Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein's Brain - Hardcover

Carolyn Abraham is the medical reporter for The Globe and Mail in Toronto. The winner of two national awards from the Canadian Newspaper Association, she won the Hollobon Science in Society Award for her articles on the business of genetics. She lives in Toronto with her husband.

With clarity, insight, and thoroughness, Abraham, a reporter for Toronto's Globe and Mail, tactfully sets the record straight regarding the people and events surrounding the notorious removal of Albert Einstein's brain after his 1955 autopsy and its history over the next 40 years. While she pays particular attention to Thomas Harvey, the pathologist who removed Einstein's brain and preserved it in a Tupperware container, Abraham does not overlook numerous other significant participants in this odd tale (e.g., Otto Nathan, one of Einstein's executors), nor does she exclude the significant scientists and doctors to whom Harvey offered pieces of the brain for research over the years. Included as well are pertinent details about Einstein and, more importantly, information about brain research as it evolved over the 40 years that Harvey was the brain's caretaker. Unlike Michael Paterniti's Driving Mr. Albert (LJ 7/00), a superficial travel piece with its author and Harvey motoring cross-country with several pieces of Einstein's brain in the luggage, Abraham's carefully reported account reveals the real who, what, when, why, and where of an event that has become almost mythological. Her 23-page "Sources" section documents the research. An enjoyable read, this is highly recommended for all collections. Michael D. Cramer, Raleigh, NC
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.