The Invention of Nature

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK

PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Copyright © 2015 by Andrea Wulf

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and distributed in Canada by Random House of Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Ltd., Toronto. Simultaneously published in Great Britain by John Murray (Publishers), a Hachette UK Company, London.

www.aaknopf.com

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wulf, Andrea.

The invention of nature : Alexander von Humboldt’s new world / by Andrea Wulf.—First American Edition.

pages cm

“THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK”—T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-385-35066-2 (hardcover)—ISBN 978-0-385-35067-9 (eBook)

1. Humbolt, Alexander von, 1769–1859. 2. Scientists—Germany—Biography. 3. Naturalists—Germany—Biography. I. Title.

Q143.H9W85 2015

509.2—dc23

[B] 2015017505

Cover design by Kelly Blair

Maps drawn by Rodney Paull

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