Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann is a science journalist and the author of the bestsellers 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005) and 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created (Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), as well as The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World (Alfred A. Knopf, 2018).

In The New Atlantis

What Keeps the Lights On

If you think the power system must run itself by now, you’re wrong. Behind every nicely toasted bagel is a vast network of generators, transformers, computers, wires — and, yes, people in backrooms sweating to make sure the juice flows exactly where, and when, it needs to go. What could possibly go wrong?

A Spring in Every Kitchen

There is so little fresh surface water on Earth that if you collected it all into a ball, it would barely reach across New York City. Running water is a miracle — but the technology that brings it to us and takes the waste away is actually thousands of years old. The only barrier to staying hydrated today is political will.