Author Guide · Literary Nonfiction
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In 1997 Michael Paterniti drove across America with an elderly pathologist and, in the trunk, the brain of Albert Einstein, which the pathologist had removed at the autopsy and kept for decades. A few years later he read about a cheese in a deli newsletter, tracked down the man who made it in a village in northern Spain, and moved his family there to hear the whole story in the little cave room where villagers told their tales. This guide covers all three of his books in order, and where to start.
By Lisanne Swart · 3 books · Literary nonfiction · 2000–2015 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Michael Paterniti has published three books: Driving Mr. Albert (2000), about a road trip with Einstein's brain; The Telling Room (2013), about a legendary Spanish cheese and the feud behind it; and Love and Other Ways of Dying (2015), a collection of seventeen essays. The first two are single stories that got out of hand in the best way.
Where to Start with Michael Paterniti
If you want the famous one
→ The Telling Room (2013).
If you want a road trip
→ Driving Mr. Albert (2000).
If you want his range
→ Love and Other Ways of Dying (2015).
All 3 Michael Paterniti Books, in Order
Driving Mr. Albert
Paterniti drives from New Jersey to California with Thomas Harvey, the pathologist who performed Albert Einstein's autopsy in 1955 and kept the brain, to visit Einstein's granddaughter. The book began as a feature for Harper's Magazine.
The Telling Room
Working at Zingerman's deli in Ann Arbor, Paterniti read about a cheese made by Ambrosio Molinos in the Castilian village of Guzmán. Years later he went to find him, moved his family to the village, and heard in the hillside “telling room” the story of the cheese, a betrayed friendship and Ambrosio's plan for revenge, while struggling against Ambrosio for control of the story.
Love and Other Ways of Dying
Seventeen pieces from GQ, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic and elsewhere: a car crash that killed a childhood friend, the last meal of the French president François Mitterrand, the restaurant El Bulli, a man who talks people down from a bridge in China, and the aftermath of disasters in Haiti and Japan.
How Many Books Did Michael Paterniti Write?
Three books between 2000 and 2015.
- Narrative nonfiction — Driving Mr. Albert (2000) and The Telling Room (2013). Read the entries →
- Essays — Love and Other Ways of Dying (2015). Read the entries →
In What Order to Read Michael Paterniti
His books are not a series. The Telling Room is his longest and most personal; Love and Other Ways of Dying shows the magazine journalism the books grew out of.
A reading path
1. The Telling Room (2013)
2. Driving Mr. Albert (2000)
3. Love and Other Ways of Dying (2015)
Quick facts about Michael Paterniti
- Grew up
- Darien, Connecticut
- Lives
- Portland, Maine
- Writes for
- GQ, Harper's, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine
- Founded
- With his wife, the writer Sara Corbett, The Telling Room, a storytelling centre for young people in Portland
- Books
- 3, from Driving Mr. Albert (2000) to Love and Other Ways of Dying (2015)
How Michael Paterniti Writes: Following the Digression
Paterniti follows the story wherever it wanders. The Telling Room is full of footnotes and detours, deliberately written in the spirit of the tales told in the village's telling rooms, and he has said the book took so long partly because he lost himself in it.
He is honest about his own place in the story: in The Telling Room he describes a tug of war with Ambrosio over who would control the narrative, and in his essays he often begins from his own memories.
Michael Paterniti on The Telling Room
Listen to the interview on NPR →
Michael Paterniti talks to NPR about the cheese, the village of Guzmán and Ambrosio, July 2013.Frequently asked questions about Michael Paterniti's books
How many books has Michael Paterniti written?
Michael Paterniti has published three books: Driving Mr. Albert (2000), The Telling Room (2013) and Love and Other Ways of Dying (2015).
Is Driving Mr. Albert a true story?
Yes. In 1997 Paterniti drove across the United States with Thomas Harvey, the pathologist who had kept Albert Einstein's brain after the autopsy in 1955.
What is The Telling Room about?
The Telling Room (2013) is about a legendary cheese made by Ambrosio Molinos in the Spanish village of Guzmán, the betrayal that cost him the business, and Paterniti's years in the village hearing the story.
Footnotes
- The Telling Room — Harper's Magazine
- Love and Other Ways of Dying — Publishers Weekly
- Paterniti tells tales of love, dying and Einstein's brain — The Bulletin
Bibliography last verified 1 October 2026.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
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