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Solar

A novel from the Vintage Earth collection
By Ian McEwan
Series: Vintage Earth
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Solar by Ian McEwan is a satirical tale about Michael Beard, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, who finds himself at the crossroads of his personal and professional life. As he grapples with declining relevance in his field, he looks to harness solar power to combat climate change. Amidst a backdrop of personal missteps and moral quandaries, the narrative explores themes of ambition, self-deception, and the environmental crisis.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're drawn to stories that expertly blend humour and science with deeper themes about human nature and environmental concerns. The narrative delves into the life of a flawed, yet compelling protagonist who grapples with personal failings while working on solutions to global warming. The author's sharp wit and insightful observations make for an engaging and thought-provoking read.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

VINTAGE EARTH - Change the story. Novels to transform our relationship with the natural world.

Beard sank into a gloom of inattention, not because the planet was in peril - that moronic word again - but because someone was telling him it was with such enthusiasm.

Michael Beard is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose best work is behind him. He now spends his days speaking for enormous fees and half-heartedly heading a government-backed initiative tackling global warming. A compulsive womaniser, Beard finds his fifth marriage floundering. But this time, she's having the affair.

When Beard's professional and personal worlds collide in a freak accident, an opportunity arises for Beard to simultaneously save his marriage and the world from environmental disaster.

'Savagely funny... Enormously entertaining' Sunday Times

'A satirical masterpiece...it will come to be regarded as a classic' Daily Telegraph

'A stunningly accomplished work, possibly his best yet' Financial Times

VINTAGE EARTH is a collection of novels to transform our relationship with the natural world. Each one is a work of creative activism, a blast of fresh air, a seed from which change can grow. The books in this series reconnect us to the planet we inhabit - and must protect. Discover great writing on the most urgent story of our times.

Series: Vintage Earth

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  • Solar
    VINTAGE EARTH - Change the story. Novels to transform our relationship with the natural world. Beard sank into a gloom of inattention, not because the planet was in peril - that moronic word again - but because someone was telling him it was with such enthusiasm. Michael Beard is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose best work is behind him. He...
    By Ian McEwan
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  • The Mermaid of Black Conch
    VINTAGE EARTH - A series of transformative novels with the environment at their heart. ‘His stomach trembled with desire and fear and wonder because he knew what he'd seen. A woman. Right there, in the water’ Near the island of Black Conch, a fisherman sings to himself while waiting for a catch. But David attracts a sea-dweller that he never...
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  • The Overstory
    Vintage Earth: Change the story. Novels to transform our relationship with the natural world. The Overstory is not set in our world with trees in it; it's a world of trees, where humans have just arrived. This is the story of a group of strangers, each summoned in different ways by the natural world, brought together to save it from...
    By Richard Powers
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  • The Last Quarter of the Moon
    The Last Quarter of the Moon
    VINTAGE EARTH: Change the story. Novels to transform our relationship with the natural world. 'A long-time confidante of the rain and snow, I am ninety years old. The rain and snow have weathered me, and I too have weathered them.' At the end of the twentieth century, an old woman sits among the birch trees and reflects on the joys...
    By Chi Zijian
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Ian McEwan's Solar is praised as a satirical and entertaining masterpiece, combining humour with serious themes. It is described as both profound and funny, with some critics considering it his best work yet and noting its compelling writing style.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781784877873

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 07 July 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Vintage Classics

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 19.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 234g

Pages: 336

Collections

Best Sellers at Book Hero Education & Reference Fiction General Fiction Humour Ian McEwan In Stock Books In-Stock Fiction Books Literary Fiction New Release Fiction Penguin Books Series: Vintage Earth

About the Author

Ian McEwan is the critically acclaimed author of eighteen novels and two short story collections. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; The Cement Garden; Enduring Love; Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize; Atonement; Saturday; On Chesil Beach; Solar; Sweet Tooth; The Children Act; Nutshell; Machines Like Me; and Lessons. Atonement, Enduring Love, The Children Act and On Chesil Beach have all been adapted for the big screen.

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