Book Review: The Case for Pluto

If readers of this blog have any friends with an interest in astronomy and can get them only one book as a holiday gift, Alan Boyle's The Case for Pluto: How A Little Planet Made A Big Difference is the one to get. As his aptly chosen title says, Boyle makes the case for Pluto and does it so thoroughly and so understandably that even people not familiar with astronomy can easily follow his fascinating narrative. That is what Pluto's story is--a narrative, a captivating tale complete with history, politics, culture, and humor, very far from the type of dry reading many associate with science books. Like Dr. David Weintraub in Is Pluto A Planet, Boyle provides a historical background that takes readers from the cornfields of Iowa to 18th and 19th century Europe and controversies over the discoveries of Uranus, Ceres, the first asteroids, and Neptune. Noting that William Herschel, discoverer of Uranus, was the one who initially coined the term asteroid, Boyle illustrates how politics and astronomy in the 18th century startlingly resemble both in the 21st. Critics of the new term argued Herschel coined it partly because he wanted to be the only person alive who discovered ...