Book 1, Post 2

Ever since I was little, I’ve always been interested in astronomy. 

Now, I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m an astronomy expert, but I was always fascinated by the universe and how it all began. How did the universe start? What was there beyond our solar system? Was there life out there? I wanted to learn more. As an 8-year-old, I’d watch YouTube documentaries, trying to visualize and make sense of it all. It blew my mind to think that we lived on a planet within a solar system—just one among hundreds of billions in the ever-expanding universe. It didn’t seem real, but yet it was. I was in awe. 

However, as I grew older and became more occupied with school and other hobbies, my interest in astronomy subsided. I never touched the topic again – until recently. When I realized one of the reading options included a memoir about the demotion of Pluto, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to revive the interest. Just from the title How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming alone, I knew I wanted to select and read the book. The way the author used words like “killed” and “it had it coming” to talk about Pluto, a planet, was intriguing enough. The title gave off a humorous yet playful tone, something I wanted the memoir I selected to have. 

The first couple of pages immediately captured my attention. The author, Mike Brown, talks about not caring much about Pluto. This surprised me. Before reading the book, I assumed Brown was simply an astronomer who dedicated several years of research to prove Pluto wasn’t actually a planet. What I didn’t expect, though, was to find out that wasn’t remotely his goal. His goal was to discover another planet past Pluto named Xena. This further added to my curiosity. How did Brown “accidentally” kill off Pluto? I know that Xena isn’t considered to be one of the planets in our solar system today, so what happened to it? I wanted to learn more. 

Additionally, I love how the author didn’t immediately jump into the climactic part where he makes his discovery. It’s more of a slow build. He sets the scene for us first before building towards the climax. It starts with Brown detailing his journey of discovering astronomical objects beyond Pluto using the help of the 48-inch Palomar Schmidt and his two friends at Caltech. One thing I liked about the book was that he made sure to break down astronomy concepts (e.g., AU, light year) as well as how he discovered the objects in an easy, digestible way for us readers to understand. I learned about the sheer amount of work it took to make a scientific discovery and how tedious the process was. I was impressed by the way the author seamlessly integrated personal aspects of his life, such as how he met the love of his life (his wife) and the birth of his baby girl, into his memoir. I felt like I had a good glimpse into his life on top of learning about how his discovery. It was a good mix. 

Overall, I would highly recommend the book to anyone, even to someone who knows nothing about astronomy. It was a fascinating read to the end!