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Selected Writings of Alexander von Humboldt: Edited and Introduced by Andrea Wulf
A new hardcover selection of the best writings of the visionary German naturalist whose ideas changed the way we see the natural world. Selected and introduced by Andrea Wulf.
Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. His life was packed with adventure and discovery, whether he was climbing volcanoes in the Andes, racing through anthrax-infected Siberia, or publishing groundbreaking bestsellers. Ahead of his time, he recognized nature as an interdependent whole and he saw before anyone else that humankind was on a path to destroy it. His visits to the Americas led him to argue that the indigenous peoples possessed ancient cultures with sophisticated languages, architecture, and art, and his expedition to Cuba prompted him to denounce slavery as “the greatest evil ever to have afflicted humanity.”
To Humboldt, the melody of his prose was as important as its empirical content, and this selection from his most famous works—including Cosmos, Views of Nature, and Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, among others—allows us the pleasure of reading his own accounts of his daring explorations. Humboldt’s writings profoundly influenced naturalists and poets including Darwin, Thoreau, Muir, Goethe, Wordsworth, and Whitman. The Selected Writings is not only a tribute to Humboldt’s important role in environmental history and science, but also to his ability to fashion powerfully poetic narratives out of scientific observations.
Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. His life was packed with adventure and discovery, whether he was climbing volcanoes in the Andes, racing through anthrax-infected Siberia, or publishing groundbreaking bestsellers. Ahead of his time, he recognized nature as an interdependent whole and he saw before anyone else that humankind was on a path to destroy it. His visits to the Americas led him to argue that the indigenous peoples possessed ancient cultures with sophisticated languages, architecture, and art, and his expedition to Cuba prompted him to denounce slavery as “the greatest evil ever to have afflicted humanity.”
To Humboldt, the melody of his prose was as important as its empirical content, and this selection from his most famous works—including Cosmos, Views of Nature, and Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, among others—allows us the pleasure of reading his own accounts of his daring explorations. Humboldt’s writings profoundly influenced naturalists and poets including Darwin, Thoreau, Muir, Goethe, Wordsworth, and Whitman. The Selected Writings is not only a tribute to Humboldt’s important role in environmental history and science, but also to his ability to fashion powerfully poetic narratives out of scientific observations.
840 pages, Hardcover
Published November 6, 2018
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About the author
Alexander von Humboldt
1,075 books213 followersExpeditions of German scientist Baron Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt to Latin America from 1799 to 1804 and to Siberia in 1829 greatly advanced the fields of ecology, geology, and meteorology.
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt, a naturalist and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist, Wilhelm von Humboldt, explored. Quantitative botanical work of Humboldt founded biogeography.
Humboldt traveled extensively, explored, and described for the first time in a generally considered modern manner and point of view. He wrote up his description of the journey and published an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. He first proposed that forces once joined South America and Africa, the lands, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Later, his five-volume work, Kosmos (1845), attempted to unify the various branches of knowledge. Humboldt supported, included, and worked with Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, Justus von Liebig, Louis Agassiz, and Matthew Fontaine Maury and most notably conducted much of his exploration with Aimé Bonpland.
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt, a naturalist and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist, Wilhelm von Humboldt, explored. Quantitative botanical work of Humboldt founded biogeography.
Humboldt traveled extensively, explored, and described for the first time in a generally considered modern manner and point of view. He wrote up his description of the journey and published an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. He first proposed that forces once joined South America and Africa, the lands, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Later, his five-volume work, Kosmos (1845), attempted to unify the various branches of knowledge. Humboldt supported, included, and worked with Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, Justus von Liebig, Louis Agassiz, and Matthew Fontaine Maury and most notably conducted much of his exploration with Aimé Bonpland.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 11, 2020
Caveat: I have only read the Personal Narrative selections, detailing Humboldt's journey so far.
Humboldt is my new favorite scientist, I have been obsessed for a while, and have read several books about Humboldt. I decided that this selection, edited by the author of the book I enjoyed the most, was the best choice.
So far, it has been well edited, and thoroughly enjoyable. I look forward to the many essays about plants which still await me.
Humboldt is my new favorite scientist, I have been obsessed for a while, and have read several books about Humboldt. I decided that this selection, edited by the author of the book I enjoyed the most, was the best choice.
So far, it has been well edited, and thoroughly enjoyable. I look forward to the many essays about plants which still await me.
December 15, 2020
Great hardcover printing: well-bound, pretty, has a ribbon bookmark attached as a nice classic touch.
Humboldt is an interesting fellow indeed. I only read a few of the selected writings, but I'd easily suggest this as a starting point for anyone wanting to get into this early modern scientist's body of work.
It should be said, though, that you'd better have read Andrea Wulf's biography first. (The Invention of Nature) Wulf, perhaps working on the success of that biography, is the editor who made this compilation happen.
Anyway! This'd be a hell of a gift for some kid with inclinations to nature, or for anyone else who wants to get an idea of what the earth was like during the long 18th century.
Humboldt is an interesting fellow indeed. I only read a few of the selected writings, but I'd easily suggest this as a starting point for anyone wanting to get into this early modern scientist's body of work.
It should be said, though, that you'd better have read Andrea Wulf's biography first. (The Invention of Nature) Wulf, perhaps working on the success of that biography, is the editor who made this compilation happen.
Anyway! This'd be a hell of a gift for some kid with inclinations to nature, or for anyone else who wants to get an idea of what the earth was like during the long 18th century.
November 6, 2024
One of the last true polymaths, able to be at the forefront of several fields, and an early exponent of bringing science to the (educated, non-scientific) people, Humboldt was a colossal global celebrity in his day whose star has waned as his ideas have been updated or superseded. Another factor working against him is the sheer volume and meticulous detail of his writings, even the ones intended for the wider public. This Everyman selection is an excellent attempt to bring Humboldt back into focus.
The basis of Humboldt's career, and of much of his oeuvre, was his expedition to the Americas from 1799-1804. Half of this volume is given up to his "personal narrative" of the trip, which unfortunately only covered the first part of it, to what is now Venezuela where he journeyed along the Orinoco and other tropical rivers before heading for a stop in Cuba. Despite its being cut short I found this the most readable text in the selection, largely thanks to judicious abridgment of the lengthier and more abstruse technical speculations. What makes it a pleasure is Humboldt's unbounded curiosity about everything, and the way his scientific lens only enhances his delight in the beauty of what he discovers. He rarely mentions the difficulty and dreadfulness of spending months living in a dug-out canoe with little or no respite from clouds of mosquitoes, water-borne parasites, etc., but admirers of boys' own exploration tales will find a bit of that here, too. If only we had the same day-by-day account, combining minor incidents with notable observations and scientific theory, of the rest of his trip which covered Mexico, Colombia, and the Inca territories.
Then we have excerpts from six other Humboldt works, some better than others. The "Essay on the Geography of Plants" expounds what was perhaps Humboldt's greatest scientific achievement, the understanding of how climate zones influence flora, and how these zones can be defined. Despite this it isn't a great read for the layman, suffering like all his writings from the fact that its value now is more as a historical document than a useful piece of science writing.
"Views of Nature" demonstrates the more romantic side of the man, as he sketches various scenes from his experiences in the "torrid zone". The short description of dusk and night in the middle of the rainforest will stay with me.
Then we have "Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas", which for me was the other highlight of this volume. Unfortunately, the beautiful engravings which accompanied the original text can't be properly represented in a book like this, but the reproductions at least give you some idea. Humboldt's writing is compelling, too, and his open-mindedness and respect (mostly) for indigenous cultures is very evident.
The selection from the "Political Essay on the Island of Cuba" is the chapter on slavery which was removed, to Humboldt's chagrin, from a U.S. edition. It is a strong indictment of the practice, on political and economic as well as moral grounds, which deserves a wider audience.
Finally, there is a part of his magnum opus, "Cosmos, Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe". Wisely the editor has left out the actual physical description of the universe, which although doubtless a fascinating read in its time (and rather groundbreaking) will be old news or simply wrong to us. What we have instead is a couple of early parts of the work: first, an introductory text detailing his ur-philosophy of multi-disciplinarism and how the various sciences can only enhance each other, the interconnectedness of things and how increased understanding of natural phenomena should enhance rather than diminish our sense of wonder - all thoroughly modern (and secular) ideas. Then there's a survey of the representation of nature in literature from the earliest times, which I really enjoyed, especially the stirring eulogia of nature in scripture and of Camoens' Lusiads, along with brief discussions of nature in landscape painting and the cultivation of tropical plants.
Humboldt is a strange case of a great thinker, and in some ways great writer, who for very valid reasons has slipped into obscurity. His strengths then are weaknesses now, and for magnifying the former and mitigating the latter I'm thankful to Andrea Wulf and the publishers of this book. Wulf apologises in her introduction for a couple of the translations which are old and slightly stilted, but this is no big deal for anyone a little familiar with Victorian English prose.
The basis of Humboldt's career, and of much of his oeuvre, was his expedition to the Americas from 1799-1804. Half of this volume is given up to his "personal narrative" of the trip, which unfortunately only covered the first part of it, to what is now Venezuela where he journeyed along the Orinoco and other tropical rivers before heading for a stop in Cuba. Despite its being cut short I found this the most readable text in the selection, largely thanks to judicious abridgment of the lengthier and more abstruse technical speculations. What makes it a pleasure is Humboldt's unbounded curiosity about everything, and the way his scientific lens only enhances his delight in the beauty of what he discovers. He rarely mentions the difficulty and dreadfulness of spending months living in a dug-out canoe with little or no respite from clouds of mosquitoes, water-borne parasites, etc., but admirers of boys' own exploration tales will find a bit of that here, too. If only we had the same day-by-day account, combining minor incidents with notable observations and scientific theory, of the rest of his trip which covered Mexico, Colombia, and the Inca territories.
Then we have excerpts from six other Humboldt works, some better than others. The "Essay on the Geography of Plants" expounds what was perhaps Humboldt's greatest scientific achievement, the understanding of how climate zones influence flora, and how these zones can be defined. Despite this it isn't a great read for the layman, suffering like all his writings from the fact that its value now is more as a historical document than a useful piece of science writing.
"Views of Nature" demonstrates the more romantic side of the man, as he sketches various scenes from his experiences in the "torrid zone". The short description of dusk and night in the middle of the rainforest will stay with me.
Then we have "Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas", which for me was the other highlight of this volume. Unfortunately, the beautiful engravings which accompanied the original text can't be properly represented in a book like this, but the reproductions at least give you some idea. Humboldt's writing is compelling, too, and his open-mindedness and respect (mostly) for indigenous cultures is very evident.
The selection from the "Political Essay on the Island of Cuba" is the chapter on slavery which was removed, to Humboldt's chagrin, from a U.S. edition. It is a strong indictment of the practice, on political and economic as well as moral grounds, which deserves a wider audience.
Finally, there is a part of his magnum opus, "Cosmos, Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe". Wisely the editor has left out the actual physical description of the universe, which although doubtless a fascinating read in its time (and rather groundbreaking) will be old news or simply wrong to us. What we have instead is a couple of early parts of the work: first, an introductory text detailing his ur-philosophy of multi-disciplinarism and how the various sciences can only enhance each other, the interconnectedness of things and how increased understanding of natural phenomena should enhance rather than diminish our sense of wonder - all thoroughly modern (and secular) ideas. Then there's a survey of the representation of nature in literature from the earliest times, which I really enjoyed, especially the stirring eulogia of nature in scripture and of Camoens' Lusiads, along with brief discussions of nature in landscape painting and the cultivation of tropical plants.
Humboldt is a strange case of a great thinker, and in some ways great writer, who for very valid reasons has slipped into obscurity. His strengths then are weaknesses now, and for magnifying the former and mitigating the latter I'm thankful to Andrea Wulf and the publishers of this book. Wulf apologises in her introduction for a couple of the translations which are old and slightly stilted, but this is no big deal for anyone a little familiar with Victorian English prose.
February 13, 2025
Humboldt was a genius far ahead of his time, distinguished by his multifaceted thinking, meticulous approach to experiments and record-keeping, and his early recognition of the destruction humanity brought upon on nature.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews