The solar system most of us grew up with included nine planets, with Mercury closest to the sun and Pluto at the outer edge. Then, in 2005, astrono...
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Jan 02, 2012
Cathy
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Mike Brown loves the universe. He is also obsessive, modest to a fault, smart and has a wickedly dry sense of humor. This book grabbed me by my imagination and my heart and mind followed. Brown wove his personal story with the astronomical story giving it more resonance (I love the idea of naming a celestial body after one’s wife or daughter). What I really enjoyed were the machinations of the academic community and the side-story of the Spanish astronomer who “stole” his discovery. I
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Dec 17, 2010
Chrissy
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Okay, let's start with the disclosures first and get that out of the way. I was sent this book, so I didn't buy it, and I didn't pay for it. Okay? Got it? Good. Now, moving on.
Disclosure number two: I'm not a science buff... or an astronomy buff. I can probably point to the Dippers, maybe Orion on a good day. And, I know the planets by name... My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.
Nine.. uhh... what?
So, Pluto is gone. (Didn't figure I needed to bra More...
Disclosure number two: I'm not a science buff... or an astronomy buff. I can probably point to the Dippers, maybe Orion on a good day. And, I know the planets by name... My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.
Nine.. uhh... what?
So, Pluto is gone. (Didn't figure I needed to bra More...
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Jan 25, 2011
Allison
rated it:
Any scientist can write about his great discovery. Mike Brown writes about his in a way that makes you want to actually read about it. Instead of going on and on about his findings in scientific terms, he explains astronomy in a way that most middle school students could understand.
He adds interest to the story by not just writing about his discovery and how it changed history but also how it changed himself. He inserts details about his everyday life and how these details had an e More...
He adds interest to the story by not just writing about his discovery and how it changed history but also how it changed himself. He inserts details about his everyday life and how these details had an e More...
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Apr 04, 2011
Arthur
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If you'd be interested in the love story of a man for his daughter as he watches her progress through the first days of her life, read this. If you're interested in how the contemporary science of astronomy works i, read this. If you'd be interested in a detective story about a team of researchers halfway across the world who nearly stole a major discovery, read this. If you'd be interested in the politics of 'killing' a planet that was accepted as part of the pantheon for more than 70 years, re
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May 31, 2011
Chris
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When I picked his up, I was worried it would be a retread of Neil DeGrasse Tyson's excellent The Pluto Files. It's not. Pluto is just the hook for Brown's memoir of what it's like to be a modern-day astronomer, looking for big things in a solar system that seems (at first) to be mostly explored.
This book is a joy to read, full of wit and cutting-edge science. Brown is a gifted writer who can explain not only what an astronomer does but how he thinks, drawing you into his wonder at t More...
This book is a joy to read, full of wit and cutting-edge science. Brown is a gifted writer who can explain not only what an astronomer does but how he thinks, drawing you into his wonder at t More...
Jan 06, 2012
There are several misconceptions here: First, our solar system does NOT have only eight planets. Second, Mike Brown did not “kill” Pluto, and use of this word is extremely misleading and more about Brown’s ego, which he for some reason has centered around calling himself the “plutokiller.” Third, Eris was not discovered by Brown alone but by a team of three astronomers; one of the other two, Dr. David Rabinowitz, disagrees with Brown and signed a petition rejecting the IAU planet definition and
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Feb 11, 2012
Yune
rated it:
I've an ex and a brother-in-law who are both astrophysicists, but I picked this up mostly because of my own fond memories of having memorized nine planets back in the day, and how Pluto seemed like the lonely guy, zooming around in his crazy orbit. There's a fabulous quote on the front: "Mike Brown is the funniest, smartest, and most surprisingly poetic Caltech astronomer who ever made my daughters cry. Certainly their happy nine-planet childhoods were worth sacrificing for this truly fasci
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Jan 28, 2012
John
rated it:
As a longtime amateur astronomer I have a good idea of what's good science writing and Mike Brown's little book How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is a wonderful example. When Pluto was tossed from the pantheon of planets I didn't care. I knew that in previous centuries when asteroids were first discovered that they were briefly counted as planets. Eventually asteroids lost their planet status; there were too many of them and they were all dinky compared to real planets. Brown notes thi
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Jan 03, 2012
David
rated it:
"When I was your age, Pluto was a planet."
Perhaps some of us remember the group with that title on Facebook a few years ago. It was one of many reactions, and one of the more lighthearted, to the news that Pluto had been demoted. From now on the solar system had eight planets. Mike Brown is the astronomer who made the discoveries (or led the team making the discoveries) that served as one of the main catalysts for Pluto losing its status. He tells the story in this great More...
Perhaps some of us remember the group with that title on Facebook a few years ago. It was one of many reactions, and one of the more lighthearted, to the news that Pluto had been demoted. From now on the solar system had eight planets. Mike Brown is the astronomer who made the discoveries (or led the team making the discoveries) that served as one of the main catalysts for Pluto losing its status. He tells the story in this great More...
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Oct 26, 2011
06connorm
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Book Review: How I Killed Pluto and Why it had it Coming
This book is about how the author, Mike Brown, takes action that eventually results in Pluto not being a planet. It was published in December of 2010. As far as I can tell, the intended audience of the book is essentially people who are interested in Pluto and why it got reclassified. The main issue that Mike Brown addresses is that if you want to do something, you should try your very hardest to do it.
The book is se More...
This book is about how the author, Mike Brown, takes action that eventually results in Pluto not being a planet. It was published in December of 2010. As far as I can tell, the intended audience of the book is essentially people who are interested in Pluto and why it got reclassified. The main issue that Mike Brown addresses is that if you want to do something, you should try your very hardest to do it.
The book is se More...
Oct 24, 2011
08emmak
rated it: 
I read this book fully expecting a boring neirdy story about some astronomer that decided he didn't like Pluto and that it was too small or something like that. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. This book is on a 9ish 10ish reading level and talks about stuff I had no idea existed but I enjoyed learning about the solar system. Mike Brown pointed this book toward students and young adults who are interested in astronomy. I heard someone at a point say they thought it was a very boring
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Oct 23, 2011
04denalir
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Do you remember when you were in class looking through your science book, when your teacher points to the planets and says that pluto isn't a planet anymore? Well, I remember, and I was mad. I loved pluto because it was different and interesting. The book "How I Killed Pluto And Why It Had It Coming" is an amazing book that I read. It explained to me how Pluto was kicked out of the group of planets. This book is writen by Mike Brown and is 255 pages long. This book was probably wr
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Sep 14, 2011
Melanie
rated it:
Mike Brown is a fluent storyteller and a scrupulous scientist, whose insistence on a high standard of proof led to him nearly losing the credit for one of his discoveries. Who would think such skulduggery exists in the community of astronomers?
As a boy, Brown discovered his passion for planets when he noticed two moving, night after night, through the constellation Orion. "It's always hard not to feel that in some ways, for me at least, maybe the early astrologers were right: Pe More...
As a boy, Brown discovered his passion for planets when he noticed two moving, night after night, through the constellation Orion. "It's always hard not to feel that in some ways, for me at least, maybe the early astrologers were right: Pe More...
Sep 14, 2011
Ina
rated it:
I admit, the title to this one sucked me in! While it was an interesting book, and it did make me think about a number of things, for me it didn't live up to its reviews. I expected more from an author described as "the funniest" and most "surprisingly poetic" but I guess that is a reminder that everything is relative - perhaps he really is *the* funniest Caltech astronomer and the average reader is used to a different standard! This is a very readable book, and everythin
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Sep 08, 2011
Kristen
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I just finished How I Killed Pluto and Why It Deserved It and loved it! It is written by the astronomer who discovered what they called Xena, which would have been the tenth planet. It forced the International Astronomical Union to decide whether to call this (and many large bodies in the area he was starting to find) planets, or to remove Pluto from the planet list.
On one hand, this is a really nice story of how science is done. He struggles with decisions of when to reveal his disc More...
On one hand, this is a really nice story of how science is done. He struggles with decisions of when to reveal his disc More...
Jul 11, 2011
Rex
rated it:
I found this a fascinating look at the paths astronomers navigate in both their observing and in the process of revealing their work. There is a great tension between the desire to announce a discovery quickly (and thus gain credit as the discoverer) and the need to present the announcement with as many facts as possible. And wow, the catfights among astronomers are amazing.
Regarding Pluto losing its status as a planet -- Brown was one of the astronomers who helped influence the vote More...
Regarding Pluto losing its status as a planet -- Brown was one of the astronomers who helped influence the vote More...
May 01, 2011
Jennifer
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Brief Description: If, like me, you never really understood why poor Pluto lost its planet-hood, this book by astronomer Mike Brown will explain it to you. After all, he is the one who helped “murder” Pluto with his discoveries of several rather large Kuiper Belt objects. If you think astronomy is a staid and unchanging science, this book will turn that assumption on its head as we learn how Brown’s discoveries led to intrigue, scandal and controversy … as well as murder (of Pluto’s planet-hood.
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Apr 14, 2011
Brandon T.
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Apr 09, 2011
Converse
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The author's role in killing Pluto is indirect. He was not present at the meeting in Prague in 2008 that voted Pluto out. What happened is that his research group found objects in the same area of the Solar System, the Kuiper Belt, that were numerous enough and big enough to make Pluto no longer unique. Adding these discoveries to others discoveries of Kuiper Belt objects made it seem odd to treat Pluto as a planet. According to Brown, this process of reclassifying the objects in the Solar S
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Mar 18, 2011
Tracie
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I was the one that started the Pluto craze in my house. I saw How I Killed Pluto displayed at the library and brought it home. It was taken over by my 17 yr old daughter who devoured it, and ended up writing an extra credit report on it for school. Then my 14 yr old took it over. In the mean time, my husband, who works part of the time in CA, saw that Mike Brown was giving a lecture at Foothill College, so he found a book store, picked up to a copy, went to the lecture (which he very much en
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Feb 04, 2011
Tiffany
rated it:
I learned about this book from an NPR interview with the author. I was intrigued, so I decided to read the book.
I was fascinated by Mike Brown, an astonomer at Caltech, and his search to find the 10th planet. For awhile, he did find the 10th planet, but his discovery led to scientists re-evaluating the classifcation and definition of a planet, and thus led to the decision of the IAU to officially declare that Pluto was not a planet but a dwarf planet.
Understanding the sc More...
I was fascinated by Mike Brown, an astonomer at Caltech, and his search to find the 10th planet. For awhile, he did find the 10th planet, but his discovery led to scientists re-evaluating the classifcation and definition of a planet, and thus led to the decision of the IAU to officially declare that Pluto was not a planet but a dwarf planet.
Understanding the sc More...
Jan 08, 2011
Nick
rated it:
His reasoning on why Pluto should not be a planet was fascinating, and the book was not coldly scientific. It was filled with all sorts of things, including romance, parenthood and world mythology. Although some of the digressions were puzzling as they occurred, they all tied together by the end of the book. Very few authors manage that.
The book itself, which is both a study of modern astronomy and a story about life in academia, had me riveted. I had heard of one of the academic scandals More...
The book itself, which is both a study of modern astronomy and a story about life in academia, had me riveted. I had heard of one of the academic scandals More...
Dec 19, 2010
Bruce
rated it:
It shocked me to realize just over halfway through "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming" that such a book would orbit the top of my short list of all-time favorites. But it did—and it landed closer to the periapsis than the apoapsis. Why?
I’m not a scientist; indeed, my interest in astronomy, while healthy, halts one step short of an emotional attachment to Pluto. Hence, I suppose it was easier, unencumbered by a wounded celestial psyche, to embrace Mike Brown’s stor More...
I’m not a scientist; indeed, my interest in astronomy, while healthy, halts one step short of an emotional attachment to Pluto. Hence, I suppose it was easier, unencumbered by a wounded celestial psyche, to embrace Mike Brown’s stor More...
Dec 01, 2010
Shanna
rated it:
I personally haven't studied anything to do with the universe since I did a speech for a class at university three years ago (presenting indisputable evidence on why aliens built the pyramids), but that doesn't mean I never noticed something fishy about Pluto. Like the god it was named after, it bides its time out there at the end of the solar system, floating along its odd elliptical orbit, like it's lurking, waiting to strike. Nope, I never trusted it.
Still, I never thought they'd ev More...
Still, I never thought they'd ev More...
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Oct 25, 2011
07coled
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COLE DAVIS PERIOD 7TH
HOW I KILLED PLUTO AND WHY I HAD IT COMING
In the book How I kill Pluto and why I had it coming it tells how space brought Mike Brown an astronomer to find his wife and 2 new planets. This book is for anyone, but I would mainly suggest people who want to learn about space and to learn new things about specifically our solar system.
Have you ever found something new and exciting and you try to hold it in, and you do: but somehow it just all falls out on the ta More...
HOW I KILLED PLUTO AND WHY I HAD IT COMING
In the book How I kill Pluto and why I had it coming it tells how space brought Mike Brown an astronomer to find his wife and 2 new planets. This book is for anyone, but I would mainly suggest people who want to learn about space and to learn new things about specifically our solar system.
Have you ever found something new and exciting and you try to hold it in, and you do: but somehow it just all falls out on the ta More...
Sep 04, 2011
Jane
rated it:
This was an extremely enjoyable read. I didn't know much about the demise of Pluto's status as a planet besides that it happened. I do remember there being somewhat of an uproar about it. And being a major Xena Warrior Princess fan, I do remember the planet Xena in the news. I didn't know that it was later officially renamed Eris and that it was the impetus for the creation of the category of dwarf planets.
Mike Brown recounts an autobiographical tale that begins with why he chose More...
Mike Brown recounts an autobiographical tale that begins with why he chose More...
Jul 02, 2011
Jen
rated it:
When I was in late elementary school and early middle school, I was obsessed with the idea of becoming an astronomer. I read everything I could about the nine planets, the sun...everything. Then I realized something that pretty much put the kibosh on that dream--I had absolutely no aptitude for science. Science is interesting, wondrous, and fascinating--but it wasn't my bag, baby.
When Pluto was demoted in 2006, I remember being a tad bit annoyed. First off, I had to memorize nine pl More...
When Pluto was demoted in 2006, I remember being a tad bit annoyed. First off, I had to memorize nine pl More...
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Feb 23, 2011
Mike
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I admit that I wasn't expecting much when I started reading this -- thought it'd be a fun, light read, and a good way of getting up to speed on the variety of Kuiper belt planetoids I vaguely remembered hearing about in the early-to-mid aughts (I remembered the Hawaiian god one pretty well, and had a vague memory that there was one called Xena, but I'd actually thought they were the same). I was pleasantly surprised to discover that yes, it is fun and light, and does serve as a useful primer, b
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Apr 22, 2011
V.
rated it:
Short and eminently readable, Brown's account of his race to discover the solar system's tenth planet—and the subsequent change of heart that led him to recommend that neither it nor Pluto be considered planets at all—has two distinct plusses. First, he makes a lot of difficult material extremely approachable for non-astronomists. Second, it contains a ripping cast of villains, from evil internet chat room folk to disreputable scientists scheming to steal the work of others . . . and more import
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Mar 21, 2011
Cheryl
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It was entertaining and enlightening to read about current-day planet hunting just after rereading the story of Pluto's discovery and rewatching the Nova episode about its demotion. I hadn't paid much attention to the announcements of new planets from Caltech in the mid-00s, even though we live on the fringes of that community near Pasadena, so it was fascinating to have an insider's account of all of it and to imagine it happening right here. I enjoyed Brown's stories of academics and astronomy
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