The Wizard and the Prophet

Science and the Future of Our Planet

paperback, 640 pages

Published Jan. 9, 2019 by Picador.

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4 stars (8 reviews)

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 …

6 editions

Review of 'The Wizard and the Prophet' on 'GoodReads'

3 stars

Mann explores two opposing philosophical positions on how we should shape the future of our society and planet by following two lesser known pioneers of modern sustainability research.

To his credit, Mann mostly manages to keep the reader engaged as we cover a continuous stream of dry subject matter that spans most of this work.

Interesting it it's own right as a historical account of the hard and soft path value systems that battle for supremecy in our political and scientific landscapes, the book doesn't lay out too much more than that and perhaps an outlook would have been welcomed at the conclusion.

Whilst I haven't read into the author's credentials at all, from the places he has visited and the connections to the subject matter he obviously has, the fact that he only barely shares his own opinion on the subject matter leaves me thinking the book is a …

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