The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf

I picked this book up because of its cover, artistic and naturalistic, a pitch-black background contrasted with the striking colors of plants and animals. The Invention of Nature is a historical salute to the eminent German polymath, Alexander von Humboldt.

Humboldts was born into a Prussian aristocratic family in 1789. His concept of nature as a holistic entity has shaped our understanding of nature until this day. He never married, instead, his life is spent mostly on explorations and research.

He is renowned for his scientific prowess, eloquence in lectures, selfless support of young scientist and artists. His centennial birthday was celebrated throughout Europe, America, Africa, and South America. Modern day world seems to have forgotten about him. That’s exactly the drive for this monumental work.

Its author Andrea Wulf, also a German, lives in London and writes in English. Her purpose is to bring back the memories of Humboldt into the English speaking world.

The language of this book is exquisite. The very first page, the prologue, pulls me deep into the 18th century Germany. Wulf’s narrative pace is rhythmic and calm, a quiet serenade, pleasant and magnetic. The language has a conversational familiarity, engaging enough, but also dense with new ideas. Definitely it is well versed for a general reader like me.

Even though Wulf is German, she writes in English with a confident ease. As she commented, “… I sometimes feel that I was born into the wrong language. English liberated me…Learning English properly when I moved to Britain in my late twenties was like opening a treasure trove of words.” (Writing Routines)

Wulf’s research of Humboldt’s life, work, and social relations is also astonishingly thorough and methodical. She collected resources through a global social network: Germany, America, Britain, and South America; she made queries at artists, scientists, historians, archivists, and librarians; she even ventured on Humboldt’s previous trail of exploration in South America. She suffered the same hardships such as tarantulas and altitude sickness, climbed up to 5000 meters on Chimborazo. All her endeavors and persistence made this biography of Humboldt a densely informative reading experience.

I was also drawn to this book for its panoramic view of nature and historical figures. There is simply so much to learn: different fauna and flora, climates and terrains, cultures and relics, and a kaleidoscope of artists, scientists, literary giants. All these elements are intricately linked into a web of historical narratives. Forests, vegetation, cash crops, mosses, and fungi present a holistic organism; Goethe, Darwin, Jefferson, Thoreau, Napoleon, they are part of Humboldt’s social milieu.

I used to be able to find some regrets in reading a new book. Maybe it is with the language, or its structure, or inadequacy of information, or (when I am too particular) maybe the typeface, the cover design. However, with Wulf’s depiction on life of Humboldt, I hardly find any weak spots. As one of my trusted reviewer New York Review of Books trumpeted, “It is impossible to read The Invention of Nature without contracting Humboldt fever. Wulf makes Humboldtians of us all.”