Wow! What an eye-opener. After many years in the environmental education field, it is a revelation to be introduced to the antecedents of our work.

At this point you would be correct in thinking that I am a fan of this book and its subject.

The subtitle, ‘The Lost Hero of Science’, says it all. How many of us knew that in September 1869, on the 100th celebration of Alexander von Humboldt's birth, there were celebrations across the world. There were parties in Europe, Africa and Australia, and 25,000 people gathered in New York's Central Park to listen to speeches and see the unveiling of a statue in his honour. In Moscow he was referred to as ‘Shakespeare of the sciences’. In the 21st century more of us are hearing of the Humboldt Current, but around the world there are rivers, geysers, glaciers, bays, waterfalls, mountains, towns, and counties named after him. Then there are over 100 animals and nearly 300 plants that owe their names to him.

Wulf touches on why we may not have heard of Alexander — anti-German feeling in British-related countries after World War I has played a big part — but that is not the focus of her work. Rather, she provides us with some 330 pages of fascinating information about the life, explorations, insights, and especially the influences of Alexander von Humboldt. To back up this work there are just on 100 pages of notes and another 20 pages of bibliography, plus an additional detailed index that is one of the most useful that I have encountered.

Those with a strong education background have probably come across Wilhelm von Humboldt, Alexander's older brother and one-time Minister for Education in the Prussian government. He was a strong supporter of education and founded the University of Berlin, where Alexander gave lectures about his research, and would often, as a simple member of the public, attend lectures from young academics.

During his 87 years, Alexander explored the north-west of South America, Mexico, Cuba, much of Europe, and across Russia to China. In itself this would make fascinating reading, by virtue of his meetings with local people and the range of specimens he and his companions collected for shipping to the natural scientists in Europe (especially Paris, where he preferred to live and work). A particularly interesting outcome of his South American travels, specifically in present-day Venezuela, is his later meeting with Simón Bolívar in Paris. Subsequently, with Humboldt's experiences and thinking in mind, Bolívar led the revolution for the Venezuela region to break away from Spanish rule. Around the same time, Humboldt was meeting with Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. President, for them to share thoughts on many aspects of science (covering horticulture, mathematics, meteorology, and geography), democracy, and Enlightenment thinking generally.

Up to this point, Humboldt's activities and Wulf's engaging writing is enough to make the book worth reading. Yet, for anyone involved in science and working with environment issues, there are deeper insights. As Wulf notes, we need to remember that this is the 1800s:

On this, and set against any package of performance indicators, we would have to agree that Alexander has had a huge influence; and we deserve to know about him.

However, of specific relevance for those of us with a passion for the environment, Wulf's overview continues to say: ‘Humboldt was not known for a single fact or discovery, but for his worldview. His vision of nature has passed into our consciousness as if by osmosis’ (p. 335). It is worth reading that last sentence again!

The context for Alexander's worldview comes from his explorations in Venezuela, and particularly from his passion for climbing mountains and volcanoes (preferably active volcanoes it seems). After climbing the (inactive) volcano Chimborazo, where he reached about 6,000 m, Alexander consolidated his meteorological measurements and botanical observations into what translates from the German as a ‘painting of nature’. Later published as a 60 × 90 cm drawing, this depiction of Chimborazo in cross-section ‘illustrated nature as a web in which everything was connected’ (p. 88). This is a simple concept for those of us now with an understanding of ecology and systems, but, as you will appreciate, at the beginning of the 1800s it was eye-opening.

Throughout her work, Wulf writes with sensitivity and respect, noticeably as she takes the reader on Humboldt's journey as he develops his concept of ‘painting of nature’ and collects data to test his work. This journey also describes the supports he gives to the many scientists, literary people and the general community who want to understand this concept and its ramifications. As well as ‘big names’ like President Jefferson and Joseph Banks, Alexander corresponded with a wide range of thinkers and researchers; in his eighties he was receiving some 4,000 letters a year and personally writing some 2,000 replies. No doubt a good proportion of this correspondence was associated with the numerous books he wrote about his travels, the scientific data they produced, his worldview, and the political economy of countries he experienced. Some of his publications were substantial pieces of work; his ‘Cosmos’ being the culmination of his work, expanded from the planned two volumes to an eventual five volumes.

Humboldt researched, wrote, and lectured. As a consequence, he has had a huge impact on the environment movement. If you think that people like David Thoreau and George Perkins laid the groundwork for our current environmental consciousness, then you need know that they and others, including Ernst Haekell and John Muir, were all inspired by Alexander's work and writing. Charles Darwin took copies of Alexander's key work on his voyage in the Beagle — they were prized possessions among the very small amount of luggage he was allowed. For these key figures of the environment, the ways in which their thinking and lives were so significantly influenced, and the legacy they have passed to others, including ourselves, are detailed in Wulf's later chapters.

As a postscript, Alexander was a close friend of Johann Wolfgang Goethe, who wrote Faust and ‘believed in the marriage of art and science’ (p. 37). Through their exchanges, Goethe was influenced in his worldviews about nature and about the human rights of women, while Alexander expanded his thinking about literature; a reviewer of one of Alexander's essays commented that he “wrote like a ‘poet”’ (p. 168). Further afield, British romantic poets like Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth were reading Humboldt's books and essays, and infusing their own work with his concepts.

I do not have a conclusion for this review, since Wulf's book has raised many questions for me and has set me on a quest to read more about Humboldt and his work. Then, where does that leave you, the reader? My suggestion is to head off and get a copy of his great book ASAP. But why stop there — what about a copy or two for others who you value?