Wulf makes the case that Humboldt synthesized knowledge from many different fields to form a vision of nature as one interconnected system, that would go on to influence scientists, activists and the public.

Departure: Emerging Ideas Wulf describes Humboldt's childhood with his emotionally distant mother.

He lives as an expat in Paris for seven months as he finds the city and its scientific culture more stimulating than that of Berlin.

While in France, he meets a young Simon Bolivar, who is impressed with Humboldt's knowledge and passion for his home country of Venezuela, and they discuss South American politics.

Invention of Nature became a New York Times bestseller and was praised in Literary Review as "a dazzling account of Humboldt’s restless search for scientific, emotional and aesthetic satisfaction.