- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Dial Press (Jun 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 038533303X
- ISBN-13: 978-0385333030
- Product Dimensions: 13.9 x 1.6 x 20.8 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 911,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
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 is an eighty-four-year-old pathologist named Thomas Harvey, who performed the autopsy on Einstein in 1955 -- then simply removed the brain and took it home. And kept it for over forty years.
On a cold February day, the two men and the brain leave New Jersey and light out on I-70 for sunny California, where Einstein's perplexed granddaughter, Evelyn, awaits. And riding along as the imaginary fourth passenger is Einstein himself, an id-driven genius, the original galactic slacker with his head in the stars. Part travelogue, part memoir, part history, part biography, and part meditation, Driving Mr. Albert is one of the most unique road trips in modern literature.
On a cold February day, the two men and the brain leave New Jersey and light out on I-70 for sunny California, where Einstein's perplexed granddaughter, Evelyn, awaits. And riding along as the imaginary fourth passenger is Einstein himself, an id-driven genius, the original galactic slacker with his head in the stars. Part travelogue, part memoir, part history, part biography, and part meditation, Driving Mr. Albert is one of the most unique road trips in modern literature.
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 organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
107 reviews
87 of 89 people found the following review helpful
Kerouac meets Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
11 July 2000
Format:Hardcover
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.
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Brain Jamming with the Alberts
14 July 2000
Format:Hardcover
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.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
What a ride!
18 July 2000
Format:Hardcover
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.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
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?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
