The Wizard and the Prophet

Norman Borlaug (the Wizard) and William Vogt (the Prophet): they may not be household names (though Borlaug did win the Nobel Peace Prize for launching the "Green Revolution" in agriculture), but Mann convincingly sets them up as emblems of the two poles in modern environmental thinking, the think-big technocratic Wizards and the think-small ecologist Prophets. Mann takes on a big task—telling two life stories, summing the last century of environmental thought, and speculating in detail how we can meet the challenge of supporting 10 billion humans by 2050 (it looks a little iffy)—but as he did so brilliantly in his bestsellers 1491 and 1493, he is a master of synthesizing vast technical expertise with even-handed clarity. You'll come away astounded by the breadth of human ingenuity (and by Borlaug's heroic persistence, in particular), but equally unsure it will be enough for the challenges that face us.