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The Pluto Files by Neil deGrasse Tyson
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The Pluto Files

The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet

$10.76

Retail price: $11.95

Discount: 9%

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Narrator Mirron Willis

This audiobook uses AI narration.

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Length 4 hours 22 minutes
Language English
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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.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History, director of its world-famous Hayden Planetarium, host of the hit radio and TV show StarTalk, and the New York Times bestselling author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and Accessory to War. He lives in New York City.

Mirron Willis

Recently appeared as Banquo (MacBeth) and Antonio (The Merchant of Venice) with the Houston Shakespeare Festival 2015 Season. And last season as King Henry (Henry IV, Part I) and the Duke in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

In three seasons at the Ensemble Theatre (Houston, TX), Mirron appeared as JP in What I Learned in Paris, Malcolm X in The Meeting. Henry in Race, and as Countee Cullen in Knock Me A Kiss (2013 Giorgee Award for Best Leading Actor). Other roles include, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry VI Parts 2 & 3, and A Raisin in the Sun with the world-renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Mirron has narrated close to 150 audio books across various literary genres and has won several Earphone Awards for Excellence and is an Audie Award finalist and winner. Notable works include The Smokey Dalton Series by Kris Nelscott; My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonte; The Long Fall (Booklist, Best of 2009) and others by Walter Mosley; Uncle Toms Cabin, Elijah of Buxton, The Translator; and the biography of William Wells Brown: An African American Life. Mr. Willis also performs as guest narrator with the Houston Symphony.

Film and TV guest appearances include, Criminal Minds, Private Practice, The Exes, Monk, 24, Seinfeld, Cheers, The Parkers, Living Single, E.R., Star Trek: TNG and Voyager, Independence Day, among others. Mirron resides and records audiobooks on his family’s historic ranch in East Texas.

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Reviews

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

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

“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.”

“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.”

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