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Summary: Einstein for dummies
Review: This is a WONDERFUL book. It deals with everything from relativity to the human condition. I read this on a bus trip from Singapore to Malaysia and I couldn't put it down. If you don't get anything else from this book, you will walk away with a better understanding of Einstein's Theory of Relativity...made understandable by Mr. Paterniti's fabulous writing style.
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Summary: Life Altering
Review: Mr. Paterniti has written an unbelievable book. I picked it up because I'm a fan of Einstein. I finished it as a fan of Paterniti. This book was DEEP. This book was REAL. This book was AMAZING. Be warned though, if you're looking for the same old story of boy meets girl, or boy blows up boy, etc., you won't find it here. The beauty of this book is that the story comes from within. Mr. P's humorous introspection often found me experiencing my own. Maybe it was the book, maybe it was the time I read it, but whatever it was, it helped change the way I look at life. Wow.
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Summary: Wonderful
Review: A slice of Americana, scattered with lots of Einstein trivia.
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Summary: Just O.K.
Review: I had great expectations starting this book. I was let down with the lack of real direction or character development. The story revolves around a young man who is helping an older gentlemen drive across the country to return Einstein's brain to a living relative. Their journey explores all kinds of ideas about Einstein. But, leaves you wondering how would Einstein feel about his brain being driven across America in a Tupperware container. I felt that the author could have done more to move the book down a path that could have kept my interest. Instead I was happy to be done with the book.
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Summary: Great read, and the theory of relativity all in one package!
Review: Well, I finally understand Einstein's special theory of relativity, and I can finally explain it to anyone who asks me! This book is truly a great read from start to finish. It's hilarious in many parts, and very life-revealing in many other parts. While the book centers around this trip across America with Einstein's brain, I couldn't help but think it was also about Michael finding himself and HIS path through the trauma that he heard the owner of the brain go through himself. It was somewhat reminiscent of "Travels With Charley", in a weird traveling sort of way. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested, and spend a little time on the one page where the theory (including the train) is explained. You'll understand... guaranteed!
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Summary: A curious subject, but not a book's worth
Review: The history of Einstein's brain is an interesting story but it's not interesting enough to keep my attention throughout the book. The magazine article that preceded the writing of the book was probably much closer to the ideal length. In reading the story I felt that the Einstein biographical information served as a space filler and only managed to detain plot flow. The less you already know about Albert Einstein the happier you'll likely be with the book.
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Summary: Amusing - like NPR
Review: "Driving Mr. Albert : A Trip Across America With Einstein's Brain," is a lot like a National Public Radio commentary that goes on and on. Not to say it isn't up-tempo, amusing, or interesting. It's all those things, but if your taste doesn't run to shaggy dog stories its attributes probably won't be of much interest. As it is, I like shaggy dog stories. I especially like the response from an attentive listener when you come to the punch line and it's something of a letdown after the elaborate wind-up. You probably have to be a little perverse to get pleasure out of that - well, guilty. "Driving Mr. Albert..." is a pleasant diversion, but except for a few tidbits about how the brain was aquired, the lack of research results, and the odd life of Thomas Harvey, it's pretty well forgettable. And there's no punch line.
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Summary: Fun, but contrived
Review: I enjoyed the book. Although I thought it was rather thin and contrived at times. It appears that Paterniti was desperate for something to happen throughout the journey to make his story more interesting. He, rather bizarrely, keeps telling strangers that he has Einstein's brain in the trunk of his car. (How would you respond to some stranger who tells you that he has Einstein's brain in his trunk? I would wonder why he feels compelled to tell me this, and get the hell away from him!) The only reason why I could imagine him feeling compelled to tell everyone he meets this is that he sees that his trek with the good Doctor is, well, a bit boring, and he is trying to make things happen which will cause it to be more interesting. It just seems that Paterniti tries too hard. I say all of this and I liked the book. The Burroughs scene, the incident in the lobby of the motel where Paterniti is almost attacked by a desk clerk, the tidbits on Einstein, were all very amusing/interesting. The obvious efforts to develop a story out of the otherwise rather mundane trip, were not. I particularly liked the end which helped place Dr. Harvey's actions in taking the brain in context.
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Summary: In Pieces Like The Tupperware¿s Contents
Review: Michael Paterniti has written an entertaining cross-country trip that includes an eccentric who uses Tupperware in ways the manufacturer never imagined. And like the remnants of the objects it contains, there are a variety of pieces; the book too has pieces, good and parts that are something less.The story is so bizarre there are times I wondered if the writer had drifted off the narrow path of non-fiction. I do not suggest any deception; rather some of his experiences make the brain in the trunk appear rather normal. His trip to Japan to visit the grandmaster of Einstein collectables is surreal, and the visit with the Beverly Hills attorney reads like an event that only Quentin Tarantino would conjure. If this becomes a movie I cannot think of another director that could bring this road trip to the screen. The Doctor who absconded with the brain barely rises above boring, had he not kept the brain and kept his Medical License he may have had a more interesting life. The Author did a good job with what is undeniably a quirky topic, however he is also responsible for keeping the book from delivering the full potential the story offered. The Author repeatedly interrupts his narrative with his attempts to philosophize situations and locations he finds himself in as if he is chatting on a level with the brain's former owner. He is good, but not that good. Hr drones on about what a cloned Einstein would feel about being born and already having a FBI file. Cloning, unless it has changed, reproduces the physical not the mental. His scenario would be the exception to the rule; if it looks like Einstein, and walks like Einstein, in this case, it isn't Einstein. Cloning gets you the box, software not included. The tale hits its low when visiting Los Alamos. The Author is certainly entitled to his opinions of History however mistaken and vague his facts may be. Mr. Paterniti might likely have approved the first draft of the original Enola Gay Display at The Smithsonian were he given the chance. World Wars cannot be summed up with isolated statistics, and cocktail party levels of knowledge. I would like to have read this story rendered by a writer with a wicked wit and an ability not to drift into self-important rants on nothing. If this book confined itself to the essential event of driving the brain of Einstein across the Country, albeit with an eccentric/dysfunctional Doctor, the book could have been extraordinarily entertaining. As it is the level that is reached is at times amusing, but little else.
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Summary: Lacks Brainpower
Review: This book seemed to have all the ingredients and starts out great - absorbing characters - zippy narrative - a cross-country roadtrip. Unfortunately, it runs out of gas halfway. In the end, even a triple shot of Starbucks couldn't revive this braindead reverie. Sometimes magazine articles -- from which this was expanded -- are only a few pages long for a reason.
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