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HOW I KILLED PLUTO AND WHY IT HAD IT COMING
By: Mike Brown
Spiegel & Grau
December 2010
On Sale: December 7, 2010
248 pages
ISBN: 0385531087
EAN: 9780385531085
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
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, astronomer Mike Brown made the discovery of a lifetime: a tenth planet, Eris, slightly bigger than Pluto. But instead of its resulting in one more planet being added to our solar system, Brownβs find ignited a firestorm of controversy that riled the usually sedate world of astronomy and launched him into the public eye. The debate culminated in the demotion of Pluto from real planet to the newly coined category of βdwarfβ planet. Suddenly Brown was receiving hate mail from schoolchildren and being bombarded by TV reportersβall 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 Brownβs engaging first-person account of the most tumultuous year in modern astronomyβwhich 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 everyoneβs 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 universeβand who among us hasnβt?
 Media BuzzTalk of the Nation - February 4, 2011
Weekend Edition Sunday - December 12, 2010
On Point - December 9, 2010
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