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

Length: 18 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

From the best-selling, award-winning author of 1491 and 1493 - an incisive portrait of the two little-known 20th-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 21st century will choose to live in tomorrow's world.

In 40 years, Earth's population will reach 10 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.

©2018 Charles C. Mann (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Scrupulous, stimulating, and elegant.... A beautifully crafted book. Anyone wanting a readable, relentlessly intelligent narrative showing where our environmental ideas and anxieties in the present-day Anglophone world come from will find it here in abundance.” (Robert J. Mayhew, Times Literary Supplement)

“Brilliant.... The author’s science journalism shines.” (William Easterly, The Wall Street Journal)

“An elegantly written, devoted testimonial to the art of the possible.” (Jonathan Hahn, Sierra)

Thought-provoking and thoroughly gripping!

This book was so well-balanced between two frameworks a thought, I walked away persuaded in ways I had never imagined. Great read!

Competing and complimenting views.

This book title makes a strong thesis statement the author has no problem sticking with through every chapter. Mann is no stranger to this sort of research and writing as his previous volumes, 1491 and 1493 have also demonstrated. All of his work present clear notions of our collective past, present, and possible futures. There are more than a few driveway moments here!

Balanced, Considerate, and Informative

This is the best book I’ve read this year. Incredibly thought provoking and respectful of two very different views on how humanity ought to exist on this tiny island of ours in space.

balanced and deep

much more than a biography, this volume presents some of the major issues of our times with thought provoking stories.

You don’t have to believe but you do need to understand

And so a teacher says to a student who doesn’t believe in evolution. Understand why scientists believe. This is the best written book on a science topic and to some extent science, scientists and their interaction with the ‘real’ world I’ve ever read/listened to. In fact I strongly recommend listening to it. With the IPPC 2018 report we need a version 2 of this thing. As a systems theorist I and co-founder of the Santa Fe Institute, I see things a bit more than only prophets and wizards but systems thinking is pretty recent too. Aside for the shear joy of reading/listening to this work, I make it required reading for anyone trying to do social change. Beware good intentions. Beware good science. Again exceptional.

Very Re-Readable

Writing this review after the 3rd complete listen and 2 regular paper read throughs. This book lends itself to be reread almost as soon as you finish it.

The biographies of Borlaug and Vogt are fascinating each time I hear them retold. The "policy" options sections I've read through separately more times than the book itself. It's a book I would recommend having anyone read, be they environmental policy neophytes or long time devotees. There are dozens of facts, figures, or positions that I have never heard exposited before. Highly recommend.

Everyone should read this book.

This is one of those stories from history every human should have to listen to. The same themes of climate control vs. natural respect follow us over the history of humanity and have led us to NOW. Mann tells us this debate is not new, but it could prove to come to fruition during our lifetimes or for our children.

a Straight Forward Discussion of a Complex Subject

Mann has brought us a fascinating story about these two men, the science beneath it all, and it's impact on our lives today.

Worth it

I am a lay person when it comes to science, but I am fairly well read on environmental issues. I still learned a lot from this book. Some great history as well, covering a lot of territory the book goes in some unexpected directions.

Great book

great book. helped me grow in knowledge and perspective. it's about the facts and understanding how complicated the climate is and humans impossiblly complicated view into ourselves and our future