How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming

By: Mike Brown

Narrated by: Ryan Gesell

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

The debate culminated in the demotion of Pluto from real planet to the newly coined category of “dwarf” planet. Suddenly Brown was receiving hate mail from schoolchildren and being bombarded by TV reporters—all because of the discovery he had spent years searching for and a lifetime dreaming about. Filled with both humor and drama, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is Mike Brown’s engaging first-person account of the most tumultuous year in modern astronomy—which he inadvertently caused. As it guides readers through important scientific concepts and inspires us to think more deeply about our place in the cosmos, it is also an entertaining and enlightening personal story: While Brown sought to expand our understanding of the vast nature of space, his own life was changed in the most immediate, human ways by love, birth, and death. A heartfelt and personal perspective on the demotion of everyone’s favorite farflung planet, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is the book for anyone, young or old, who has ever dreamed of exploring the universe—and who among us hasn’t?

©2010 Mike Brown (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"Finally I have someone to whom I can forward the hate mail I get from schoolchildren. After all these years, the real destroyer of Pluto has confessed. Part memoir and part planetary saga, How I Killed Pluto invites you into planetary scientist Mike Brown's office, his home, and his head as he tells the story of how his research on the outer solar system led directly to the death of Pluto, the planet." (Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium and author of The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet)

“Romance, intrigue, laughter, skullduggery, and most of all: science! Mike Brown has done more than anyone to reshape our view of the solar system, and this first-person account of his discoveries is an irresistible page-turner. You’ll have so much fun, you won’t even notice how much you’re learning.” (Sean Carroll, author of From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time)

“Science is at its best when it shakes up our thinking, and when it comes to planets, Mike Brown has grabbed on with both hands. Whether you think Pluto is a planet or just another ice ball, you’ll find Brown’s tale of exploring the outer solar system a charming and even endearing read. If Pluto is indeed dead, then its sacrifice was not in vain.” (Philip Plait, author of Death from the Skies!)

Lovely

I downloaded this book thinking it would be fun to learn more about the Pluto controversy, as I only remember snippets of it from news clips. It does cover the period leading to and including Pluto losing its status as a planet. What I thought would be a straight-forward account ended up being a beautiful memoir on research, and to a lesser extent teaching, and to a greater extent balancing these with life. Some people might prefer a "just the facts" approach, but I loved this route. As an artist who teaches, it helped me look at my relationship to my work in a different light.
The author mentions that part of announcing a discovery is to engage the general public, and to make astronomy accessible and tangible to a wider audience. I think Mr. Brown does well in presenting not only the factual information but also the politics, passions, and mystery of his field of research.

Entertaining

A great short read, what should have been a pretty boring subject really comes to life. The reader does a great job. Regardless of if you're interested in the subject this book will still entertain. 5-stars.

Fun read despite the potentially boring topic

I really liked this book, I am not really interested in astronomy, but the author did a good job making it relevant to a general audience.

How I killed Pluto and why it had it coming

This book is the best thing I have read in years, although it may be influenced by the fact that I am gen z .but I loved it and finding out what happened and why was amazing! Thank you mike brown! You were so right and I have always wanted to be an astronomer so this was amazing

this is a great book except for profanity.

this book would have been perfect to educate my children on the solar system except for the inclusion of a profane quote from Mike Brown's wife.

EXCELLENT

If you've ever had a fantasy about being a great astronomer this book will give you ample fodder for your imagination.

Interesting story

A good tale of the professional and personal life of a scientist combined with a whodunit.

Astronomy for everyone

Any additional comments?

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had it Coming by Mike Brown

I will admit I was saddened when I found out that Pluto had been demoted as a planet and I did not really know much about the whys of the decision, that’s what interested me in the book. I am also a science lover but definitely not an Astronomy buff. This book was great. It was enlightening about how modern Astronomy research is done and I don’t feel so sad about Pluto anymore. In fact I wish schools would teach planetary Science properly then a lot of the controversy surrounding Pluto would be diminished. The story is mostly a memoir of how the research was done to find other bodies in the Kuiper Belt area of the universe and how Pluto is just one of many thousands of objects in that region of space. It is a fascinating tale of scientific research, scientific intrigue, explanations about astronomy and the true meaning of the word “planet”, along with the back story to the whole Pluto problem. Nice background info about historical aspects of Astronomy and I really loved the personal parts the author added in about meeting his wife and the wonderful parts about his daughter. It made the determined scientist a real person, and a very likeable one at that. I listened to the Audible audio version of the book and I want to give kudos to the narrator, too, who did a fantastic job.

Very personal and very educational

Very personal and very educational at the same time. I loved the way the author puts his professional achievements in context with his personal life, such as the birth of his child and marriage

I don’t usually like audio books but I love this one

This is the only audio book I’ve actually enjoyed and it’s wonderful, an amazing and captivating story.