“Pluto is dead” –Mike Brown

This book was funny, interesting, and while I loved learning about the Pluto stuff, I also think Mike Brown ought to try his hand at a parenting book.

“Pluto was part of their mental landscape, the one they had constructed to organize their thinking about the solar system and their own place within it. Pluto seemed like the edge of existence. Ripping Pluto out of that landscape caused what felt like an inconceivably empty hole.”

Astronomer Mike Brown has spent most of his career believing that a tenth planet exists, out beyond Pluto. After decades of work (most of it tedious, even just to read about, although he has a sense of humor that perks things up), he finds several candidates. Unfortunately, the most information he collects, the most he begins to wonder — what exactly is a planet? And does Pluto even qualify? Turns out — maybe not so much, and Brown takes us on the journey of what that meant for him and the world.

This book has a lot of fun information, and Brown does a great job breaking it down for someone who doesn’t do the math/physics thing too well. What I really enjoyed, however, were his little side stories about his wife and daughter, who was born right when Brown’s big discovery hit. His stories about parenthood, especially those first few weeks, cracked me up. I believe he may have missed his calling as a daddy blogger.