Solar was a very strange book. It tells the story of Michael Beard, a dissolute former Nobel Prize winner late in life, just floating along between speaking gigs, government panels and spots on company boards. He's gaining weight, getting divorced (for the 5th time) and finds it impossible to get motivated. A few things happen (good and bad) and his life is chronicled. I almost gave up on this book, deciding to follow Hank Stuevers' 50 page rule but before the 50 pages were up, he traveled to the Artic for some pretty interesting comic (mis)adventures and so I stuck with it. Still not sure why, as Beard isn't that attractive, interesting or clever a character. I guess I just wanted to see what happened to him next, and was wondering if it would ever be explained why an aging, overweight, egotistical blowhard like Beard could keep finding women, especially attractive women (it wasn't).