Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain

by Michael Paterniti

Book Overview

Albert Einstein's brain floats in a Tupperware bowl in a gray duffel bag in the trunk of a Buick Skylark barreling across America. Driving the car is journalist Michael Paterniti. Sitting next to him... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038533303X
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: Dial Press
• Length: 211 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.2" x 0.5" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Can't do better with your time..

This is a great rendering of one of the most bizarre folktales in scientific history..the fate of Einstein's brain. You simply can't spend a more entertaining few hours this summer than with this hilarious and poignant book..

What a ride!

This is an amazing and poetic work, almost as full of ideas as the legendary brain itself. Paterniti is a gloriously gifted writer, blessed with the ability to explore both big ideas and small moments in unnervingly fresh ways. I'd recommend Driving Mr. Albert to anybody fascinated by the highways and byways of the human brain or the American landscape, or to anybody who simply loves good writing.

Brain Jamming with the Alberts

I don't know where to begin . . . a spectacular journey across America and through the mind and heart of a redoubtable writer with a singular voice and vision, and with two of the most unique characters as mates - Einstein as you have never known him before, hovering like a giant sun over the passengers carrying his brain, and Dr. Harvey, an eccentric, enigmatic real life Frank J. Parnell ("Ever heard of the neutron bomb?"). I heard about this book on The Connection on NPR and immediately went out, bought it, and read it in two nights. It was far better than I even expected. The juxtaposition of Einstein's lack of intimacy and personal relationships with the writer's own need for it, and fear of leaving it behind, permanently, as he drives down America's highways with an octagenerian and a genius's brain in the trunk. The details of Einstein's life that provide a picture of Einstein as person and demigod. The trip itself, including a quintessentially William S. Burroughs moment with Mr. Burroughs himself. Truly engrossing reading. Once in a great while, a book like this comes out and redeems my faith that authentic, fresh storytelling as artform is alive and well. Brain jam through the latest great american road trip. I can't reccommend it enough.

Kerouac meets Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

I read this book in a single day, laughing out loud every few pages and ignoring incoming phonecalls, visitors, and mealtimes along the way--whatever might come between me and Driving Mr. Albert. It's a quirky, sweet, smart, and sometimes sad tale built on the backs of three great characters--Michael Paterniti, Dr. Harvey, and Einstein's brain. The writing is stunning straight through, Paterniti's reflections on life and love belong in Bartlett's, and the mad trio's visits to Los Alamos, Vegas, and William S. Burroughs poise this book as the 21st century version of On The Road. A thrilling, fun read... I can't recommend it more.