September 2016 Selection

humboldt coverThe Natural History Society book club will read The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf in September.  We will meet on Monday, September 26, from 3:30-5:00. For location, contact Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org 

Andrea Wulf,  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” (quote from Amazon).  Although Americans may have heard of Humboldt, through such names as the “Humboldt current” or other place names, few know that he was a celebrity scientist in his time.  Wulf writes of his extraordinary accomplishments and travels, and details his interactions and influence on Thomas Jefferson, Simon Bolivar, Charles Darwin, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and others.