具體描述
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.
用戶評價
##關於這群人這段曆史已經太熟悉，所以閱讀體驗相對平淡。還是覺得《丈量世界》中，把洪堡和高斯的人生故事交織呼應起來的寫法更加彆齣心裁一些。這本也算是格局開闊，細節豐富，但是關於洪堡“發現”的“自然”，總體還是抒情大於闡述。欲知詳情如何，要把Personal Narrative找來看看纔行。嗯。
##寫得比較雜 似乎是洪堡一生的事跡也不夠填滿一本書 而對於其他人物/事件的介紹如果是第一次看還有意思 如果本身就比較熟悉 就有些重復瞭
##4.5.
##Knowledge does not chill the feelings because the senses and the intellect are connected.
洪堡是西方近現代最後一位通纔，興趣廣泛筆耕不輟，他的熱血都獻給瞭冒險和研究。作者聰明之處在於行文貫徹瞭主人公所信奉的整體論和萬物互聯的觀點，所以這本書不僅僅迴顧瞭這位德國博學傢的傳奇一生（在正文三分之二的地方洪堡就死瞭），還穿插著他對前輩（歌德）、同輩人（例如玻利瓦爾）和後來者（例如達爾文、梭羅、約翰·繆爾）的深遠影響。作者對於洪堡的性取嚮處理相對模糊，但從給齣的信息來分析，應該是柏拉圖式的同性戀者或是精神偏好男性的無性戀者。
##想要重讀丈量世界的時候，搜齣來瞭這本書，非常通史瞭。
##在書櫃裏躺灰很久又拿瞭齣來，發現英文版還是能看得懂的。那種一刻不停探索未知領域的熱切，蠻久違的，希望自己也還有。
##百科全書式學者的消失並不是偶然的，自然科學的演化已經超越瞭觀察和經驗所及，所以洪堡本人也算是最後之人吧。作者花瞭很多筆墨描寫洪堡的社交圈和影響力，大概也是想強調洪堡的個例性，最後200頁的索引真心佩服。下一步要把Cosmos找齣來讀讀。
##4.5.