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| In 1955, Dr. Thomas Harvey performed Albert Einstein’s autopsy and then absconded with one of the world’s most famous brains. After storing Einstein’s brain for decades in a Tupperware container of formaldehyde in his home, Harvey decided to meet and perhaps make peace with Evelyn Einstein, the scientist’s granddaughter, living in Berkeley. In Driving Mr. Albert, Michael Paterniti joins the 84-year-old pathologist on a road trip from New Jersey to California, with the author at the wheel and Einstein’s brain in the trunk. Driving Mr. Albert is a travelogue: Paterniti describes the cornfields and truck stops and greasy diners he and Harvey encounter along the highways and byways of America. The book also features Paterniti’s meditations on life and love, as he contemplates his relationships with his girlfriend, with Einstein and with Harvey, who sometimes viewed the writer as little more than a chauffeur. “I’ve driven for two thousand miles,” Paterniti complains at one point. “I’ve made arrangements at hotels and motels. I’ve escorted the good doctor through restaurants and museums. I’ve watched him like a bodyguard as we’ve made our way toward Evelyn Einstein — and not been allowed so much as a peek at the brain. Meanwhile my friends (Clare and Scott), doing nothing but being their friendly selves, got to see it within a few hours of meeting the old man.” – Reviewed by Christina Eng |
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