Books
by Andrea Wulf
|
Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self |
The birth of the Romantic movement in literature and the first appearance of the philosophy of self. The French Revolution had thrown up Napoleon, who was devouring the whole of Europe and these political and military shocks produced a kind of intellectual power house which began in Jena in provincial Germany, where like-minded intellectual and artistic young people met as firm friends and, with the encouragement of Goethe and Schiller, inspired each other to great literary and philosophical heights on which we feed today. A clever, enlightening and entertaining book.
(Kathie Somerwil Ayrton - bwl 112 Spring 2024) |
|
|
The Invention of Nature: The adventures of Alexander von Humboldt |
Enthralling biography of the great, yet under appreciated, naturalist and explorer whose travels in the Americas and Europe added thousands to the total of known species and yielded insights too numerous to list. We are still taking on board his key insight: that nature is a single dynamic interrelated system. In a long life he influenced and inspired people as diverse as Jefferson, Darwin (both of whom he knew ) and Thoreau.
(Tony Pratt - bwl 80 Spring 2016) |
|
|
|
