The Wizard and the Prophet

Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World

By: Charles C. Mann

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

From the bestselling, award-winning author of 1491 and 1493—an incisive portrait of the two little-known twentieth-century scientists, Norman Borlaug and William Vogt, whose diametrically opposed views shaped our ideas about the environment, laying the groundwork for how people in the twenty-first century will choose to live in tomorrow's world.

In forty years, Earth's population will reach ten billion. Can our world support that? What kind of world will it be? Those answering these questions generally fall into two deeply divided groups--Wizards and Prophets, as Charles Mann calls them in this balanced, authoritative, nonpolemical new book. The Prophets, he explains, follow William Vogt, a founding environmentalist who believed that in using more than our planet has to give, our prosperity will lead us to ruin. Cut back! was his mantra. Otherwise everyone will lose! The Wizards are the heirs of Norman Borlaug, whose research, in effect, wrangled the world in service to our species to produce modern high-yield crops that then saved millions from starvation. Innovate! was Borlaug's cry. Only in that way can everyone win! Mann delves into these diverging viewpoints to assess the four great challenges humanity faces--food, water, energy, climate change--grounding each in historical context and weighing the options for the future. With our civilization on the line, the author's insightful analysis is an essential addition to the urgent conversation about how our children will fare on an increasingly crowded Earth.

Brilliant piece of work!

i enjoyed this book so much that i bought the hard copy to re-read and annotate. It will be a lifetime reference.

Best history of climate science

this book was sorely needed. it is the clearest eyed view of how climate science has developed and why people perceive climate science the way that they do. as the author suggests, it is not his job to prescribe future steps, there are plenty of people suggesting those elsewhere. But his role is to help us see more clearly why certain currents run through the waters of climate science debate. as someone who follows these debates very closely, I found myself constantly illuminated by this conversation. also, for audiobook listeners, Pinchot does an amazing job creating life in what could be a fairly straightforward and flat delivery as given by somebody less-skilled.

Thorough, intelligent, fair, and phenomenal

It’s slow. It’s academic. It’s everything I wanted a book on our impact on the planet we call home to be. The only agenda being a deeper understanding, Mann writes an engrossing, intense, non-page turner, page turner (in the audio sense of it). Ordered the print copy so I could more easily reference passages as needed. Loved the narrator and production too. A++++. Wonderful and complex in every sense of the word.

Absolutely compelling

Love the history and background of the thinking, theories and complexities. Gave me a far more expanded understanding of how difficult it will be to "Save the Planet".

Slow speech, great book

Wonderful eloquently written story and super educational. The non fiction writing of Charles C. Mann is only rivaled in my opinion by Bill Bryson. Has deeply changed my view on the world, I will, and have recommend this to everyone I know who will be interested by its subject matter. The performer of the audio was a little slow for my taste but was fine at 1.25 speed.