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The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World by [Charles C. Mann]

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Charles C. Mann

The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World Kindle Edition

by Charles C. Mann (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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From the best-selling, 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.

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598 pages
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Vintage
Publication date

January 23, 2018
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Editorial Reviews

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“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

“Mann’s storytelling skills are unmatched. . . . The great virtue of Mann’s book—and much of his journalism over many years—is that it raises very large questions . . . that are usually either ignored or answered in slogans. He provides detail enough, and simplicity enough, that anyone who is struggling with these puzzles will be enlightened and informed. And entertained, which, given the subject matter, is no small feat.” —Bill McKibben, The New York Times Book Review

“Fascinating . . . An inquisitive and gifted science writer.” —Tyler Priest, Science

“The most persuasive writers on the environment punctuate their big-picture theses with telling details that bring the relevant issues to life. Like Elizabeth Kolbert and Tim Flannery, Charles C. Mann is one of the masters of this art . . . a stimulating, thoughtful, balanced overview of matters vital to us all.” —Dan Cryer, The Boston Globe

“Mann is a compelling and forensic analyst of big tipping points in human affairs.” —Fred Pearce, The Washington Post

"Charles C. Mann specializes in deep, comprehensive looks at the past that better elucidate the present." —Mary Ellen Hannibal, San Francisco Chronicle

“Best-selling author and journalist Mann tackles the thorny problem of humankind’s future through the lens of two 20th-century visionaries. . . . A sweeping, provocative work of journalism, history, science and philosophy.” —Library Journal starred review

“Without taking sides, Mann delivers a fine examination of two possible paths to a livable future.” —Publisher’s Weekly starred review

“An insightful, highly significant account that makes no predictions but lays out the critical environmental problems already upon us.”—Kirkus starred review

"The contrast is stark—technological wizardry or romantic prophecy as a lens to view the future path for the planet and humanity. Charles Mann provides a deeply corrugated, richly nuanced, and highly entertaining narrative to make sense of the most consequential decisions facing civilization. Read, think, and enjoy." —Ruth deFries, author of The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis

“Brilliantly conceived and executed, Charles Mann’s The Wizard and the Prophet is the book I have long awaited—thoughtful, balanced and unbiased—to understand the challenges that humanity will face as the twenty-first century progresses. Mann’s historical perspective provides the critically important context for us to understand how we got here and how we might solve the problems presented by a finite world of ten billion humans.” –Gary Taubes, author of The Case Against Sugar

“The Wizard and the Prophet is a fascinating portrait of two men who probably shaped your thinking about the future, whether you realize it or not. Charles Mann proves, once again, a masterful storyteller." – Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction

“A rich, elegant, ferociously readable study of our global quandary. Among the many excellent things Charles C. Mann does in The Wizard and the Prophet is give us a fresh, and wholly unexpected, way of understanding today’s political divide.” —Russell Shorto, author of Revolution Song

“A fascinating story of two forgotten men whose ideas changed our understanding of humanity’s place in nature. The Wizard and the Prophet is an intellectual history of the clash between techno-optimists and environmentalists, but it’s also the very personal story of two thinkers, Norman Borlaug and William Vogt. Mann offers a sympathetic, nuanced way to understand one of the fundamental debates of our time: How will 10 billion humans live sustainably on Earth, when our demands for energy and food are growing? This book showcases an important new kind of futurism, which looks to the past to understand how we'll survive. Never preachy nor dogmatic, Mann asks his readers to do the most difficult thing possible: choose a path to a better world, by consulting your own conscience.” —Annalee Newitz, editor, Ars Technica

About the Author

CHARLES C. MANN, a correspondent for The Atlantic, Science, and Wired, has also written for Fortune, The New York Times, Smithsonian, Technology Review, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, as well as the TV network HBO and the series Law & Order. A three-time National Magazine Award finalist, he is the recipient of writing awards from the American Bar Association, the American Institute of Physics, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Lannan Foundation. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B071D3CZG4
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage (January 23, 2018)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 23, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 169988 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 598 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #115,462 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #28 in Environmental Science (Kindle Store)
- #37 in Biographies of Scientists
- #57 in Environmentalist & Naturalist Biographies

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Charles C. Mann is the author of 1493, a New York Times best-seller, and 1491, which won the U.S. National Academy of Sciences' Keck award for the best book of the year. A correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, Science, and Wired, he has covered the intersection of science, technology, and commerce for many newspapers and magazines here and abroad, including National Geographic, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and the Washington Post. In addition to 1491 and 1493, he is the co-author of five other books, one of which is a young person's version of 1491 called Before Columbus. His website is www.charlesmann.org.

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edsetiadi

The pessimistic vs. optimistic approach on the environmental problem

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 13, 2022

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This is a story about William Vogt and Norman Borlaug. They are two relatively unknown people who have long passed away, but both are responsible for the creation of two contradictory intellectual blueprints that we all use today for understanding our environmental dilemmas and how to survive in it.

Vogt laid out the fundamental ideas for modern apocalyptic environmentalism, which believe that unless humans drastically reduces consumption its growing population and appetite will eventually overwhelm the planet’s ecosystem.

Borlaug, meanwhile, has become the emblem of the so-called “techno-optimism”, the believe that science and technology, if properly applied, can help us produce our way out of consumption problem. He was the primary figure in the research in the 1960s that created the “green revolution”, a mix of high-yielding crop varieties and agronomic techniques that raised grain harvest around the world.

While both men thought of themselves as environmentalists facing a planetary crisis, Vogt believes that affluence was the problem (i.e. economic over consumption), and by contrast according to Borlaug affluence is actually the solution (i.e. only by getting richer and more knowledgeable can we create the science that can solve our environmental problems).

One sees the problem from a pessimistic view, the other from an optimistic view. One is a prophet of doom and the other is a wizard unveiling technological advances.

Written in a novel-like style by Charles C. Mann, this book is the epic debate between the worldview of the prophet and the wizard, supported by perhaps the grandest scientific findings of the Earth and the history of its most vicious residents, the homo sapiens.

The book tells the background stories of these 2 men, the hopes and despairs, the luck encounters, opportunities not taken, the overlapping social circles that nearly made them physically meet, the many friendships gained along the way, and the long journey on how they eventually get to shape their worldview and earn the stage to tell it to the world.

And more significantly, it also tells the story about the many, many scientists that somewhat become the disciples of these 2 opposing categories, with all their backgrounds, the many experiments, their findings, what we do with the findings, and all the politics and vested interests by multiple sides.

All in all, the book doesn’t give us the easy solution for our climate change problem, if any solution at all. But instead, it points out the vast problems, presents the debates, and the complex human dynamism in the road to solve it. With this in mind, this book is a crucial puzzle piece to understand the big picture of the environmental catastrophe. Simply unmissable.

3 people found this helpful

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Wm. P.

Remarkable tour de force of history

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 23, 2019

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Charles Mann's book is nothing short of a brilliant, comprehensive tour de force of the global social, cultural, economic, philosophical and scientific history of the rise of the debates within the concepts of natural/human ecology and the green revolution as purveyed through the eyes of two of the most prominent characters responsible for the growth of the fields : Nobel prize winning plant geneticist Norman Borlaug (The Wizard) and ecologist William Vogt (The Prophet). Mann's research is impeccable and references well documented in the story that he weaves as he temporally interweaves the growth of the movements that have shaped our modern world and current debates through the remarkable wellspring of global interdisciplinary occurrences that shaped the 20th century. As examples, he cites the explosion of crop growth created by the recognition of nitrogen in bird poop as a potent nutrient for fertilizer and then again with the invention of the ability to artificially fix nitrogen to add to resource poor commercially produced fertilizer decades later. The remarkable tedium and resilience of Borlaug in his belief and development of seed hybridization to meet the agricultural needs of varying climates throughout the Americas. The implications for hybridization with the discovery of the C4 photosynthesis mechanism. The dark twists and turns of Vogt's preaching for the necessity of conservation of resources for the species survival in the wake of the rise of Darwinism and by extension social Darwinism, and Vogt's association with the movement. I picked up the book when it was first released in February and given the density of some of the concepts, took my time and finished reading in a month. Undoubtedly, I'll be revisiting it again ... and again as the debate continues to evolve in the 21st century. There is a sense of urgency with this topic but the fundamental question in addressing today's issues regarding climate, food, water and environment remains .... Can humankind shape it's environment and future or is it necessary that we adapt to the natural world we have been placed in ??

2 people found this helpful

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GOOD SCIENCE, GOOD STORY

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 13, 2019

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This is an outstanding book. It presents two outstanding scientists as two ‘ideal types’, in the sense of Max Weber, one a true believer in science and technology fixes (Norman Borlaug) and the second (William Vogt) exhorting humanity to be very careful not to disrupt nature.

Also presented, though not central to the text, is an important evolution researcher (Lynn Margulis), who was of the opinion that the human species is bound by evolution and sure to disappear, never mind what it does.

Still, the following questions arise:

One. Vogt is not a prophet, most of whom promised salvation after deserved suffering. Rather he is a Cassandra, who was cursed to know the future but not to be believed.

Two. The Wizard was careful. He did not engage in dangerous science, though he might have failed in his efforts to overcome the Malthusian loop. It is not clear at all whether he would support risky geoengineering.

Three. The book present very well two contrasting ideologies. Thus, it sharpens the question who shall decide on which one to base action. But it does not pose this critical question as needed.

These and other comments do not impair the quality of the book, which should be pondered by all who are concerned, or should be concerned, about the future of humanity, starting with political leaders.

Professor Yehezkel Dror
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

18 people found this helpful

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Bakor Tayar

Balanced inquiry on two fundamental approaches to the future

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 5, 2022

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This book changed my perception. I was a conservative and idealized an older technique for agrarian living, but the book highlighted the difficulty of that model. I saw how technology has profoundly helped us feed the world and different approaches to global warming. I was moved multiple times and wowed consistently. This book educated and humbled me. It is indeed a necessary read for anyone in the modern world that cares about the future of our biological and environmental future.

Avid reader

A must read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 19, 2019

Verified Purchase

That’s an amazing book.
The author has an incredible story telling ability. The book is dense, but reads like a novel.
The level of investigation on the parts involved is incredible.
And to top it all, a very contemporary discussion with arguments that provide both sides with insights and considerations.

One person found this helpful

Amy Thomas

Everyone should read this book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 13, 2019

Verified Purchase

Excellent read and well researched. The author unpacks what the future could look like in a world of 10 billion people.

Rajiv M. Gupta

Valuable information very lucidly presented

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on March 18, 2019

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The book is a great piece of work, putting together four of the most important things that we should be concerned with, as we look to the future of our species on this planet, i.e., food, water, energy, and the environment. The two divergent approaches to each of these four areas are presented about as objectively as I think is possible, without taking sides. There are certainly arguments for both the Wizards' as well as the Prophets' perspectives. It is important that people have a clear understanding of the issues involved and not form half-baked opinions. Towards that end this book does a great service, as it it lucidly brings out the most complex scientific arguments and concerns and presents them in layman terms. I have finished reading about 350 pages and hope to complete the rest of the book in the next few days.I am sure I will reread the book several times and keep it as a handy reference.

3 people found this helpful

glitchc

Simply stunning read!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 3, 2021

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If you've ever wondered where statements like "There is only so much we can extract from our planet," "We can only grow so much food, extract so much oil" on the one side and "Technology will fix things" and "We will always be able to find new resources and new uses for old resources" on the other come from, then read this book. Charles Mann lays out the foundation for these statements presents a very objective view of both sides and lets the reader decide on which side they fall based on the evidence presented. By laying bare the underlying assumptions behind those statements, he really forces the reader to question his/her own thinking on the subject. I found myself vacillating back and forth many times, alternating between being a Wizard and a Prophet, as I progressed through the book.

This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in critical thinking on the meaty topic of how best to harness the resources that are available to us. I will not share where I finally landed, or even if I'm going to stay here forever. Let the book guide you through your own personal journey through the stories and evidence presented, so that you may find your own equilibrium.

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