The Invention of Nature | 誠品線上

The Invention of Nature

內容簡介

內容簡介 洪堡德，被達爾文譽為「最偉大的科學旅行家」。200年前，他就以博物學式的觀察，提出了自然是「生命之網」。他的眼界超越了自己的時代，更重新創造了我們眼前的世界。──《紐約時報》十大好書、《經濟學人》年度好書────作家、東華大學華文系教授 吳明益 專文推薦──這是一位博物學家的自然朝聖之旅、一部精采動人的科學發現史詩。本書出版後已有二十多種語言版本，並獲得多種獎項。1799年，洪堡德帶著42件儀器，來到少有歐洲人踏足的地方。他進入雨林，冒險探尋亞馬遜河的源頭；他記錄葉子的形狀、溫度計的讀數與岩石的層次；他像品酒師一樣，品嚐不同河流的河水；他解剖電鰻、研究活火山的活動，更察覺殖民者削減森林對環境造成的影響。當他來到欽波拉索山頂，他曾觀察過的一切，開始產生了連結：庫馬納的某種樹木讓他想起義大利的松樹；安地斯山的苔蘚讓他想起德意志北部森林的某個物種；在瑞士、拉普蘭和安地斯山區，同樣都可以看到高山植物。一切似乎都以某種方式彼此相連，萬物似乎已融為一體。他走過24000哩路，幾乎等於繞了地球一圈，帶回60000件植物標本，涵蓋6000物種，其中將近2000種是新物種。這趟長達5年的旅程，改變他的生命與思維，讓他創造出許多科學發現的第一次，影響了達爾文、歌德、華茲華斯、柯立芝、梭羅、約翰．繆爾、瑞秋．卡森⋯⋯等人，形塑了如今我們看待自然世界的方式。達爾文說，要不是洪堡德，他不會登上小獵犬號，也不會構思出《物種起源》。──誰是亞歷山大．馮．洪堡德？‧他，是跨越學科藩籬的知識煉金術士：在各種學門逐漸專精化的十八世紀，洪堡德以靈敏的頭腦、驚人的速度，深入探索各個學科：物理學、語言學、考古學、動物學、植物學、礦物學、地質學⋯⋯融合不同學科而培養出來的整體觀，成為他的特色，讓他擁有與眾不同的願景。‧他，發現無數新物種，更有將近300種植物、超過100種動物以他命名：在人們仍堅信世界為人們而創造的年代，他發明各種丈量世界的方法，創造出許多科學發現的「第一次」：──發明等溫線，繪製第一幅全球等溫線圖；──發現地磁赤道，首創「磁暴」一詞；──首先提出地球的植被帶與氣候帶的概念；──率先透過圖解方式來研究洋流；──首度提出森林能增加大氣溼度、有助水土保持。這些創見，讓洪堡德成為地理學奠基者，為近代氣象學、地球物理學、海洋學帶來劃時代的影響。‧他，首創自然是「生命之網」的概念，促成現代環保生態觀念的興起：洪堡德將自然視為一個有機體，強調自然與人類文化的相互影響，並且在近200年前就提出警告：「人類造成的禍害……擾亂了大自然的秩序」。這些洞見，影響許多生態學家、環保人士及自然寫作者：──梭羅藉由洪堡德的著作，解決如何身兼詩人和博物學者的兩難。──喬治．馬許說，洪堡德「最能宣揚自然」，因為他將世界理解為人類和自然交互作用。──約翰．繆爾說，「我非常渴望成為洪堡德那樣的人」。──瑞秋．卡森的《寂靜的春天》立基於洪堡德有關「互連性」的概念。──詹姆斯．洛夫洛克（James Lovelock）著名的蓋婭理論，也與洪堡德的見解相似。此外，本書作者也提出令人信服的推論：正是洪堡德對環境生態的先進見解，才有「美國國家公園之父」約翰．繆爾的環保觀，以及梭羅的《湖濱散記》。‧他，豐富了十九世紀動人的心靈史：洪堡德結合自然與藝術、事實與想像的思考方式，啟發無數思想家、科學家、藝術家、文學家：──達爾文說，洪堡德的敘述是「詩歌和科學的罕見結合」。──夏多布里昂認為，「你會相信自己正與他一同乘風破浪，和他一起迷失在森林深處」。──儒勒．凡爾納在寫作《超凡旅程》系列時，從洪堡德的敘述取材。──愛默生、華茲華斯、柯立芝等人都受洪堡德的自然觀影響。‧在博物學回歸的二十一世紀，重新認識洪堡德，找出人與自然的新平衡：洪堡德關於自然的看法就像經過滲透作用般進入了人們的意識，但這些想法背後的發明者反而消失了。他雖然仍形塑著我們的思維，但在學界以外幾乎已被人遺忘。他的著作塵封於圖書館，他的名字雖仍處處可見，但許多人已不知緣由。二十一世紀是博物學重新回歸的時代，在環境、生態、文化面臨前所未有的巨大挑戰之際，我們需要更多跨越智識、心靈、視野界限的博物學家。此時此刻，重新認識洪堡德的生平與創見，理解他對世界的全觀式看法，有助於找出人與自然的新平衡。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.NATIONAL BEST SELLEROne of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the YearWinner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The James Wright Award for Nature Writing, the Costa Biography Award, the Royal Geographic Society's Ness Award, the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing AwardFinalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Kirkus Prize Prize for Nonfiction, the Independent Bookshop Week Book AwardA Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Economist, Nature, Jezebel, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, New Scientist, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Evening Standard, The SpectatorAlexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. In North America, his name still graces four counties, thirteen towns, a river, parks, bays, lakes, and mountains. His restless life was packed with adventure and discovery, whether he was climbing the highest volcanoes in the world or racing through anthrax-infected Siberia or translating his research into bestselling publications that changed science and thinking. Among Humboldt’s most revolutionary ideas was a radical vision of nature, that it is a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for the use of humankind alone. Now Andrea Wulf brings the man and his achievements back into focus: his daring expeditions and investigation of wild environments around the world and his discoveries of similarities between climate and vegetation zones on different continents. She also discusses his prediction of human-induced climate change, his remarkable ability to fashion poetic narrative out of scientific observation, and his relationships with iconic figures such as Simón Bolívar and Thomas Jefferson. Wulf examines how Humboldt’s writings inspired other naturalists and poets such as Darwin, Wordsworth, and Goethe, and she makes the compelling case that it was Humboldt’s influence that led John Muir to his ideas of natural preservation and that shaped Thoreau’s Walden.With this brilliantly researched and compellingly written book, Andrea Wulf shows the myriad fundamental ways in which Humboldt created our understanding of the natural world, and she champions a renewed interest in this vital and lost player in environmental history and science.本書中文書介出自《博物學家的自然創世紀: 亞歷山大．馮．洪堡德用旅行與科學丈量世界, 重新定義自然》果力文化出版

作者介紹

作者介紹 ANDREA WULF was born in India and moved to Germany as a child. She lives in London, where she trained as a design historian at the Royal College of Art. She is the author of Chasing Venus, Founding Gardeners, and The Brother Gardeners, which was long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize and awarded the American Horticultural Society Book Award. She has written for The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. She appears regularly on radio and TV, and in 2014 copresented British Gardens in Time, a four-part series on BBC television.www.andreawulf.com

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