The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf

I read that there was a new biography of Alexander von Humboldt and the reviewer described him as the Father of Botany, and I had never heard of him. More accurately, I did not recall having heard of him, because I read a number of Darwin's writings and writing about him in preparation for my 2023 trip to the Galapagos--Darwin carried von Humboldt's writings with him on The Beagle, and asked his siblings to forward any newer publications to him while he was on that journey. He identified Von Humboldt as influencing his theory of evolution. He traveled widely, collected specimens wherever he went, did detailed drawings, and took copious notes. At a time when botany was all about taxonomy, he saw connections with climate and geography and grouped plants into vegetation zones, giving “western science a new lens through which to view the natural world” (p. 127). As Humboldt collated more data, plants to him “revealed a global force behind nature” (p. 128), whether indicating past human migrations or the movement of landmasses (prefiguring plate tectonics by more than a century). “No one had ever approached botany in this way” (p. 128). Observing Spanish colonial practices, he warned that deforestation and irrigation could affect the climate. Seeing the impacts of other forms of resource extraction, he connected the dots and warned that the action of humankind could affect future generations. His visionary assessment of climate effects of mankind he influenced one of my favorite Vermonters, George Perkins Marsh, who reforested the state after devastating deforestation.