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The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet
by
When the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History reclassified Pluto as an icy comet, the New York Times proclaimed on page one, "Pluto Not a Planet? Only in New York." Immediately, the public, professionals, and press were choosing sides over Pluto's planethood. Pluto is entrenched in our cultural and emotional view of the cosmos, and Neil
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Paperback, 208 pages
Published
September 2nd 2014
by W. W. Norton Company
(first published January 19th 2008)
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Community Reviews
(showing 1-30)
Like all of Tyson's books, it's very well written, explaining any number of difficult subjects with clarity and ease, but unfortunately, with this subject, we devolve into a catalogue of cultural significance for the poor demoted Pluto and a very long list of rather humorous emails and letters all sent to Tyson because of his role in the decision.
If that's what you're looking for, then, by all means, enjoy this book!
But if you're looking for an in-depth rather than an adequate focus on Pluto rat ...more
If that's what you're looking for, then, by all means, enjoy this book!
But if you're looking for an in-depth rather than an adequate focus on Pluto rat ...more
I wanted to read something by Neil deGrasse Tyson for a long time. I like how he can break complex matters up and present them in a way that children and laymen can understand them (there is a famous quote saying that you yourself have only understood a matter if you're capable of explaining it in simple terms).
This is probably the lightest of books by this author and people should know that going it. It's "only" about Pluto and that whole mess after it got declassified from "planet" to "dwarf p ...more
This is probably the lightest of books by this author and people should know that going it. It's "only" about Pluto and that whole mess after it got declassified from "planet" to "dwarf p ...more
Here's a topic that isn't often covered: how museums design their exhibits. You know what else isn't often covered: how science happens. There are myriad books about discoverers and discoveries, and many about new fields as they develop. But this is the only time I can recall reading a book on the evolving science behind an issue like Is Pluto a planet? And although the book isn't specifically targeting a young readership, I think it could be wonderfully popular with middle school readers, becau
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ugh... awfully light book on what really be a weighty tome. felt like a long article in time magazine or something, where it might scratch the surface of a subject, but you don't really get a whole understanding of the topic. filled with way too many 'extras': political cartoons, appendixes of song lyrics, full page portraits of the little girl who suggested the name, etc... i mean seriously, just get on with it. when you remove the quotes and pictures and figures, it's what, maybe like 50 pages
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I admit I did not thoroughly read this. I am not a science person at all (Yes, I realize I appear to be Asian). Most of the information went over my head. I recognize that Tyson is not only one of the foremost scientists today, but also one of the more easily understood ones. I suppose I am that dense when it comes to the hard sciences. Give me psychology, sociology, philosophy, I would stun you with my brain. Start giving me numbers and symbols, the solar system, energy, elements, gravity, I wi
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deGrasse Tyson proves that while he might not be the smartest man in the United States, he is one of the best scientist at making what at first glance could be a daunting project for the uninitiated to read both understandable and enjoyable. With this the second of this Astrophysicists books and it has determined me to read anything that I can find under his pen. His delivery makes it easy to read some of the most complex subjects in a clear and easy to read manner.
While this book is about the ...more
While this book is about the ...more
Everything that you could ever want to know about Pluto. I think it may be an effective teaching aid if teachers used excepts in their lessons.
Another guilty pleasure. Neil deGrasse Tyson always writes well. This time he is less concerned with science education than he is with describing the shared cultural mania that resulted from rebranding Pluto a plutoid.
The story begins with the fallout of the exhibit he put together at the Hayden Planetarium in the new Rose Center for Earth and Space. His team presented the planets as members of families of object with similar properties rather than as orbs to be memorized. Pluto was firmly plac ...more
The story begins with the fallout of the exhibit he put together at the Hayden Planetarium in the new Rose Center for Earth and Space. His team presented the planets as members of families of object with similar properties rather than as orbs to be memorized. Pluto was firmly plac ...more
Tyson is always a favorite guest on The Daily Show and this book was discussed on his last interview with Jon Stewart. Library to the rescue!
There are 9 chapters to this fairly short book, all done with wit and an obvious love of science. Tyson goes over Pluto's history, how Pluto was received in our culture, and the descent of how Pluto lost his status as our 9th planet.
Apparently Americans really love Pluto, not only because of it's association with Disney's dog, but because an American discov ...more
There are 9 chapters to this fairly short book, all done with wit and an obvious love of science. Tyson goes over Pluto's history, how Pluto was received in our culture, and the descent of how Pluto lost his status as our 9th planet.
Apparently Americans really love Pluto, not only because of it's association with Disney's dog, but because an American discov ...more
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson was voted Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive by people magazine - who would have known such a stud muffin was also an crazy intelligent, funny, and witty writer?!
This book details the history of Pluto's place in both science and people's hearts from the time of it's discovery and naming as a planet all the way to its demotion to a dwarf planet within the Kuiper Belt. Plus it is full of satirical comics and extremely angry and often misspelled letters from damn near homicidal t ...more
This book details the history of Pluto's place in both science and people's hearts from the time of it's discovery and naming as a planet all the way to its demotion to a dwarf planet within the Kuiper Belt. Plus it is full of satirical comics and extremely angry and often misspelled letters from damn near homicidal t ...more
Neil deGrasse Tyson is a very entertaining science communicator and astrophysicist. This little book outlines the whole Pluto debate as it unfolded in the US (I don't think most people in other countries cared quite so much). It makes for entertaining reading, but I can't help but think 'seriously? It's science. Science changes constantly. And frankly, all the debate concerns is a linguistically constructed classification system. The universe doesn't really care.' Still, it is a fun and very acc
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Feb 21, 2018
Owen
added it
This was a fun and informative read, and it shows us that you can love Pluto and still believe it's not a planet. I like Dr. Tyson's perspective that objective fact is more important than the labels we apply to it.
I'm reminded of that quote from a child's review of a book that said: "This book told me more about penguins than I cared to know." Only substitute penguins for Pluto. I KID, I KID.
No, I feel very informed about Pluto as a planetary object, and this was really a fascinating read, but I have to say, I came out of this book with Dr. Tyson's same conclusion: WHY DID THIS CAUSE SO MUCH CONTROVERSY? The book ends with a cartoon of a news bulletin proclaiming Pluto was no longer a planet, with a pict ...more
No, I feel very informed about Pluto as a planetary object, and this was really a fascinating read, but I have to say, I came out of this book with Dr. Tyson's same conclusion: WHY DID THIS CAUSE SO MUCH CONTROVERSY? The book ends with a cartoon of a news bulletin proclaiming Pluto was no longer a planet, with a pict ...more
Nov 17, 2014
AndrewP
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
audio-books
Before reading this book I had no idea that the author was a major player/instigator in the whole 'Is Pluto a Planet?' situation from the first half of the 2000's. It's pretty amazing how this whole situation and debate blew up over how the Rose Center for Earth and Space decided to depict the planets in their exhibition. Rather than the traditional display of planets listed out from the sun, they categorized them by dividing the solar system up into zones of like objects. Going out from the su
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a stimulating, witty, and educational look at the kuiper belt object formerly known as a planet, neil degrasse tyson's the pluto files tracks the historical, scientific, and cultural ascendancy of our solar system's one-time ninth planet. tyson recounts the commotion that ensued following the hayden planetarium's omission of pluto in one of their displays in 2000 - which perhaps paled in comparison to the controversy subsequent to the iau's reclassification of pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006.
in ...more
in ...more
Audio. This book came on 4 cds, but I think it could have been 2, comfortably. There was a lot of repetition - of content that was phrased identically more than once - so much so that I kept checking that I hadn't repeated a track/disc. Perhaps that doesn't comes across as strongly in print? Anyway, it was a fun little read, very much popular science. I liked the overarching theme of the difference between science (as in scientific thought and logical rigor) and popular science (culturally-led,
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I picked up this short, beautifully designed book after following all the public brouhaha over Pluto's downgrading to a "dwarf planet" expecting mostly an overview of that scene. The second half of the book does provide this, but the first half is basically a history of Pluto's discovery, and frankly, I found this part rather boring. But that's mostly because I have a pea brain that can't follow science very well. For me, the hands-down highlight of the book are the letters from children--printe
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Fun as hell, but really short. I love Tyson’s style and would have loved more background.
Even though I really enjoyed this book, I am still mad at Tyson for "demoting" Pluto.
What was the biggest story of 2006? The arrest of the shampoo bombers in England? Small fries. The first World Baseball Classic? YAWN! The death of Don Knotts? Nothin'.
No, as interesting as they were, none of these generated nearly as much public interest and argument as the much ballyhooed "demotion" of Pluto by the International Astronomical Union in August of 2006. Poor little Pluto, hanging out there on the edge of the solar system, got bumped down to "Dwarf Planet," rousing much ire from pe ...more
No, as interesting as they were, none of these generated nearly as much public interest and argument as the much ballyhooed "demotion" of Pluto by the International Astronomical Union in August of 2006. Poor little Pluto, hanging out there on the edge of the solar system, got bumped down to "Dwarf Planet," rousing much ire from pe ...more
The Pluto Files is a response to the whole argument and battle over what makes a planet a planet and where Pluto falls in that definition.
I found this book to be quite entertaining as much of it holds Tyson’s sort of tongue-in-cheek commentary style. It focuses mostly on the relationship between Pluto and the people, from it’s initial discovery to the demotion from planet-hood. It goes more into the social history of the planet as when this was published we didn’t have the plethora of info about ...more
I found this book to be quite entertaining as much of it holds Tyson’s sort of tongue-in-cheek commentary style. It focuses mostly on the relationship between Pluto and the people, from it’s initial discovery to the demotion from planet-hood. It goes more into the social history of the planet as when this was published we didn’t have the plethora of info about ...more
What an awesome read. Very entertaining AND informative. I enjoyed reading this book. The author lays out the facts and reasons why Pluto’s status was changed. There are some counter arguments as well. There is even a good sprinkling of humour throughout.
Great overview on the history of Pluto, its pop culture perceptions, and the rise/fall of Pluto as a planet
Nov 29, 2014
Joan
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
teachers of science and high school students
This book was not quite what I had expected, but that is more my fault since I was expecting more science than I got in this book. This is a mostly quite personal description from Tyson's point of view of the fuss made by American's over the change in status of Pluto. As Tyson pointed out, ultimately it really wasn't all that important in that it didn't change any of the realities of the world....Pluto is still the same physical spacial body it was before the change in status...but acknowledges
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I received this book as a gift when it was released, and the "demotion" of Pluto was still a fairly hot topic. I wasn't terribly interested as I considered the whole thing pretty silly. My reaction was, "Pluto doesn't care what we call it" and "planet is a term humans invented, so there's no real scientific value." In fact, my opinion was that the term planet should only apply to the classical wanderers of the sky, and thus exclude Uranus and Neptune as well. Anyway, with the impending fly-by of
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I read The Pluto Files because I am interested in space science and I am a fan of Neil deGrasse Tyson, and while it is a nice little book, it does not have too much to offer.
As a chronicle of the public outcry over the American Museum of Natural History's decision to not include Pluto among the planets exhibited at the Hayden Planetarium, it's interesting. As a discussion of the curious obsession among some people of Pluto, it is also interesting. And as a way to get the reader thinking about wh ...more
As a chronicle of the public outcry over the American Museum of Natural History's decision to not include Pluto among the planets exhibited at the Hayden Planetarium, it's interesting. As a discussion of the curious obsession among some people of Pluto, it is also interesting. And as a way to get the reader thinking about wh ...more
As a Pluto fan, yes, the planet. I have always wanted to read this book. Neil deGrasse Tyson was the man seen in the front of the controversial reclassification of Pluto. I still remember seeing websites with kids letters and politicians trying to get their 5 cents in on the topic. Pluto as it turns out is the most popular planet. Here is a history of its discovery, its growth in the consciousness of America and the World. The beginning of the cracks, and the fall from planetary grace.
As a laym ...more
As a laym ...more
Neil DeGrasse Tyson is becoming one of my favorite popular science authors - I enjoy his Teaching Company courses, and he was perfect in the COSMOS reboot. His delivery of intriguing topics blends interesting facts with passionate excitement and fervor that is contagious, and all too rare in the scientific education community.
I found this book to be an interesting recount of the historical rise and fall of our ninth "planet" (it's size is actually less than 0.24 percent that of Earth!), from it ...more
I found this book to be an interesting recount of the historical rise and fall of our ninth "planet" (it's size is actually less than 0.24 percent that of Earth!), from it ...more
A readable, if slight and somewhat repetitive, look at the popular controversy about whether or not Pluto should be designated a planet. Neil deGrasse Tyson was one of the designers behind the Hayden Planetarium display which kicked off the argument in the media back in 2001, and the book is liberally sprinkled with excerpts from the emails and letters which he received from the public about it. Tyson's narrative reveals all the difficulties of trying to untangle "pure" science from emotion, nos
...more
I was already bound to like this book due to the subject matter which I can confidently say most Americans I know care about on some level. You can tell through the writing that Neil deGrasse Tyson is not necessarily against Pluto, but that science should prevail, and as a forerunner in the decision to demote Pluto, used that basic belief as a key motivator. The book is a great example of that concept in action. The Pluto Files goes into the historical, pop cultural, and scientific aspects of Pl
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| That's no exuse: errors by NDT? | 1 | 2 | Jun 26, 2014 04:51AM |
Neil deGrasse Tyson was born and raised in New York City where he was educated in the public schools clear through his graduation from the Bronx High School of Science. Tyson went on to earn his BA in Physics from Harvard and his PhD in Astrophysics from Columbia.
Tyson's professional research interests are broad, but include star formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, and the structure of our ...more
Tyson's professional research interests are broad, but include star formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, and the structure of our ...more
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3 trivia questions
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“When your reasons for believing something are justified ad hoc, you are left susceptible to further discoveries undermining the rationale for that belief.”
—
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“the stated authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.”
—
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