Alexander von Humboldt: How the Most Famous Scientist of the Romantic Age Found the Soul of Nature

Meinhardt, a Times Literary Supplement editor, profiles German scientist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) in this educational but less than riveting biography. Seeking to expose more general readers to the “most celebrated scientist of the 19th century,” Meinhardt begins with Humboldt’s upbringing, in a chateau on the fringes of Berlin owned by his father, a well-connected retired Army major and royal courtier. She reveals Humboldt’s adventurous nature, which from early on rejected “everything conventional and regimented.” Financially independent after his mother’s death in 1796, Humbolt embarked on a five-year scientific expedition through Central and South America in 1799. His exploits, as recounted here, are striking—locating a link between the Orinoco and the Amazon rivers; exploring Chimborazo, then believed to be the world’s highest mountain; and studying electricity via captured electric eels (who gave him some painful shocks)—but the numerous locales to which Humboldt ventured eventually blur together. Meinhardt demonstrates Humboldt’s importance, whether through the newly syncretic vision of nature he developed or the inspiration his writings gave to a young Charles Darwin, but casual readers may find it difficult to remain engaged in the narrative. As a result, this well-intentioned work is unlikely to spark a new wave of interest in Humboldt. (Sept.)