How I Killed Pluto / Mike Brown

How I Killed Pluto (and why it had it coming) by Mike Brown. 267 p.

Brown is the discoverer of Eris, the Kuiper belt object whose size caused the discussion that led to the vote "demoting" Pluto from its planetary status. He's a charming narrator, which makes this book a lot of fun to read. His scientific explanations are always quite clear; no reader should be intimidated by any perceived difficulty of the topic. I was particularly interested by the section where he describes the controversy over who discovered the object later named Haumea. His discussion of how scientists--at least, those in his area of study--determine when to announce discoveries, and the factors that go into deciding why, how, and when to make those announcements, is fascinating. Also, many of the bits he discusses about his personal life are hilarious. My favorite is his description of trying to determine whether his wife was actually in labor or just "cramping" (her vote was for cramps): "I plotted some graphs."

Check our catalog