Interesting!
4 estrellas
Although I do recommend the book, I can’t say I enjoyed reading all of it. Perhaps that's because the author’s intent is not to write a standard biography, but to explain how Humboldt’s views greatly influenced thinking in his own time and still today.
I found the first half to be much more interesting and involving as we followed Humboldt on his travels around the world, making scientific observations and developing his unique points of view about nature, ecology, history, and politics. The portions of the book where the author pivots toward other figures, showing how they responded to Humboldt’s ideas, were less intriguing to me.
Still, it’s a good read overall, especially if you enjoy historical non-fiction, as I do.