September sojourn into the wilderness.

(I am desperately trying to find a way to phrase this section so it doesn't read as a ‘book of the month’ club cause that already exists lol).

The first book I am choosing this month is The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf. I just started this book and I am interested to see where it takes me. I picked it up on a whim at one of my favourite bookstores in America. It’s a little place called Bart’s Books in Ojai, California and being there surrounded by warm, sunbaked books is just utterly delightful. Bart’s Books is an outdoor bookstore that we always make sure to take a drive to and pick up some fun reads every time we visit family in California. I highly recommend supporting this independent store.

A brief introduction to this pick for the month. It is a biography so the format may not be for everyone but it reads like an adventure tale. It follows the history of Alexander Humboldt one of the greatest historical naturalists and ecological scientists to have ever lived. He was born in Germany in the late 1700’s and he has (sadly) largely been forgotten**. I just started this book and my mind is blown at the depth and breadth of the reach of his ideas and work. If you think Thoreau was significant, John Muir or even Charles Darwin then you are a fan of the people who were heavily influenced by Humboldt and whose work was shaped by his ideologies and writing. Isn’t that incredible? It’s shaping up to be a heavy read so I’m excited to get into it. Once I finish it I will post a review and some reflections or maybe questions we shall see.

**I do think that his presence may have potentially been erased from US history because of anti-German sentiment post World War II. Then again maybe history isn’t written by the victors. smirk