Maybe I’ll be an astronomer after I retire from midwifery…

LOL, OK, not really, but you might think that if you look at my Kindle right now.

For some reason I decided to put both of these books on hold through my library. I had actually checked out How I Killed Pluto… quite a while back (almost a year ago?), when it first came out. It was listed in one of the “new release” emails that I get from the library and sounded interesting. I didn’t get to read it at the time, and I’m glad that I decided to try again, because it was really good.

These two books really complimented each other nicely. In the end, I’ve learned that:

1. Although the author of the Big Bang book is really REALLY not a fan of Christianity, I don’t think that the Biblical explanation of creation is at all at odds with the Big Bang Theory. In fact, it works far better with the Big Bang Theory than it does with the other major contenders.
2. The math that goes into cosmology is super fascinating. Warning: I was a math major before I looked at the job possibilities (Do you dream of being an actuary? Anyone? No?) and quickly switched my major to Computer Information Systems. I may find math way more fascinating than most.
3. Pluto should definitely not be a planet.
4. My kids will be learning about astronomy for the rest of our homeschooling year, because I’m now quite intrigued.
5. If you live in Boulder county, go on the planet hikes! I don’t see one on the schedule for December, but keep checking. They are really cool and you get to see the planets fairly close-up for free. After reading the book about Pluto, I really wished that I had gone on more of the hikes in Boulder county.
6. Astronomers, planetary scientists and cosmologists can be quite witty.

Overall, I give the Big Bang Theory 3 stars (out of 5). The author repeats herself a bit and the book is older (2002), so I had to do some online research once I finished the book to see what changed in the 9 years since it was published. Still, it gave me a good basis for understanding some of the research in the book on Pluto. It wasn’t necessary, but it helped.

I think How I Killed Pluto… is a solid 4 star book. I liked how the author worked parenting discussions into the book, especially since he talked about his wife pumping breastmilk for their daughter and how he taught his daughter baby signs 😉

If, like me, you’re a nerd looking for some slightly scientific reading about our universe, either of these books might be fun to pick up. How I Killed Pluto is more entertaining, but I liked them both.