How
Brown Killed Pluto, but Captured the Audience’s Heart
METAPHOR
The book “How I
Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming” did a wonderful job of making a dense
topic more lighthearted and easy to read. It poses the story in a relatable way
since Brown describes his experience in science simultaneously to his
experience in childrearing. Brown makes the job of being a scientist much
more “real” by providing the detail that he is a parent. He puts the topics
such as the discovery of Pluto as a dwarf planet and the understanding of the
Kuiper belt side-by-side with the innocent growth arc of his daughter. He even
utilizes his job as a scientist and applies it to his parenting life when he
watches the sleep/wake/eat cycles of his new daughter whom he is fascinated about:
“Lilah
did little more than sleep eat and cry, which to me was the most fascinating
thing in the entire universe”(Brown, 2012).
It’s so
important to note that with all the incredible discoveries that Brown makes, he
still finds his daughter to be the greatest of them all. That makes me
appreciate Brown so much more as a person, and builds his character amidst the
negative publicity surrounding the dwarf planets.
STYLE
Not only did the
author use metaphor to exemplify his life as he “killed Pluto,” but he also had
an excellent way of defining information. We’re not all scientists, and he
doesn’t make us feel bad about that. He defines difficult things like “dwarf
planet, Kuiper belt, heliocentric system” without relaying any judgement or
smugness. Along with that, his writing
is fairly straightforward and easy to understand, without the requirement of
looking up difficult terms.
THE END
I would like to
draw attention to a particularly interesting part of the book, and the part
that really ties everything all together. It is the very end of the book,
during the Prague conference that decided it all. At the time, I’m sure that
the conference was extremely scattered and confusing. However, Brown did an
amazing job of explaining the events of the conference and made it simple
enough to understand. For example, I learned that naming Pluto a “dwarf planet”
was a compromise that did anger many people, but the alternative, “classical
planets vs planet,” would have been equally as distressing. I also learned the
definition of a planet and how that connects with understanding Pluto’s
“predicament.” All of the definitions are tied together in a story that
seamlessly connects.
Overall, I
really enjoyed Brown’s explanation of the “downfall” of Pluto. I learned the
significant parts of the Pluto debacle, while enjoying an easy read! I would
recommend to anyone looking for a quick read.
Reference
Brown, M.
(2012). How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming. New York:
Spiegel & Grau
Trade Paperbacks.
Hi Kaitlyn, I read the same book and I agree on most of what you said. But you did one huge mistake in your post: you called Mike Brown an "astrologist." It is true that he might believe in some supernatural force; he mentions a few times that he communicates with the universe. Nevertheless, never call an astronomer astrologer. I used to be in an astronomy club and that is something everybody has to get right during the first day. He is not the one who makes horoscopes! He deals with the science of the stars and not with the mysticism.
ReplyDeleteOver all you did a good job in describing the book.
Patrick Franzinelli
Yikes, I didn't catch that small detail! Thanks for the correction -- I'll fix it right now!
DeleteHi Kaitlyn, I read this book as well and I enjoyed your response to it! I like how you pointed out the metaphor between the astronomy and childbearing. It definitely made the story come alive.
ReplyDelete-Diana Zhao
Hey Kaitlyn! Although I didn't read this book, I now know that it is much more than a purely scientific book, which is what made me choose another book at first. Because of your review, I now want to read it and see how Brown ties in his struggles as a parent with his frustrations as a scientist. I also really enjoyed your quote!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading a couple reviews of this book this one sort of tied it all together. Mike Brown definitely could have just written a scientific book with terms that we could never hope to understand and confusing diagrams, etc. Instead, however, he simplifies the science to a reasonable level and personalizes his story in his career by relating it to his non-work life. I especially liked the relation of his daughter's sleeping and eating cycles to astronomical cycles.
ReplyDelete