How I Killed Pluto (and Why it Had it Coming)

Mike Brown's book about about his contributions to our discovery and understanding of the Kuiper Belt is less a pop science book than a history of science. And it might not even be a history book so much as a partial memoir. The science is almost nonexistent, and what little there is is simplified to the point that a third grader could understand it. Though that's probably on purpose, as that's also the reading level at which newspapers are written.

Brown's technical achievements are presented in tandem with his courtship and marriage and the birth of his first daughter. While this does detract from the actual science involved, it also makes the book a bit more accessible for the general public. Brown's just a regular guy who happens to have made several discoveries that fundamentally changed our understanding of the universe. And that's helpful when it comes to getting his point across.

The book itself is an extended argument for why Pluto should not be a planet. More, for why it should never have been a planet to begin with. I can't say that it's an argument I disagree with. After reading this book I have a lot more knowledge to support that assertion. There's something a bit more elegant about a solar system that has four terrestrial planets, a belt of asteroids, four giant planets, then a belt of asteroids and planetoids. And there's a lot of excitement in the idea that there's still so much to discover about our own solar system.

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