'A stimulating, thoughtful, balanced overview of matters vital to us all. As the world, besieged by ever more titanic storms and wildfires, threatens to explode into a terrifying new normal, books like this . are more necessary than ever.' Boston Globe In forty years, the population of the Earth will reach ten billion. Can our world support so many people? What kind of world will it be? In this important book, Charles C. Mann illuminates the four great challenges we face - food, water, energy, climate change - through an exploration of the crucial work and wide-ranging influence of two little-known twentieth-century scientists, Norman Borlaug and William Vogt. Vogt (the Prophet) was the intellectual forefather of the environmental movement, and believed that in our using more than the planet has to give, our prosperity will bring us to ruin. Borlaug's research in the 1950s led to the development of modern high-yield crops that have saved millions from starvation.

The Wizard of Mann's title, he believed that science will continue to rise to the challenges we face. Mann tells the stories of these scientists and their crucial influence on today's debates as his story ranges from Mexico to India, across continents and oceans and from the past and the present to the future. 'Mann's storytelling skills are unmatched - the sprightly tempo with which this book unfolds, each question answered as it comes to mind, makes for pure pleasure reading.' New York Times 'Does the earth's finite carrying capacity mean economic growth has to stop? That momentous question is the subject of Charles Mann's brilliant book The Wizard and the Prophet . Indispensable.' Wall Street Journal.