- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback (Jun 5 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 038533303X
- ISBN-13: 978-0385333030
- Product Dimensions: 13.9 x 1.6 x 20.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 68 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#291,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #17 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( E ) > Einstein, Albert
- #78 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Social Scientists & Psychologists
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Driving Mr. Albert chronicles the adventures of an unlikely threesome--a freelance writer, an elderly pathologist, and Albert Einstein's brain--on a cross-country expedition intended to set the story of this specimen-cum-relic straight once and for all.
After Thomas Harvey performed Einstein's autopsy in 1955, he made off with the key body part. His claims that he was studying the specimen and would publish his findings never bore fruit, and the doctor fell from grace. The brain, though, became the subject of many an urban legend, and Harvey was transformed into a modern Robin Hood, having snatched neurological riches from the establishment and distributed them piecemeal to the curious and the faithful around the world.
The brain itself has seen better days, its chicken-colored chunks floating in a smelly, yellow, formaldehyde broth, yet its beatific presence in the book, riding serenely in the trunk of a Buick Skylark, encased in Tupperware, reflects the uncertainty of Einstein's life. Was he a sinner or a saint, a genius or just lucky? Harvey guards the brain as if it were his own. From time to time, he has given favored specialists a slice or two to analyze, but the results have been mixed. Physiologically, Einstein's brain may have been no different from anyone else's, but plenty of people would like the brain to be more than it is, including Paterniti:
I want to touch the brain. Yes, I've admitted it. I want to hold it, coddle it, measure its weight in my palm, handle some of its fifteen billion now-dormant neurons. Does it feel like tofu, sea urchin, bologna? What, exactly? And what does such a desire make me? One of a legion of relic freaks? Or something worse?
Traversing America with Harvey and his sacred specimen, Paterniti seems to be awaiting enlightenment, much as Einstein did in his last days. But just as the great scientist failed to come up with a unifying theory, Paterniti's chronicle dissolves at times into overly sincere efforts to find importance where there may be none, and it walks a fine line between postmodern detachment and wide-eyed wonderment. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the book offers an engrossing portrait of postatomic America from what may be the ultimate late-20th-century road trip. --Therese Littleton --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Driving a Buick Skylark across the country with an addled octogenarian and an organ may not seem like the ripest material for a story, even if the organ is Albert Einstein's brain. In the hands of a stylish writer like Paterniti, however, the journey becomes a transcendent and hilarious exploration of heady themes like obsession, love and science. In 1955, the octogenarian, a pathologist named Thomas Harvey, removed Einstein's brain during an autopsy and, claiming he wished to study it further, took it home. In the years that followed, he sliced and shipped the brain around the world, but never relinquished most of the organ. Nor, to the criticism of colleagues, did he release his long-promised study. Forty-two years later, Harvey was finally ready to return the brain to Evelyn Einstein, Albert's granddaughter. He enlisted Paterniti, a freelance writer living in Maine, for the task. What ensues is a rare road story that gives equal weight to journey and destination. An expansion of an article published in Harper's magazine, this road-tale bears the classic elements of a spiritual questDthe brain a classic example of a character stand-in. But Paterniti so seamlessly weaves his stream-of-consciousness musings about everything from the theory of relativity to his own sputtering relationship with Harvey that the book becomes much more. Readers will hear echoes from American cultural historyDthe wanderlust of the Beats, the literary texture of Hemingway and the pastel-tinted surrealism of the Simpsons. It's impossible to put this book down. Paterniti has written a work at once entertaining, psychologically rich and emotionally sophisticatedDa feat as rare as, well, Einstein himself. Agent, Sloan Harris. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Albert Einstein was born in 1879, in Ulm, Germany, with a head shaped like a lopsided medicine ball. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Albert Einstein was born in 1879, in Ulm, Germany, with a head shaped like a lopsided medicine ball. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable - don't believe the hype!,
This review is from: Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain (Paperback)
In reading the customer reviews, as well as talking about this book with others, I'm suprised at the amount of negative reactions this book has ignited. A professor commented that Paterniti is one of the worst non-fiction writers of our time. A friend lamented that this book would have made an excellent essay, trimming the fat so to speak (it actually was an article). But I love it. I received this book for Christmas, not knowing anything about it. And I've been happily pleased with it. While the story itself is unique and interesting, I enjoyed the interspersed biographical material on Einstein. Are there better sources for this information? Likely. But the way these bits are interwoven into Paternity's cross-country journey are quite fitting. Another common complaint about this book is the personal subplot of Paterniti's life. I rather enjoy that as well, to be honest. His homesickness, frustration, and anxiety of aging provide a nice addition to the Einstein backdrop. My only complaint is that, at times, it seems as though Paterniti is trying to hard. Not in a pretentious manner, but he just seems to strain himself to write on occasion. But not so much as to turn me off from his work. Overall, a great work of modern American non-fiction.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Relative Review 84,
By Kort "Art, Music, Book & Movie Enthusiast" (Boca Raton, FL, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain (Paperback)
I personally enjoyed this story of 2 unlikely road trip companions who travel across America with Albert Einstein's brain in the trunk of their rented Buick. I think some of the people reviewing it here on Amazon take it and themselves a little too seriously.It was quirky and fun and sweet all at the same time. Included is a light biography of Einstein and the bizarre events that took place after his death concerning his brain. Even a little Relativity is thrown in. This is not a serious book and shouldn't be approached as one. I don't think it is one of the great books of our time, but it did provide an interesting escape. I started readng it, thinking it was fiction, only to discover it is for the most part a factual account. I found it to be the perfect read while I was cruising around the Caribbean on my honeymoon. Anyone who is interested in this subject matter and doesn't already know much about it should pretty much feel the same way. Enjoy!
2.0 out of 5 stars
You can tell he writes for Esquire,
By Wyatt McConnell (Raleigh, NC United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain (Paperback)
This book is just one long-winded Esquire article...a topic with a catchy enough premise to suck you in, words that are put together well enough that you don't put it down immediately after picking it up, but in the end, it goes absolutely nowhere. There's no attempt to get to the heart of ANYTHING...the "brain keeper" his acquaintances, or the author's relationship with his wife, Sara.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
