Jim Abbott recently greeted fans at Schuler Books in Okemos. He spoke for about ten minutes about his new memoir Imperfect before spending over two hours meeting and signing books and memorabilia for fans. It was a great night for books and baseball!
Café Scientifique presents “Was Pluto Ever a Planet?” with Michael Byers, debut author of Percival’s Planet (Eastwood)
10/19/2010 7:00 pm
The recent demotion of Pluto from planetary status caused a
worldwide uproar – the smallest planet turns out to have legions of devoted
fans. But in 1930, when Clyde Tombaugh found the image that would turn out
to be Pluto, the history of this elusive body was already surrounded by
mystery, obsession, and controversy. MichaelByers' new novel about the discovery of Pluto, Percival's Planet, based on archival
research and a careful reconsideration of the historical facts, suggests that
even those closest to the discovery had reason to suspect that what they'd
found wasn't exactly a planet after all. MichaelByers will discuss his novel and Bruce Greenway, an astronomer
and computer scientist who personally knew Clyde Tombaugh, will discuss the
2006 International Astronomical Union definition of Planet and the resulting
demotion of Pluto.