Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1

Alexander von Humboldt and Elise C. Otté

One naturalist set out to describe the entire physical universe, from distant nebulae to the plants at his feet. Humboldt's first volume sweeps across the heavens, the earth, and the forces binding them into a single connected whole. Grand in scope, precise in detail, it shaped how generations pictured nature. Begin the great survey of everything.