Leon Hesser

In thinking about this book it is important to separate the subject from the actual biography itself and evaluate them accordingly. Dr. Norman Borlaug is a giant among crop breeders and the the Nobel Prize committee was accurate to reward him with the Peace Prize in 1970. This biography on the other hand is simultaneously scattered while repeating itself all with blatant fawning by the author. Leon Hesser is a friend and colleague of Dr. Borlaug and because of this cannot present an unbiased viewpoint. This biography is sorely in need of an editor and multiple egregious errors occur including but not limited to: the same quote is used multiple times, Dr. Borlaug is both referred to both as Norm and Dr. Borlaug often in the same paragraph, the adjective "shifty" is used to describe wheat rust several times, the list goes on and on.

This book is frustrating if only because Dr. Borlaug deserves to be more widely known and his life's work is still very valuable in regards to issues we are still dealing with after his death. Dr. Borlaug deserves a biographer will give proper justice to his history and his accomplishments but sadly this book is not that biography.… (mais)