La Invención de la Naturaleza

La espl ndida biograf a de Alexander von Humboldt, el h roe perdido de la ciencia y padre de la ecolog a.

La invenci n de la naturaleza revela la extraordinaria vida del visionario naturalista alem n Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) y c mo cre una nueva forma de entender la naturaleza.

Humboldt fue un intr pido explorador y el cient fico m s famoso de su poca. Su agitada vida estuvo repleta de aventuras y descubrimientos: escal los volcanes m s altos del mundo, rem por el Orinoco y recorri una Siberia infestada de ntrax. Capaz de percibir la naturaleza como una fuerza global interconectada, Humboldt descubri similitudes entre distintas zonas clim ticas de todo el mundo, y previ el peligro de un cambio clim tico provocado por el hombre.

Convirti la observaci n cient fica en narrativa po tica, y sus escritos inspiraron no solo a naturalistas y escritores como Darwin, Wordsworth y Goethe, sino tambi n a pol ticos como Jefferson o Sim n Bol var. Adem s, fueron las ideas de Humboldt las que llevaron a John Muir a perseverar en sus teor as, y a Thoreau a escribir su Walden. Wulf rastrea la influencia de Humboldt en las grandes mentes de su tiempo, a las que inspir en mbitos como la revoluci n, la teor a de evoluci n, la ecolog a, la conservaci n, el arte y la literatura.

La invenci n de la naturaleza est entre los mejores libros del a o seg n The New York Times, The Independent y Publishers Weekly entre otros. Rese as:

Una lectura sensacional. El estupendo nuevo libro de Andrea Wulf se atreve con la figura de Alexander von Humboldt. La invenci n de la naturaleza es un elogio de alt sima calidad a una figura cautivadora.

Simon Winder, The Guardian Un libro emocionante. ...] Es imposible leerLa invenci n de la naturaleza sin contraer la fiebre Humboldt.Wulf tiene el poder de volvernos a todoshumboldtianos. Por momentos se lee como literatura de aventuras, y la investigaci n deWulf tiene dimensiones casihumboldtianas.

New York Review of Books Consigue su objetivo de rescatar la reputaci n de Humboldt de la grieta en la que l y muchos otros escritores y cient ficos alemanes cayeron despu s de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

The Independent Wulf demuestra que Humboldt fue un aut ntico visionario, cuya perspectiva es hoy m s pertinente que nunca.

Booklist Una biograf a brillantemente escrita. Como demuestra este maravilloso libro, la figura de Humboldt deber a incorporarse a toda prisa en todos los programas educativos de la Tierra.

The Scotsman ENGLISH DESCRIPTION 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. NATIONAL BEST SELLER One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The James Wright Award for Nature Writing, the Costa Biography Award, the Royal Geographic Society's Ness Award, the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Kirkus Prize Prize for Nonfiction, the Independent Bookshop Week Book Award A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Economist, Nature, Jezebel, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, New Scientist, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Evening Standard, The Spectator 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 Sim n Bol var 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.