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Hey, Einstein!: A novel about nature and nurture Paperback – June 26, 2012

by Christopher Wanjek (Author)
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"Poignant and savagely funny… Wanjek has pulled off the impossible, a morality tale wrapped up in a prehensible science lesson with, oh yeah, a war parody thrown in for good measure." — Dan Dunn, author of Living Loaded: Tales of Sex, Salvation, and the Pursuit of the Never-Ending Happy Hour Nature versus nurture. What would have become of Albert Einstein had he been raised in any other setting? The CIA didn't think that one through when it set out to clone him... five times. Budget cuts for Project Einstein meant the clones were raised in less-than-ideal environments, from the Bronx to Bartlett, Nebraska. Now, 30 years later, the CIA must round up its lost Einsteins to save the world from an evil genius. The clones, they find, do have one thing in common: They're no Einstein. Author Christopher Wanjek, a Harvard-trained science journalist and international health lecturer as well as a contributing joke writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, is uniquely suited to tell this tale of a genetics experiment gone wrong. Hey, Einstein! is funny science fiction with serious overtones about nature versus nurture, politics and war. The novel combines the scientific acumen of Michael Crichton with the irreverent humor of Hunter S. Thompson into a James Bond-style adventure where good triumphs over evil, more or less, and complex phenomena are intertwined with a cleverly crafted plot.
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  1. Print length
    412 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    June 26, 2012
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 0.93 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0615650503
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0615650500
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Northern Passage Press, Christopher Wanjek (June 26, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 412 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0615650503
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0615650500
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.75 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.93 x 9 inches

Customer reviews

3.4 out of 5 stars
7 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

marie
4.0 out of 5 stars clever and witty
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2012
Verified Purchase
This is a quick and fun read with some very touching moments. This is subtitled a nature versus nurture tale and the author takes great pains to show how different these Einsteins are physically and mentally. You can guess the answer from the books description that nurture wins. The first person narrator is preachy but this makes sense in the end. He takes shots at both sides, liberal and conservative. There's a funny parody of NPR being sponsored by Agri-Tech -"At Agri-Tech, we turn corn into food."
There are funny references to Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller Catch-22. The war parody is savage, as one reviewer said. The Rumsfield character, Montjoie, is some kind of mold creature that lives in the White House woodwork and materializes when "humid desperation" it in the room. Then there's the ban on Spanish things, and Congress changes the name of the Spanish fly date rape drug to Liberty Fly. There are many laugh out loud parts easy to miss. My only criticism is the story is script like -like a movie. There is so much clever writing though that the story moves along.
7 people found this helpful
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Talia
1.0 out of 5 stars Too clever for its own good
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2012
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The author seems to be too busy making sure we know how clever he is - and by dragging EVERY situation out to its most absurd to actually write a decent story with engaging characters. Considering the size of his cast of characters, you'd think there was SOMEONE to like! But there isn't. Pity perhaps, but no one you can like. I spent most of my time hoping for the "heros" to fail because that was what his universe deserved.
3 people found this helpful
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Arizona Fats
1.0 out of 5 stars baffled by positive reviews
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2013
Awful. No redeeming qualities. Poorly-written (glaring malapropisms, bad grammar, inconsistent pace) and a bad read (caricatures in place of characters, story that is nonsensical and badly-developed). The humor is lame yet feels self-congratulatory, as if the author expects applause for delivering ham-fisted lines you've heard before and better. Colored by a political perspective that lacks any nuance or depth. Perhaps some hardcore MSNBC-fans may find some mildly enjoyable tropes, but you need not be a Fox New viewer to grimace instead of grin.

I find myself less desirous of a refund and more in having back the time I wasted reading this in hope of finding something redemptive about it.
6 people found this helpful
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