Final Pluto Review
Finding Pluto has been one of the first books I have actually finished front to back in a long time. I have a bad habit of starting a book and giving up on it about 75% in because I either get sidetracked on my next book or get bored of it. Pluto did not disappoint like those other books did. Mike Brown allowed the reader to become very engaged in his hunt for the 10th planet by continually keeping you on your toes on whether this new object he found was the allusive planet or not. You can tell that Brown is very smart and very well accomplished in his field but he is able to "dumb down" his search for the inexperienced reader such as myself. I have always been fascinated with space and planets but never was able to get over the hurdle of all the technical jargon that astrophysicists use.
Throughout the book I was very intrigued on his search for the planet and his steps in searching for it. But I also really enjoyed hearing about his personal life and how that affected his search. It added a personal touch to a story that could get very impersonal. I also found his views on naming planets very interesting as well. He was more concerned with what a name meant to people rather than it following the book on a scientific definition. Over the course of the whole book he continually argues that a planet should be something that you see and just know what it is. Similar to a continent, he argues that the average person just "knows" what a planet is. However, he admits that he personally believes that Pluto should not be a planet because of recent findings in the Kuiper Belt.
Finally, I thought the whole storyline with the Spanish scientists was particularly interesting. Being around 10 years old when all of this happened I had no idea about all the inter workings and politics going into the decision to not make Pluto a planet. I just woke up one day and read the headlines like everyone else. However, Mike Brown goes in depth of the process of finding and announcing his discoveries. It was very angering to learn that those Spanish scientists took credit for Brown's work. How Mike Brown handled this situation was very admirable and professional though. If I was in his place I would have been very angry and probably wouldn't have reacted with the same calm attitude.
Overall, I was very please with this book as it gave me a better understanding of the universe, how objects are discovered, and the reasoning behind excluding Pluto from the planetary list.
Throughout the book I was very intrigued on his search for the planet and his steps in searching for it. But I also really enjoyed hearing about his personal life and how that affected his search. It added a personal touch to a story that could get very impersonal. I also found his views on naming planets very interesting as well. He was more concerned with what a name meant to people rather than it following the book on a scientific definition. Over the course of the whole book he continually argues that a planet should be something that you see and just know what it is. Similar to a continent, he argues that the average person just "knows" what a planet is. However, he admits that he personally believes that Pluto should not be a planet because of recent findings in the Kuiper Belt.
Finally, I thought the whole storyline with the Spanish scientists was particularly interesting. Being around 10 years old when all of this happened I had no idea about all the inter workings and politics going into the decision to not make Pluto a planet. I just woke up one day and read the headlines like everyone else. However, Mike Brown goes in depth of the process of finding and announcing his discoveries. It was very angering to learn that those Spanish scientists took credit for Brown's work. How Mike Brown handled this situation was very admirable and professional though. If I was in his place I would have been very angry and probably wouldn't have reacted with the same calm attitude.
Overall, I was very please with this book as it gave me a better understanding of the universe, how objects are discovered, and the reasoning behind excluding Pluto from the planetary list.
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