The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World
- ISBN-10
- 0345802845
- ISBN-13
- 9780345802842
- Series
- The Wizard and the Prophet
- Category
- Science
- Pages
- 640
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2019-04-16
- Publisher
- Vintage
- Author
- Charles Mann
Description
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.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2018-01-23
- 640 pages
- Ebook
- Vintage
-
- 2018-01-30
- 955 pages
- Paperback
- Picador
-
- 2018-01-11
- 616 pages
- Paperback
- Picador
Similar books
-
The Fate of Food: What We'll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World
By Amanda LittleIn this fascinating look at the race to secure the global food supply, environmental journalist and professor Amanda Little tells the defining story of the sustainable food revolution as she weaves together stories from the world's most ...
-
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
By Charles C. MannSidrys, R., and R. Berger 1979. “Lowland Maya Radiocarbon Dates and the Classic Maya Collapse.” Nature 277:269–77. Siegel, R. K., et al. 1977. “On the Use of Tagetes lucida and Nicotiana rustica as a Huichol Smoking Mixture: The Aztec ...
-
The Man who Fed the World: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug and His Battle to End World Hunger :...
By Leon F. HesserThe Man Who Fed the World provides a loving and respectful portrait of one of America's greatest heroes.
-
The Prophet's Hair
By Salman RushdieFrom one of the most controversial novelists of the last century, world-renowned master of invention and allusion Salman Rushdie, “The Prophet’s Hair” vibrates with fantastical promise, smashing together cultures and worlds, fantasy ...
-
The Princess and the Prophet: The Secret History of Magic, Race, and Moorish Muslims in America
By Jacob DormanNoble William Ross, Recorder and Historian, "Lu Lu" Temple, Philadel. phia, "A History of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine for North America." A Library of Freemasonry, vol. 5, ed. Robert Gould (London: John ...
-
The Wizard
By H. Rider HaggardPious man of God Thomas Owen makes a pilgrimage to the depths of Africa to try to bring a hopeful message of Christian faith to the struggling masses.
-
Stone of Tears
By Terry GoodkindThe Seeker of Truth embarks on his perilous training in wizardry in the 2nd novel of the #1 New York Timesbestselling author’s epic fantasy series.
-
The Paladin of the Night
By Margaret Weis, Tracy HickmanAfter the overwhelming defeat of their tribes, Khardan and Zohra find themselves prisoners of an evil god's disciples - and in danger of losing their honor, their lives and their...
-
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
By Charles C. MannPearson, H. C. 1911. The Rubber Country of the Amazon. New York: The India Rubber World. Pearson, J. C. 1944. “The Fish and Fisheries of Colonial Virginia.” WMQ 1:179–83. Pearson, R., et al. 2001. “Port, City, and Hinterlands: ...
-
Road to Survival
By William 1902- VogtThis work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations.