Pluto Review

While only being about half way through the book, I have found How I Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming by Mike Brown to be very informative and engaging. Growing up I was always fascinated by the universe and more specifically our solar system. For my 14th birthday I got a telescope and would often use it at night to try and find planets or look at the moon. My experience growing up was very similar to that of Mike Brown except instead he actually grew up and continued in this passion. I remember in the mid 2000s when there was an  uproar because Pluto was taken off the list of planets in our solar system. I grew up learning about Pluto and became comfortable with its place in our planetary system. And much like everyone else, I was upset when it was taken off. However, I never really learned why or how it was removed from the list and never really thought about it again until I started this book. I have really enjoyed learning about all the hard work that Mr. Brown had to go through in order to find objects in our solar system that are farther away than Pluto. It seems monotonous and boring at times but its interesting to know how that type of work is done. Also, learning about our solar system and space can often be dull or too dense. If you've ever tried to read about physics, you know that it is not very fun and often hard to understand. Mike Brown though addresses all of these tough concepts in a way that makes the every day reader understand what he is doing and why. He doesn't bore you with the details on how he calculates the orbits of these objects but instead walks you through the process in how he finds these objects. This type of writing allows people that have no idea about physics to really grasp the scope at what his work is. Also, I liked the parts in the book where he talks about his personal life. It allows the reader to understand who he is as a person and greats another storyline in the plot besides planet hunting. I'm very excited to continue reading this book and look forward to learning more about our solar system.