Solar

Ian McEwan wrote Solar, a novel about solar energy and the idea to recreate what even a lowly dandelion can do - photosynthesis.  If we could harness the power of the sun into photosynthesis, our dependence on fossil fuels would come to an end. We could split hydrogen and carbon, energize the modern world without depleting our resources.  To explain this, McEwan employs the use of physics, quantam mechanics and even string theory.  So is this book serious bedtime reading and bore you to sleep?  Is it heavy and hard to read?  No!  Its a comedy of all things.  McEwan makes up an amoral womanizer (that is redundant) in the character of Michael Beard.  Michael Beard's character is the only one that gets developed in this story. He is selfish, scheming, swindling, gluttonish Nobel prize winning physicist.  He marries five times.  If you read this book, you will, no doubt, dislike Beard very much.  And the story is told from his point of view.  There aren't too many books that make me chuckle aloud and this one did.  Solar is not at all what I expected from Ian McEwan because his other stories are serious and crafted.  He is usually a serious writer.  If you listen to the book on CD, you will get the added bonus of an interview with the author.  Part of the story at the end of the book takes place in New Mexico where there is lots of solar energy available.  The appendix of the book details the speech given when Michael Beard was awarded his Nobel Prize by the King of Norway which made Beard seem more like a real person and made for a pleasant way to finish the story.