Carolyn Abraham

What a great story. And one that proves, yet again, that truth can be stranger than fiction.

When Albert Einstein died in 1955, pathologist Thomas Harvey conducted an autopsy. He removed Mr. Einstein's brain and, with the reluctant, post-facto consent of the family, because its custodian. He promised that the brain would only be used for scientific study. However, not being a neurologist himself, he sent sections of the brain to other scientists over the years. Lot of years....nearly half a century. This book looks at Dr. Harvey's life -- he was married three times, moved a lot, and kept most of Mr. Einstein's brain in Tupperware containers, It also looks at how brain research evolved, making it possible to study Mr. Einstein's brain in new ways as technology developed, and reports on the findings. In addition, it looks at Mr. Einstein's brain as a cultural phenomenon. Very interesting, highly readable.… (más)

"The Juggler's Children" is the story of Carolyn Abraham’s search for her great-grandfathers. A genealogical search more difficult than most, it was only made possible through the advances of science and the cooperation of Abraham’s family. The hunt start in the early 2000’s when DNA became part of the family historian’s arsenal because the documentary records were sketchy at best. The Abraham family may live in Canada now but their links are through a mixture of races that met up in India. One great-grandfather was a ship’s captain from Jamaica and the other was a Chinese juggler.

It is a well told tale that takes in the ups and downs of the hunt. It includes tracking down illusive DNA and records in India and Jamaica as well as the soul searching that such a journey involves for all of the people involved. It was an interesting story made more so by the desire that I have to be able to follow my own research trail enhanced by the scientific evidence revealed through DNA testing.… (más)

A family’s legend of two great-grandfathers leads the author into a genealogical search spanning the globe. Using cutting edge DNA collection processes available to us all, the author discovers both her Chinese ancestry and her slave jobber ancestors in Jamaica. Like her, I have waited years for a match response from www.ysearch.org but unlike her I have yet to receive a response to my son’s haplogroup, I1a, or my mtDNA from Oxford Ancestors. This book is a feast with all the terminologies genealogists and geneticists crave.… (más)