Charles C Mann, the author of the book The Wizard and The Prophet, presents two scientists who had a profound impact on our present discourse on sustainability and climate change. William Vogt is the reason for the modern conservation movement (the Prophets) and Norman Borlaug is the reason for saving billions of people from starvation through technological advancement (the Wizards). Vogt is the extreme case of the Prophet and Borlaug is the extreme case of the Wizard.
What should be the approach to sustain our species’ future? How do we feed 10 billion people? Is the earth capable of sustaining 10 billion people? What evidence does evolution present? Should it be through ‘Wizards’ technological advancements that allows for extraction of the maximum resources or through ‘Prophets’ conservation and maintaining ecological balance and live within our limits. The author primes you of the idea of the Prophet and the Wizard before unleashing them together in food, energy, water, and air. You may side with Prophets once, and switch to Wizards in another section. The book might make you question your own beliefs. It might also make you understand the implications of the cryptic political statements made across time and how they remain valid in the present. None of this is without evidence and sources. Mann does not take sides and presents the positive and negative aspects of ideas of the Wizards and the Prophets, allowing you to pick a side based on your inclination.
Mann expertly uses William Vogt and Norman Borlaug as pivots to bring in historical perspective of various events like the formation of various organisations, political events, classified conversations, philosophical and scientific debates where both sides claimed victory, myths being formed and deconstructed, wars, ideology of leaders, blackmailing and many more. He is careful to not digress from the main topic but deftly describes the events’ influence on the Prophets and the Wizards.
The storytelling of the book keeps you entertained. Many books are easy to read. This one is easy to visualise. It has enough illustrations to aid the understanding of technical ideas presented. There is a logical flow to the discussion, which allows you to ask the same questions a researcher/scientist/activist is trying to solve or portray. Apart from the technical ideas you also meet interesting characters and go through a range of emotions, making this book a roller coaster ride.
The relevance of the book is evident from various natural disasters attributed to the activities of human beings. The Prophets and Wizard are in no doubt of this being the case. However, Mann still questions whether to believe it or not. He questions the relevance of the climate model presented to the public, what are the uncertainties involved, what are the evidence presented for believing and not believing it? You are encouraged to look at evidence and make up your own mind.
When Thanos in the Avengers: Endgame movie meets Tony Stark. Thanos states that Tony Stark is not the only one cursed with knowledge. If you want to be cursed or enlightened or act with knowledge that will shape our future existence on the planet, The Wizard and The Prophet is the book for you.
