Section 1, Part 8 Summary and Analysis

"The Brain of Einstein" This essay examines and defines the myths surrounding Albert Einstein, one of the most famous mathematicians of the contemporary era. The author specifically examines the varying ways in which Einstein's brain is presented in popularized, mythic culture. The first is as a potential source of logical insight able to reduce the many mysteries of life to a simple mathematical equation similar to E=mc?, Einstein's famous distillation of the relationship between matter and energy. This representation, the author suggests, evokes a sense of magic, mystery, and spirituality. The second, and perhaps contradictory, representation of Einstein's brain is as a construction of deep complexity, capable of immense amounts of hard work, the meaning of which only Einstein himself could fully understand. The author suggests that the mythic resonances of Einstein's image reconcile two manifestations of the...