Michael Beard is in his late fifties; bald, overweight, unprepossessing – a Nobel prize-winning physicist whose best work is behind him. Trading on his reputation, he speaks for enormous fees, lends his name to the letterheads of renowned scientific institutions and half-heartedly heads a government-backed initiative tackling global warming. An inveterate philanderer, Beard fin...(展开全部)

The literary event of the season: a new novel from Ian McEwan, as surprising as it is masterful. Michael Beard is a Nobel prize–winning physicist whose best work is behind him. Trading on his reputation, he speaks for enormous fees, lends his name to the letterheads of renowned scientific institutions, and half-heartedly heads a government-backed initiative tackling global w...(展开全部)

Michael Beard is a Nobel prize-winning physicist whose best work is behind him. Trading on his reputation, he speaks for enormous fees, lends his name to the letterheads of renowned scientific institutions and half-heartedly heads a government-backed initiative tackling global warming. A compulsive womaniser, Beard finds his fifth marriage floundering. But this time it is diffe...(展开全部)

Michael Beard is a Nobel prize-winning physicist whose best work is behind him. Trading on his reputation, he speaks for enormous fees, lends his name to the letterheads of renowned scientific institutions and half-heartedly heads a government-backed initiative tackling global warming. A compulsive womaniser, Beard finds his fifth marriage floundering. But this time it is diffe...(展开全部)

The literary event of the season: a new novel from Ian McEwan, as surprising as it is masterful. Michael Beard is a Nobel prize–winning physicist whose best work is behind him. Trading on his reputation, he speaks for enormous fees, lends his name to the letterheads of renowned scientific institutions, and half-heartedly heads a government-backed initiative tackling global w...(展开全部)

Michael Beard is in his late fifties; bald, overweight, unprepossessing – a Nobel prize-winning physicist whose best work is behind him. Trading on his reputation, he speaks for enormous fees, lends his name to the letterheads of renowned scientific institutions and half-heartedly heads a government-backed initiative tackling global warming. An inveterate philanderer, Beard fin...(展开全部)

阿瑟·黑利（Arthur Hailey），1920出生于英格兰贝德福德郡卢顿区，1939年第二次世界大战爆发后，加入英国空军，直至1947年定居加拿大。他所出版的作品在欧美国家获得了巨大的成功。他的11部作品被翻译成40种文字，总印数超过1.7亿册。阿瑟•黑利称自己的大脑“无时无刻不在编织故事”，他擅长把日常的故事写成引人入胜的小说。他常以美国社会中的一些重要行业为故事背景，如金融业、交通运输、新闻传媒等。故事情节多半围绕先进与落后、革新与保守之间的斗争展开，主人公多为精通技术、事业心强、果敢坚决的知识分子。他的作品在欧美国家获得了巨大的成功，其中《大饭店》甚至成了酒店管理学科学生必读的“教科书”。

阿瑟·黑利（Arthur Hailey），1920出生于英格兰贝德福德郡卢顿区，1939年第二次世界大战爆发后，加入英国空军，直至1947年定居加拿大。他所出版的作品在欧美国家获得了巨大的成功。他的11部作品被翻译成40种文字，总印数超过1.7亿册。阿瑟•黑利称自己的大脑“无时无刻不在编织故事”，他擅长把日常的故事写成引人入胜的小说。他常以美国社会中的一些重要行业为故事背景，如金融业、交通运输、新闻传媒等。故事情节多半围绕先进与落后、革新与保守之间的斗争展开，主人公多为精通技术、事业心强、果敢坚决的知识分子。他的作品在欧美国家获得了巨大的成功，其中《大饭店》甚至成了酒店管理学科学生必读的“教科书”。

In "Solar Lottery" anyone can become the ruler of the solar system. There are no elections, no interviews, not even any prerequisites--it all comes down to the random turns of a giant wheel. But when a new Quizmaster takes over, the old one still keeps some rights, namely the right to hire an unending stream of assassins to attempt to kill the new leader. And in the meantime, a...(展开全部)

The operating principle was random selection: positions of public power were decided by a sophisticated lottery. Everyone had a chance, everyone could live in hope that they would be chosen to be the boss, the Quizmaster. But with the power came the game - the assassination game - which everyone could watch on TV. Would the new man be good enough to avoid his chosen killer? Whi...(展开全部)