Experimental Blog #11

Comments on the book "The Passage to Cosmos" - Alexander von Humboldt and the Shaping of America by Laura Dassow Walls

As the subtitle says, this book is all about Alexander von Humboldt, the very famous, in his lifetime, "Natural Philosopher" from Prussia, who lived right before the full developement of genuine science from 1769 to 1859. Alexander von Humboldt denied the existence of, or, at least criticized, the new concept of "scientific objectivity."
So, my opinion is that this book is best when it is about geography and the description of Humboldt's American travels. It is also interesting when it is about the history of American landscape art of the 19th century. I thought it was fairly good, but variable, when it was about early 19th century American literature.
However, as a book of philosophy or religion, which I think both Alexander von Humboldt and this book are really about, I did not find it very inspiring.
Among very many people, the author mentions Karl Heinzen, the German philospher of "terrorism." Heinzen was one of Humboldt's many followers; who included both abolitionists and racists, and many other people with very opposing views.
Laura Dassow Walls begins her book by relating a "life changing experience" that involved holding a dead bird, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, that she was preparing for stuffing. Well, the last Ruby-crowned Kinglet that I saw, very briefly, was along the Fox River, not far south of Geneva, Illinois, on December 1st 2009.