Reviews

• 忘れられた「最後の博物学者」

  アレクサンダー・フォン・フンボルトの最新の伝記。と言われても、ぴんとこないと思います（どうやら英語圏の読者にとっても同じようです）。 ところが、これがめっぽう面白い。NYTとエコノミスト誌の2015のベスト本に選ばれていたので読んだのですが、期待をはるかに超える内容でした。 フンボルトは19世紀前半の世界でもっとも有名な人物の一人で、彼が死んだとき、世界は悲しみに沈んだといいます。 彼は何をした人なのか？彼は植物学、動物学、鉱物学、天文学、地質学、文明論から歴史、詩まで、あらゆる分野を横断する「博物学者」でした。 彼は南北アメリカ、欧州とユーラシア大陸を冒険し、自然の中に身をひたし、そこから「自然とは統合された全体である」というアイデアを得ます。 それは、現在の生態学やエコロジーなどの萌芽でした。タイトルの「自然の発明」はそれに従っています。 フンボルトは、専門家がタコツボに入ってそれぞれの分野を極めるようなやり方では決してとらえられない鋭い洞察を、分野を横断することで得たということです。 とにかく出てくる人の顔ぶれが豪華。フンボルトはゲーテの親友であり（あまりに親しく交わってシラーから嫉妬を受けた由）、シモン・ボリバルを叱咤激励し、ナポレオンとはそりが合わなかったが、メッテルニヒからは尊敬を受け、トマス・ジェファソンら合衆国建国の父らと深く交流し、ダーウィンはフンボルトに導かれて「種の起源」を著し、英国ロマン派の巨人S.T.コールリッジ、R.サウジーに霊感を与え、あまつさえE.A.ポーの「ユリイカ」は彼に献呈されている…と、欧州史のいちばん面白い時期のいちばん面白い人物（詩人、科学者、政治家、革命家まで！）が次から次に登場して、その交遊録を読むだけで無類に楽しい。詩と科学が未分化な「博物学」が生きていた時代の空気を感じ取ることができます。 フンボルトはある種身勝手で傲慢だったようですが、とにかく、冒険が大好きで頭の切れる風雲児の伝記は、それ自体痛快無類です。 この本はフンボルトに影響された人々が現在のエコロジー、自然保護のアイデアをかたちにしていくまでを描いており、たんなる伝記にとどまらない、21世紀において意味ある読み物にするという著者の意図が、みごとに結実しています。 フンボルトという人に関心が無くても、読めばたちまち引き込まれる読み物です。まちがいなくオススメの一冊。

• 注意！ kindle版には索引がありません！

  Kindle版 ファイルサイズ： 13367 KB 紙の本の長さ： 496 ページ 出版社 John Murray; 01版 (2015/10/22)のレビュー。 まず、よい点として、短いこと。本文400ページ弱である。じゅうぶん長いではないかという反論もあるかもしれないが、伝記という分野はみなさん長大なものをお書きになる。1000ページが普通の世界なのだ。その点、本書はよくまとめてくれた。読む方はたすかる。 第2に読みやすいこと。このフンボルトという人物の伝記を書くのだから、ドイツ語フランス語スペイン語はもちろん、その他の言語にもかなり通じていることだろう。単に読める程度ではなく手書きの書簡などを解読するほどの能力を必要とする分野である。往々にしてこういう人たちは難しい本を書く傾向があるが、本書はとても読みやすい。一つの章にあまり多くのことを盛り込まず、一般人がついていける速度で語ってくれる。フンボルトは異常に頭の回転がはやい人物で、話題があっちへ飛び、こっちへ移りと、聞いている人の理解力にかまわず話し続ける人であったらしいが、それと本書の語り方は正反対である。 わたしは17・18世紀大旅行記叢書の『新大陸赤道地方紀行』（抄訳でも全3巻）の1巻目で脱落してしまった者だが、本書はすらすらと読めた。探検者の生涯の話として、激動の歴史の中を行きた天才として、おもしろい話が満載である。高校で使う世界史年表ぐらいが手元にあれば、特に背景知識は必要ないでしょう。 あえて欠点をあげると、あまりに現在の問題（地球温暖化、環境保全など）に寄りそりすぎているのではないかな。もっとトンデモな領域にも触れてほしかった。もっとも、これくらい現代の問題に関連して書かれた結果、絶賛の嵐になったのでしょうが。 レビューのタイトルに書いたように、kindle版に索引なし。通読していくのには索引がいらないほど読みやすいが、繰り返して読んだり、資料としてチェックする方は書籍版を購入すべきでしょう。

• Comments on Andrea Wulf's The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World

  Andrea Wulf’s biography of Alexander von Humboldt is a beautifully written work that restores our awareness of a life that paradoxically seems largely forgotten and yet is somehow familiar once this wonderful book is read. And to classify this work as a biography is not totally accurate in that it is a biography, a history of science, and a commentary on the interconnectivity of life from the viewpoint of both aesthetics and science. As well, it documents how von Humboldt influenced a number of other individuals who are now famous and better known to us. Wulf gives us great detail of the life of the fascinating man Alexander von Humboldt. She conveys an insight into how his early life molded him into a frenetic, driven scholar with a lifelong thirst for both knowledge and adventure. Perhaps more commonplace in the late 18th century than today, he became vitally interested in what would become later known as “scientific specialties” such as geology and botany as well as in aesthetics. His early self-concept led to his first and most monumental journey, along with the botanist Aime Bonpland, across the northern reaches of South America lasting 5 years and led to his view of nature as an interconnected force, a view that would shape the remainder of his long life. While his insights now resonate with us, this book makes clear that his comprehensive understanding of nature was totally new at the time and that the reason it is now familiar to us was his tremendous influence on others to follow. Wulf brings into clear view the strong friendship between the youthful von Humboldt and the poet Johann von Goethe and how each influenced the other. Von Humboldt developed an appreciation of the artistic side of life through Goethe while Goethe developed a fascination with science through von Humboldt that influenced the writing of his Foust. Later in life, both because of his own fame and through his brother (a foreign minister of Prussia), von Humboldt would meet many other famous people, with wonderful vignettes developed by Wulf. One such acquaintance was Simon Bolivar, whom he met in Rome well after his own travels in South America. Bolivar, born in Spanish Venezuela, would seem to have been inspired by von Humboldt’s poetic vision of South American landscapes and would return to his native land as liberator and later, sadly, as a dictator. Even during his long years of brutal warfare he was said to have maintained a strong interest in nature that had been inspired by von Humboldt. Von Humboldt’s view of colonial South America went far beyond the aesthetic appreciation of the landscapes and of the amazing scientific discoveries. He spoke out against the evils of colonialism, and slavery. He also noted how deforestation adversely affected the water table, animal populations, the atmosphere and much more. For this he became known as the founder of environmentalism. Von Humboldt’s scientific studies in Europe, South America and later the Asiatic part of Russia are well chronicled and led him to develop his view on how all of life is interconnected and part of one vital force. For instance, he invented the concept of atmospheric isotherms, showing how landmasses and oceans affect weather patterns, developing the field of meteorology. Late in life he wrote the five-volume work he called Cosmos. Based on his life’s work, the word “ecology” was invented. In the latter portion of this work, Wulf speaks of several of the more famous people heavily influenced by von Humboldt. While some might feel that this turns a wonderful biography into an unnecessarily long book, I feel this adds a most worthwhile dimension to her work. And just as von Humboldt himself saw the interconnections across all of nature, in similar fashion Wulf brings out the interconnections between the life and writings of von Humboldt and those individuals influenced by him who have so greatly influenced and even shaped our modern views of science and nature. I only became aware of The Invention of Nature through a review published in the Wall Street Journal that focused on the landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church and his painting called “In the Heart of the Andes”. Church had been motivated by von Humboldt to appreciate both the emotional impact on us from nature and its scientific aspects. He trekked through some of the regions of South America previously covered by von Humboldt and Bonpland and painted this landscape that was so detailed that botanists could discern the name of each plant and tree on the canvas. It was first displayed in 1859 just weeks before von Humboldt’s death. This review led me to read the Invention of Nature. Wulf goes on to describe the massive influence by von Humboldt on so many others. Charles Darwin had a copy of von Humboldt’s Personal Narrative with him during the voyage of the HMS Beagle and would later refer to von Humboldt in his own writings. Henry David Thoreau read Personal Narrative, Views of Nature and Cosmos and mentioned von Humboldt often in his journals. He narrowed his own view of nature to that of Walden Pond but tried to make it as comprehensive and interconnected as that of von Humboldt’s cosmos. George Perkins Marsh read all of the major writings of von Humboldt and was very motivated by him, becoming the prototypical conservationist and writer of Man and Nature. Ernst Haeckel was a German physician, artist and zoologist who was enthralled with von Humboldt. He studied microscopic marine life and then developed them into amazing works of art that led to the Art Nouveau movement and monism. And finally John Muir was deeply influenced by von Humboldt. He owned and heavily studied all of von Humboldt’s major books and extended von Humboldt’s thoughts on the spiritual connections seen within nature. Beyond the conservationism of Marsh, Muir advocated for protection of our environment and of course founded the Sierra Club and contributed to the development of our National Parks system. All of this is brought out in fascinating detail in the latter portions of Wulf’s book. In conclusion, The Invention of Nature is a description not only of a remarkable life but also of how we have come to think of environment, ecology, and nature itself. From it, I feel, we can be inspired to appreciate the nature that surrounds us from small to great, to widen our own views in a way that can bring a revitalization to ourselves and to cause us to advocate for the environment. I believe Alexander von Humboldt would be extremely proud of The Invention of Nature. By Jerry W. Jackson, Birmingham, Alabama

• Excellent and revealing

  Great book. Well written and provided me a great background on Humboldt and his revolutionary way of approaching man, nature and the world.

• Great

  My friend wanted it for her birthday. Loved it

• Hızlı teslimat

  Öncelikle bu kitabı bu fiyata bulabilmek güzel… Sonrasında hızlı kargo ve güzel paketleme memnuniyet verici… Teşekkür ederim…

• are as important today as when they were first proposed by the great scientist who feared humankind might destroy itself as it .

  Review of ‘Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World’ by Andrea Wulf This is an extraordinary work that looks in detail into the life and vision of a remarkable scientist of the late 18th and 19th century, a rare polymath and his place in scientific history. Alexander von Humboldt was a radical thinker with insightful and revolutionary ideas about nature that had everything to do with rational questions and empirical fact finding, as divorced from the divine origin of fixed species immune to the dynamics of nature. Here the author deftly takes pre-evolutionary ideas proposed by Humboldt and weaves them into the thinking of other 19th Century scientists, such as Charles Darwin, Ernst Haeckel, Henry David Thoreau, George Perkins Marsh, and John Muir, amongst others, stressing how Humboldt’s ‘Personal Narrative’ played such a prominent role in their evolving theories about nature. More importantly, perhaps, Humboldt’s vision that all human endeavors are deeply connected to nature, as Wulf expertly shows, are as important today as when they were first proposed by the great scientist who feared humankind might destroy itself as it slowly impacted vast tracts of land upsetting the rhythms of nature, many of which could not be reset over time. With climatic change looming as one of the greatest threats facing humans, a force largely unleashed by unthinking human greed and ignorance, Humboldt’s multi-disciplinary approach to scientific problems is all the more germane today than in the 19th century. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in environmental science and the future of the human species. W.C. Mahaney, author of ‘Ice on the Equator’,‘Hannibal’s Odyssey: Environmental Background to the Alpine Invasion of Italia’; and Bill Mahaney author of ‘The Warmaker-Hannibal’s Invasion of Italia and the Aftermath’ (fiction).

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