"Richard Kraft, a German professor of rhetoric, an aging Reaganite, and a Knight Rider fan, is unhappily married and badly in debt. He sees no way out of his rut until he is invited to participate in a competition in California sponsored by a Silicon Valley tycoon and techno-optimist. The contestants will convene to answer a literal million-dollar question, committing to deliver an eighteen-minute lecture on why our planet is still, all evidence to...