Author: Neil deGrasse Tyson
Narrator: Mirron Willis
Unabridged: 3 hr 53 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: 01/19/2009
Genre: Science - History
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.
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How does the physics we know today—a highly professionalized enterprise, inextricably linked to government and industry—link back to its origins as a liberal art in Ancient Greece? What is the path that leads from the old philosophy of n...
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Since the beginning of time, science has shaped human history, culture and daily life. Learn about fascinating stories like how dreams changed the world of science, the origins of tattoo culture, how early civilizations supplied their drinking water...