The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World

Have you seen that episode of Rick and Morty where our duo are trapped in an alien virtual reality that is so good that they can’t tell they are in the real world or the virtual one? Rick figures it out and finally they make a daring escape from the VR, they remove the interface helmets and start to run away from the evil alien facility. As they run the camera zooms out and we see that our heroes are actually still in a now larger virtual world, designed in a way that makes them only think they have escaped into the real world. The deception is layered and everything the protagonists see, hear and feel is controlled by a higher power. 

The feeling Rick and Morty must have had when they realized there was no way out and they had been intellectually out matched is how I felt upon finishing this amazing book, The Invention of Nature by profound author Andrea Wulf. 

I had never heard of Alexander von Humboldt, the man who invented nature, and I now feel that is like saying you never heard of Darwin, Einstein or Newton, men so integral to our everyday way of understanding the world around us that their names are synonymous with genius. von Humboldt arguably has had an even greater influence over society than any of these other historical individuals and whats crazy is that most people have never heard his name. Except, they have, because his name is everywhere. All over the world there are mountains, rivers, currents, cities, streets, schools, libraries and more that carry the name, and for very good reason.  

This review should be just long enough to get this book on your reading list and no longer. I hope I have piqued your interest in Humboldt at least enough that you will check his Wikipedia page if not get the book as well. The fact that we have culturally forgotten such an influential giant has stolen a hero from our children, has withheld a better vision of the future from our elders and made this world a little less natural. Bring von Humboldt back to the forefront of the American mind and 90% of our problems will be solved, put this book in the hands of every teenager and half our issues would disappear overnight. I’m calling for it now, Humboldt needs to be the hero of generation Z, he needs to be, as he deserves, a name synonymous with genius.