The Invention of Nature hews closely to the standard biographers' template, tracing the subject from birth to death. The state of Nevada was almost called Humboldt.'

Reading the book, one begins to understand why there are 'mountain ranges in northern China, South Africa, New Zealand, and Antarctica,' named after him, as well as 'rivers and waterfalls in Tasmania and New Zealand.In North America alone, four counties, thirteen towns, mountains, bays, lakes and rivers are named after him, as well as the Humboldt Redwoods State Park in California and Humboldt Parks in Chicago and Buffalo. In the course of his remarkably productive life (1769-1859) as a scientist and adventurer, Humboldt was, according to Wulf's exhaustively researched book, kind of like a genius Forrest Gump he kept affecting history everywhere: He was a major influence on Wordsworth, Coleridge, and the British Romantic movement Edgar Allan Poe dedicated a work to him, and Thomas Jefferson relied on him for information he then used in international diplomacy the German poet Goethe partly based the character Faust upon him, Charles Darwin worshipped him and got his ideas about natural selection from him, and Henry David Thoreau used his work as a model for Walden. His lifetime of work and discovery remains profoundly important and is apparent in many aspects of daily contemporary life, from weather maps on the nightly news (he invented those curvy temperature lines called 'isobars') to the debate about climate change. After every chapter, readers most of whom have probably never heard of Humboldt are likely to shake their heads and wonder how this guy ever faded into obscurity.

Here's a better one you'll certainly be asking if you read Andrea Wulf's book: How could Alexander Von Humboldt be forgotten by our time? The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt's New World makes the case that Humboldt was one of the most famous and influential people in the 19th century. 'How could someone that famous be forgotten?' 'I mean, Trump had his name on, like, everything,' you protest. How could figures of such popularity possibly be forgotten, you wonder. And in the course of this conversation, you throw out names of famous people from your time Tiger Woods, Meryl Streep, Donald Trump only to be greeted with blank stares. Once there, you try to get your bearings, asking your new contemporaries questions about what became of your world. Imagine, for a moment, that you are somehow transported in time about 150 years into the future. The Invention of Nature is a thoroughly researched biography of one of the 19th century's most important figures, whom history has largely forgotten.

The invention of nature wulf