Rating: 
Summary: A quirky story that is well worth the read
Review: This is quite an unusual story that is well told. It would probably make a good screen play. The writing is excellent! In some ways, however, the plot does not totally hold together (such as why the drive across the U. S. to meet with the Einstein relative - wouldn't it have been cheaper to fly? But I guess that is part of the fun.) In any event, it's well worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: What a road trip....
Review: Care to contemplate the cosmos from a Buick Skylark doing 115 mph across New Mexico? Or how 'bout sharing an hour or two with "Naked Lunch" author Burroughs? Or being verbally assaulted by the Pakistani clerk at a Day's Inn motel about the ersatz "godliness" of Albert Einstein? Grab this easy afternoon's read for all this and so much more.Michael Paterniti's "Driving Mr. Albert" presents its own set of paradoxes as it dances around the complex cultural enigma of Albert Einstein, here represented by his most intriguing feature: that famous mind whose brain chunks are now bobbing in Tupperware-contained formaldehyde in the Skylark's trunk. Only slightly less engaging is the tale of the pathologist, Dr. Thomas Harvey, who had been the keeper of the brain since he'd performed the autopsy in April, 1955. Likewise paradoxical is that this factual account is more delicious and odder than the various urban legends that have preceded it regarding the revered gray matter. And, given its impact on the many lives described -- from Einstein's own dysfunctional loves and children to all those flash-fried souls at Hiroshima and Nagasaki to those involved with current neuro-research and finally to the vast marketability of the soft-eyed, wild-haired icon -- , it's only fair that the author include himself as one of the affected. Among the various biographical paradoxes are the granting of a Einstein's Nobel for the "wrong" reasons (neither specific nor general relativity), the physicist's own sense that he'd failed to produce lasting insights (much as his theories had rewritten the elegant machine imagery of the Newtonian cosmos), his well-cultivated pacifist voice calling for the building of the bomb (and his subsequent denials), et al. These bio tidbits are tossed off in passing as we ride along with Paterniti on his I-70 passage from sea to shining sea with the 84-year-old Harvey and the spectral presence of Einstein himself. As both the teller and a participant, the author does a delicate balancing act between the "Me" reacting and interacting with all the "Not Me" swirling around this multi-tied tale. I was only slightly annoyed to know about the author's "Sara" left behind (forever or not?) in Maine and his snit about not being given a private showing of the brain sooner. This refreshing read is no "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" or "Tuesdays with Morrie" though it does contain many of the best elements of both. It is a fun, wide-ranging ramble around a thorny portrait of the ethereal, erratic Einstein.
Rating: 
Summary: No energy
Review: Where was Einstein's spirit when Paterniti needed it? This book could have used a little energy. In it, nothing happens to two not-very-interesting people. Paterniti moons about his girlfriend without going into their relationship much at all (though there's all sorts of "Book of Us" New-Agey goopiness) and barely exchanges a word with the keeper of the Einstein brain, Mr. Harvey, who comes across as a bit slow. But then, he's in his '80s, so why not? Maybe this worked as a magazine piece, but it's a dull book with a padded-out feeling. Even as a road trip saga, it has little to say. And Paterniti's obession with the brain is never explained--though I suspect that's because he had none, but just faked it because it seemed like a good idea for an article. I didn't believe in quite a few of the recounted conversations/incidents, as they just rang false (e.g., the bit about the hostile cocktail waitress in Las Vegas and the tale of the transvestite in West Hollywood--after having lived in LA for 15 years without having run into a drag queen on the sidewalk, I find it hard to believe someone's second encounter in LA is with one). The book isn't well-edited, either. There are lots of annoying verb usages ("shunted" without an object, as in "she was shunted" though perhaps he meant "shunned") and the LA geography is off. A let down.
Rating:
Summary: I was the fifth passenger...
Review: What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said before? Michael Paterniti is a talented, gifted writer who turned this small piece of Einsteinian history into a full-fledged book and made it a terribly enjoyable read! I was on this road trip with Michael, Harvey, Einstein and The Brain, seeing the things that they saw, living each moment along with them. Michael writes Harvey as very eccentric, quirky and elusive; so much so that I had to keep reminding myself that he is a REAL person, not a fictional character. In addition to a great adventure/memoir/non-fiction/travel book rolled into one, I got a great history lesson. One that I didn't know anything about, but am now piqued to learn more. Excellent.
Rating: 
Summary: Just a Road Trip
Review: The story this book tells is interesting, much like a photo album of anyone's trip from coast to coast would be. The author's attempts to find deeper meaning, much like that of some scientists to do so with Einstein's brain, falls short. The glimpses of Americana and Einstein's life are enough to hold the attention and that alone makes the book worth reading. But a road trip's just a road trip and this one's average at best.
Rating: 
Summary: a huge disappointment is an understatement
Review: this book was an immense disappointment. i almost couldn't keep reading after about 50 pages. i had fo force myself to finish in hopes of the book redeeming itself, which it didn't.
Rating: 
Summary: Driving Mr. ALbert
Review: A young freelance writer + an elderly pathologist + Einstein's brain = Intelligent humor. A must read. You won't be able to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: The Speed of Love Is the Speed of Light.
Review: Einstein's cerebrum in the backseat of a Buick Skylark! It boggles the mind. His disembodied brain at speed over the Interstates of Amerika -- I mean, how looney is that? Picture Albert's gray matter afloat inside a Tupperware container. Who knows the possible fates that await each of us? Michael Paterniti's road trip is funny and poignant -- especially when he yearns for his friend and future wife Sara. His travelog is a meditation on the antic lives we make for ourselves after the big decisions fall on us: Who do we become? Let's say, by dumb luck and damn chance, you have the professional opportunity to excise Albert Einstein's post-mortem brain; and, let's say, you do so. What happens next? What happens to your life after you decide to, um, take the brain and run? Thomas Harvey, MD, a pathologist at Princeton Hospital in 1955, had that opportunity and made that decision. Thirty-five years later, he was a factory worker, in Lawrence Kansas, living next door to William Burroughs. As the caretaker of "the brain of the century," he had been divorced three times. He had become an Amerikan cliche: A man with ex-wives and ex-families, a man with a past. He had also become an Amerikan original, an eccentric living by his own lights. Harvey's self-imposed trusteeship effected all his other relationships. This is the heart of Paterniti's story of his own decision to rent the Skylark and become Harvey's companion and the brain's "chauffeur." It's a whimsical adventure and a sad one. The author reminds us, with warmth and humor, it's a big lonely Amerika out there, with many turns off the main road. At journey's end, it's good to have someone to come home to at the speed of our headlights.
Rating:
Summary: A life of brain
Review: Paterniti's effort is more than acceptable, and superior to most hackneyed attempts at 'Discovering America' these days. He is a fine writer who has produced a relevant contribution to this ever growing area of study. However, should the reader want a true understanding of man's relationship to an inanimate brain he/she is advised to check out the 1983 only semi-fictitious 'Man with Two Brains'. In this excelent study, Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr explores ( as does Paterniti) this delicate subject. I recommend both works highly.
Rating:
Summary: Great Idea-But then Nothing Happens
Review: It's certainly easy to see how this book found its publisher; the pitch couldn't have been easier. Driving cross-country with an old coot carrying Einstein's brain in a tupperware container. Who wouldn't want to hear about that? And so we did, first in a magazine article and now in a fleshed out, 200 plus page book. However, while reading it, one can't escape the feeling that something more unbelievable than this premise is occurring: namely, that it's turning out to be a dud. In short, nothing of interest or consequence happens either during the trip or the book itself. The old coot turns out to be one who doesn't say much (or, probably more accurately, doesn't say anything that Paterniti chooses to write about. The absence of dialogue is maddening), the brain is just that-a brain which, after the shock value has worn off is nothing more than an inanimate object floating in formaldehyde. Not much to say there as well. And so they travel, the three of them-Paterniti, the old coot and the brain, across America for a purpose which is never made clear and which never pays off in the end. They stop a few times along the way but Paterniti is able to make even an evening with William Burroughs sound dull; not a simple feat. Perhaps it's that Paterniti is the dull one among all the characters here. Too bad since we're subjected to his meandering prose for 200 plus pages with nary an insight. Paterniti misses his girlfriend, misses Maine, wonders what he's doing with his life. I don't know why I'm supposed to care. We're also asked to endure his musings over Einstein's greatness which is akin to being lectured by Mario Mendoza on how it is that Mark McGwire hits home runs. Paterniti's book is an example of what can happen after one is awarded a book deal. It may very well be that no book in fact emerges. In such instances, it would be to everyone's benefit if the author would not then write one anyway.
| 
