取向处理相对模糊，但从给出的信息来分析，应该是柏拉图式的同性恋者或是精神偏好男性的无性恋者。
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##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.
