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"Planets are not just things that spacecraft visit and beam back pictures from. They're not just abstractions to put on lunchboxes. They are really there, night after night after night, doing what planets do: moving; wandering" (257).

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"Planets are not just things that spacecraft visit and beam back pictures from. They're not just abstractions to put on lunchboxes. They are really there, night after night after night, doing what planets do: moving; wandering" (257).

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The quote appeals to all audiences; the assumptions people make about planets are prevalent and widely accepted. As a result, the reader is able to visualize Brown's message and also understand why he cherishes planets. The story comes full circle. In the beginning, Brown gives background information about his childhood; as a boy he would look at the sky and notice "wanderers," long before he knew that they were planets. The connection to the beginning symbolizes a cycle or orbit; everything returns to the place it began.

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"I felt sick to my stomach. This was it. Astronomers had taken a beautiful and subtle solar system and turned it into a cartoon. And the cartoon was wrong" (215).

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"I felt sick to my stomach. This was it. Astronomers had taken a beautiful and subtle solar system and turned it into a cartoon. And the cartoon was wrong" (215).

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Brown's sentence structure is extremely effective in conveying his message. The reader clearly understands that he is angered by the announcement of three new planets added to the solar system. Ironically, one of Brown's discoveries is included in the announcement; he achieved his life dream of discovering a new planet; however, the quote illustrates how Brown feels that the honor is wrongfully given to him. The phrase "turned it into a cartoon" vividly shows that Brown feels ashamed of the science community. The proceeding sentence is equally as powerful, for it increases the severity of the offense. The short sentences parallel Brown's curt attitude and also symbolize his "short-tempered" nature.

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"Whether Pluto is a planet or not is simply a question of semantics" (232).

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"Whether Pluto is a planet or not is simply a question of semantics" (232).

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Semantics (noun): the meaning of a word, phrase, sentence, or text.
Ex. Angela took many courses in semantics in college because she wanted to be a translator for the U.N. when she graduated.

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"A week after the biggest scientific announcement of my life, it seems that all I cared about was whether or not Lilah would sleep and how frequently she would feed" (161).

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"A week after the biggest scientific announcement of my life, it seems that all I cared about was whether or not Lilah would sleep and how frequently she would feed" (161).

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The juxtaposition of Lilah, Brown's daughter, and his recent scientific discovery allows the reader to understand more about the author through his writing style. By putting more influence on Lilah, he demonstrates how his priorities have shifted. The syntax of the sentence makes it seem like Brown is discrediting his discoveries, either in an effort to seem humble or in a demonstration of his interest in his daughter. Despite his intention, the passage elicits feelings of sympathy and respect from the audience.

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"Okay, so I was slow, and I still had to crawl to be as fast as my one-year-old daughter. But I had found a planet. No one could take that away from me" (203).

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"Okay, so I was slow, and I still had to crawl to be as fast as my one-year-old daughter. But I had found a planet. No one could take that away from me" (203).

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The above illustrates a moment of pride for Mike Brown. In lieu of his daughter's birth, he had been preoccupied due to his fascination to the point that he lacked interest in his field of study. In contrast, this quote reassures the reader of Brown's interest. In addition, the humor of mentioning his struggle to keep up with his daughter is a direct remark to the audience; the colloquial phrase "okay" carries a casual tone as if the audience is a good friend of his. The uses of light-hearted anecdotes are crucial in his book, for they allow the reader to connect with the author: few people in the world have discovered planetary objects, but many have children. Lilah, thus, is a driving force in keeping the reader interested throughout the piece.

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Quote ranges are 204- 221, 222-259

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Quote range is 164-203

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"It seemed quite clear to me that astronomers would never have the audacity to actually get rid of everyone's favorite runt planet" (193).

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"It seemed quite clear to me that astronomers would never have the audacity to actually get rid of everyone's favorite runt planet" (193).

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Audacity (noun): the willingness to take bold risks.
Ex. Jackie had the audacity to put all her money in the stock market and when the recession hit in 2009, she was forced to sell her car.

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"We spent a few hours trying to decide if Diane was in labor or if this was just a false alarm. I plotted some graphs.... And then Diane's water broke, perhaps changing astronomical history" (137).

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"We spent a few hours trying to decide if Diane was in labor or if this was just a false alarm. I plotted some graphs.... And then Diane's water broke, perhaps changing astronomical history" (137).

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The author's enthusiasm and curiosity towards childbirth acts as a break in the story; rather than focusing on unidentified objects in space, Brown becomes occupied by the prospect of his future child. The deliberate parallels between astronomy and childbirth show Brown's development in terms of his outlook on his job; he finally developed a different interest, his personal life; however, his obsession with rigid evidence offers comic relief. While stressing over the health of his wife, Brown resorts to graphing the results as a coping mechanism. The last line of the paragraph encompasses the overall theme of the book, a science memoir. The incorporation of personal life and work vividly convey his story and allow for the reader to visualize the situation in which Brown experienced.

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"But even if Santa's surface was as anomalously frosty as Sedna's, it would still mean that Santa was the size of Pluto" (114).

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"But even if Santa's surface was as anomalously frosty as Sedna's, it would still mean that Santa was the size of Pluto" (114).

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Anomalous (adjective): not fitting into a common or familiar type, classification, or pattern.
Ex. The Cubs winning the World Series was an anomalous event for U.S. history.

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Quote range is 113-138, 139-163

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"As a graduate student, I had been instructed in the arcane mysteries of the correct use of the Palomar Sky Survey, called POSS by the cognoscenti" (36)

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"As a graduate student, I had been instructed in the arcane mysteries of the correct use of the Palomar Sky Survey, called POSS by the cognoscenti" (36)

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Arcane (adjective): understood by few; mysterious or secret.
Ex. The most guarded secrets of the United States will soon no longer be arcane.
Cognoscenti (noun): people who are considered to be well informed about a particular subject. (singular-cognoscente)
Ex. Steve and Eric felt pride in being wine cognoscenti; they jumped at the opportunity to tell their guests the difference between Riesling and Chardonnay.

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Quote ranges are pages 1-30, 31-61, 62-92, 93-112.

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"'We're having a baby girl in July... her code name is Petunia.' That night I lost the bet... instead of seeing the end of the solar system, I saw that everything was just beginning" (112).

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"'We're having a baby girl in July... her code name is Petunia.' That night I lost the bet... instead of seeing the end of the solar system, I saw that everything was just beginning" (112).

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The above quote illustrates a touchy moment of clarity from Mike Brown. At the end of his five year quest to find a planet larger than Pluto, he found himself stressed and questioning his purpose in life. In contrast, the announcement of the birth of his daughter fills that void Brown has been pursuing. By using a "code name" for the daughter, Brown is equating her to a planetary discovery. The juxtaposition of astronomy and his future daughter is effective in illustrating a new stage in his life, a touching moment for readers.

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"My biggest problem was that I had to myself become a normal person instead of an astronomer... I had never quite behaved like a normal person before" (92)

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"My biggest problem was that I had to myself become a normal person instead of an astronomer... I had never quite behaved like a normal person before" (92)

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During this period in his life, Brown has an identity crisis. He no longer felt the value in being an astronomer, for his numerous attempts to find a planet larger than Pluto failed and he had convinced himself that the "solar system ended." In turn, he desired to begin a new stage in his life and forge a stronger relationship between him and his wife. Throughout the paragraph, the phrase "my biggest problem" repeats; Brown's rhetoric emphasizes how conflicted he feels.

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"All of the irritation of the quickly dismissed nos suddenly seemed much less interesting than trying to figure out the next trip I would be asking Diane to take with me, to which she would inevitably say 'YES!'" (53).

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"All of the irritation of the quickly dismissed nos suddenly seemed much less interesting than trying to figure out the next trip I would be asking Diane to take with me, to which she would inevitably say 'YES!'" (53).

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The use of contrast lightens the tone of the piece. In the beginning of the book, mundane tasks of an astronomer are described at length, including the task of sorting through images and sorting them into three categories: yes, maybe and no. The classification was based on the image's likeliness to be a new planet. Over the course of a year, Brown declared 8,734 no, 27 maybe, and 0 yes. Although he did find a "yes," outside of the laboratory with a coworker named Diane. The above quote illustrates his shift in priorities, for all the frustration of work is forgotten when he is with Diane. The parallelism of the use of "yes" in both Brown's workplace and his personal life creates an intimate tone of the book.

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"It's hard not to think about lost time and lost discoveries as the second hand very slowly crawls through the night" (4).

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"It's hard not to think about lost time and lost discoveries as the second hand very slowly crawls through the night" (4).

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Brown employs descriptive language to immerse the reader in the setting, eliciting feelings of despair, which mimic those of Brown. The diction allows the reader to understand the struggles Brown endures in his careers and also opens the reader's eyes to the anxiety and pressure he felt while working. The excerpt also depicts Brown's early mindset: work is his highest priority. The quote later acts as a proof of personal development.

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11/18- pg. 112 (Chapter 7) ✔
11/29- pg. 163 (Chapter 10) ✔
12/2- pg. 203 (Chapter 12) ✔
12/9- pg. 259 (End) ✔

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In pursuit of a lighter read, I found How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown at my local library. The book follows the author's scientific quest for the discovery of a new planet. Rather than incorporating his new discovery as the tenth planet, Brown's findings sparked controversy over Pluto being a planet. When news of Pluto's demotion came out, Brown became bombarded with hate mail, all because of a discovery to which he had devoted his entire career. The science memoir pairs data analysis with a personal journey.
As an elementary student, I was heartbroken when I found out Pluto was no longer a planet. In turn, I was attracted to this book because it offers an emotional yet factual perspective.