Naturaliste, géographe, explorateur, Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) est le grand scientifique des Lumières.
Il a donné son nom à des villes, des rivières, des chaînes de montagnes, à un courant océanique d'Amérique du Sud, à un manchot, à un calmar géant - il existe même une Mare Humboldtianum sur la Lune.
Sous la plume d'Andrea Wulf, sa vie se lit comme un roman d'aventures : Humboldt a organisé des expéditions. Napoléon le jalousait ; Bolívar s'est imprégné de ses idées pour mener à bien sa révolution ; Darwin a embarqué sur le Beagle à cause de lui ; et le capitaine Nemo de Jules Verne possédait tous ses livres dans sa bibliothèque.
À une époque où l'on pouvait embrasser toutes les connaissances scientifiques, Humboldt n'a cessé d'arpenter le monde pour en déceler les secrets et les expliquer. Il prédisait les changements climatiques causés par l'homme. Ses idées ont révolutionné la science, la politique, l'art et la théorie de l'évolution.
Oubliez Paris : dans les années 1790, la véritable révolution a eu lieu à Iéna, une ville universitaire tranquille où les rebelles n'étaient ni soldats ni politiciens, mais poètes (Goethe, Schiller, Novalis), philosophes (Fichte, Schelling, Hegel), critiques littéraires (les frères Schlegel) et scientifiques (Alexander von Humboldt). Au centre de ce groupe se trouvait Caroline Böhmer, une femme libre et formidable.
Le cercle de Iéna rassemblait les premiers Romantiques. Leurs vies libérées des conventions ont été des laboratoires pour leurs idées radicales - sur le pouvoir de création de l'individu, les rapports à la nature, les aspirations de l'art et de la science, et sur le sens profond de la liberté. Dans Les Rebelles magnifiques, Andrea Wulf nous emmène à la découverte de leurs aventures, de leurs histoires d'amour passionnées, leurs querelles mémorables, leurs succès et leurs échecs. À chaque page, elle fait revivre ces héros de l'histoire de la littérature, dont les idées sont à l'origine d'une révolution de la pensée qui imprègne notre monde moderne.
A celebration of parks and public gardens by renowned landscape architecture firm Nelson Byrd Woltz, whose designs reflect the histories that are held in the land
Nelson Byrd Woltz (NBW) is one of the most in-demand and respected firms working in landscape architecture today with major commissions across the United States. This collection of twelve projects illustrates the power of design to create vital public realms at the heart of communities. Through the celebrated firm's process, ecological and cultural histories are revealed and integrated into meaningful public experiences.
The firm has worked with exceptionally sensitive sites across the United States, including those that hold the vital histories of enslaved peoples, the rich cultures of indigenous peoples, and the natural habitats that have been threatened by infrastructure and construction.
These projects are found across the firm's geographic reach. One, in southern Texas, is the revitalization of Memorial Park in Houston, a 1500-acre landscape that interweaves city infrastructure with a vibrant ecology. In the northeast, a burial ground adjacent to the Brooklyn Naval Yard has been reclaimed as a contemplative meadow filled with native plants, pollinators, and birds. And thousands of miles to the northwest, the Aga Khan Garden in Alberta, Canada, stands as a regenerative sanctuary in opposition to the surrounding landscape often battered by the pollutants, mining, and fire.
The work of NBW is set in a broad context through the book's inclusion of authoritative essays by noted scholars, ecologists, and cultural historians. It articulates the central role of landscape architecture in reshaping public space to meet challenges of ecological and social resilience.
''A witty, gossipy, sparkling history, full of bright jewels of anecdote... Magnificent Rebels is a triumph'' THE TIMES, Book of the Week ''Extraordinary... A thrilling intellectual history that reads like a racy, intelligent novel, with a cast of unforgettable characters'' SUNDAY TIMES ''Magnificent Rebels is a magnificent book: a revelation which could easily become an obsession'' SPECTATOR ''A thrilling page-turner, by turns comical & tragic... My book of the year so far'' TOM HOLLAND ''Elegantly written, deeply researched and totally gripping'' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE In the 1790s an extraordinary group of friends changed the world. Disappointed by the French Revolution''s rapid collapse into tyranny, what they wanted was nothing less than a revolution of the mind. The rulers of Europe had ordered their peoples how to think and act for too long. Based in the small German town of Jena, through poetry, drama, philosophy and science, they transformed the way we think about ourselves and the world around us. They were the first Romantics.
Their way of understanding the world still frames our lives and being.We''re still empowered by their daring leap into the self. We still think with their minds, see with their imagination and feel with their emotions. We also still walk the same tightrope between meaningful self-fulfilment and destructive narcissism, between the rights of the individual and our role as a member of our community and our responsibilities towards future generations who will inhabit this planet. This extraordinary group of friends changed our world. It is impossible to imagine our lives, thoughts and understanding without the foundation of their ground-breaking ideas.
In the 1790s an extraordinary group of friends changed the world. Disappointed by the French Revolution''s rapid collapse into tyranny, what they wanted was nothing less than a revolution of the mind. The rulers of Europe had ordered their peoples how to think and act for too long. Based in the small German town of Jena, through poetry, drama, philosophy and science, they transformed the way we think about ourselves and the world around us. They were the first Romantics. Their way of understanding the world still frames our lives and being.We''re still empowered by their daring leap into the self. We still think with their minds, see with their imagination and feel with their emotions. We also still walk the same tightrope between meaningful self-fulfilment and destructive narcissism, between the rights of the individual and our role as a member of our community and our responsibilities towards future generations who will inhabit this planet. This extraordinary group of friends changed our world. It is impossible to imagine our lives, thoughts and understanding without the foundation of their ground-breaking ideas.
Meet Alexander von Humboldt: the great lost scientist, visionary, thinker and daring explorer; the man who first predicted climate change, who has more things named after him than anyone else (including a sea on the moon), and who has inspired generations of writers, thinkers and revolutionaries . . . In The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt , 88-year-old Humboldt takes us on a fantastic voyage, back through his life, tracing his footsteps around the rainforests, mountains and crocodile-infested rivers of South America when he was a young man. Travel with him to Venezuela, to Lake Valencia, the Llanos and the Orinocco, and follow him during his time in Cuba, Cartagena, Bogota and his one-year trek across the Andes, as he climbs the volcano Chimborazo, explores Inca monuments, and visits Washington D.C. to meet Thomas Jefferson and campaign for the abolition of slavery. With encounters with indigenous peoples, missionaries, colonists and jaguars, and incorporating Humboldt's own sketches, drawings and manuscripts, this is a thrilling adventure story of history's most daring scientist.
