Ian McEwan’s “Solar” Tackles Global Climate Change and Renewable Energy

I got through the first half of Ian McEwan’s masterpiece “Solar” on the plane ride home from the East Coast this afternoon.  For my money, he’s one of the top two or three living authors of fiction – and here, of course, building a story around global climate change and renewable energy, he’s tapped into an interest of mine – and of yours.

But how fictional is this, really? An alternative energy group is formed that solicits ideas from the public, only to sort most of them into concepts that violate the first law of thermodynamics, the second law, or both. A government-run renewable energy lab is wasteful and bureaucratic, focusing on meaningless projects chosen for indefensible reasons by a selfish leader, deaf to the pleadings of bright, fair-minded young scientists. The protagonist lives with the human frailties we all face, resting on his  laurels, and struggling to focus on ambitious goals as he ages.

I can’t wait to see how all this turns out, but I can already see that McEwan’s done it again.