The Pluto Files, Neil deGrasse Tyson
The Pluto Files, Neil deGrasse Tyson
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The Pluto Files
The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet

Author: Neil deGrasse Tyson

Narrator: Mirron Willis

Unabridged: 4 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/19/2009

Synopsis

In August 2006, the International Astronomical Union voted Pluto out of planethood. Far from the sun, tiny, and eccentric in orbit, it’s a wonder Pluto has any fans. Yet during the mounting debate over Pluto’s status, Americans rallied behind this extraterrestrial underdog. The year of Pluto’s discovery, Disney created an irresistible pup by the same name, and, as one NASA scientist put it, Pluto was “discovered by an American for America.” Pluto is entrenched in our cultural, patriotic view of the cosmos, and Neil deGrasse Tyson is on a quest to discover why. Since he was involved in the first exhibits to demote Pluto, Tyson has received plenty of freely shared opinions from Pluto lovers, including endless hate mail from third graders. In his typically witty way, Tyson explores the history of planet classification and America’s obsession with the status of Pluto.

About Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. In 2017 he became the first American to win the prestigious Stephen Hawking Medal for science communication. He is the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space and a research associate in the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. From 2006 to 2011 he hosted the educational science television show NOVA ScienceNow on PBS, and in March 2014 he became host of the television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, an update of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. Tyson has written several New York Times bestselling nonfiction books.

About Mirron Willis

Mirron Willis—actor of film, stage, and television—is the winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2012 and a finalist for the Audie in 2015, as well as the winner of four AudioFile Earphones Awards for his audiobook recordings. He has worked extensively in film and television and on stage with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Houston Shakespeare Festival, and the Ensemble Theatre, among others. He has recorded some 150 audiobooks, including the Smokey Dalton series by Kris Nelscott and My Song by Harry Belafonte. He resides and records audiobooks on his family’s historic ranch in East Texas.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bradley

Like all of Tyson's books, it's very well written, explaining any number of difficult subjects with clarity and ease, but unfortunately, with this subject, we devolve into a catalogue of cultural significance for the poor demoted Pluto and a very long list of rather humorous emails and letters all s......more

Goodreads review by Trish

I wanted to read something by Neil deGrasse Tyson for a long time. I like how he can break complex matters up and present them in a way that children and laymen can understand them (there is a famous quote saying that you yourself have only understood a matter if you're capable of explaining it in s......more

Goodreads review by Kevin

Pluto gets around. It has been a planet, a dwarf planet, a minor planet, a planetoid, a “non-planet,” a comet, an asteroid, an ice ball, a Greek god, an underdog, a cartoon dog, and a laxative. Smaller than our moon, and six other moons in this solar system, Pluto (the celestial body, not the laxati......more

Goodreads review by Vonia

I admit I did not thoroughly read this. I am not a science person at all (Yes, I realize I appear to be Asian). Most of the information went over my head. I recognize that Tyson is not only one of the foremost scientists today, but also one of the more easily understood ones. I suppose I am that den......more

Quotes

“You gotta read this. It is the most exciting book about Pluto you will ever read in your life.”  Jon Stewart

“[A] lighthearted look at the planet…Presents the medicine of hard science with a sugarcoating of lightness and humor.” Publishers Weekly

“When astronomers stripped Pluto of its ‘planethood’ in 2006, it set off a surprisingly passionate debate. As director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, Neil deGrasse Tyson was at the center of the dispute, and he tells his side of the story with wit and humility in this audio. Mirron Willis…does a fine job conveying the audiobook’s humor, including the letters from children who are angry that Tyson helped to demote their favorite planet.” AudioFile

“Actor/narrator Mirron Willis…successfully gets Tyson’s often tongue-and-cheek tone across to the listener. An enjoyable title on a topic having broad appeal.” Library Journal

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