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The Forgetting: Alzheimer's: Portrait of an Epidemic
by
David Shenk (Goodreads Author)
Afflicting nearly half of all persons over the age of 85, Alzheimer’s disease kills nearly 100,000 Americas a year as it insidiously robs them of their memory and wreaks havoc on the lives of their loved ones. It was once minimized and misunderstood as forgetfulness in the elderly, but Alzheimer’s is now at the forefront of many medical and scientific agendas, for as the w...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
May 20th 2003
by Anchor
(first published 2001)
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I am taking a training class for my job about Alzheimer's and I decided to read this book because I wanted more information about the disease. This book was very readable and simple to understand, but still had a fair amount of valuable medical information.
In the beginning sections of the book, I kept thinking how amazing the human brain is. I guess it is really no wonder that it doesn't always hold out as long as the rest of the body. When I think about it, I am just totally in...more
In the beginning sections of the book, I kept thinking how amazing the human brain is. I guess it is really no wonder that it doesn't always hold out as long as the rest of the body. When I think about it, I am just totally in...more
Haunting, frightening, fascinating. The author's "hook" is that there might be unexpected benefits to losing your memory--seeing the world afresh, living in the now--but I didn't buy them and I'm not sure he did either. He ends with a story about talking with an Alzheimer's patient in the middle stages. They've had long email conversations and in-depth discussions about the ravages of the disease, and the author tells his friend, "Thanks to watching you go through this, I'm les...more
This one is a little different -- more focused on the impact on society as a whole with the coming wave of elderly growing, but also interwoven with some very moving personal narratives.
Family (voluntary) caregiving -- not compensated monetarily, and "depending on the patient's health insurance and the size of her estate, the illness can actually cost the caregiver tens of thousands of dollars every year. Neither Medicare nor private health insurance covers the type of long-term ...more
Family (voluntary) caregiving -- not compensated monetarily, and "depending on the patient's health insurance and the size of her estate, the illness can actually cost the caregiver tens of thousands of dollars every year. Neither Medicare nor private health insurance covers the type of long-term ...more
This book hits really close to home since my dad passed away from this disease. Shenk does a great job of shining light to the history of Alzheimer's research and the several famous people inflicted with disease. After reading this I now have a new understanding that I never knew prior to reading this, and for that I appreciate the insight I've gained.
Hopefully we can separate the commercial implications of a cure and work towards a more cohesive effort at finding the solution. Drug ...more
Hopefully we can separate the commercial implications of a cure and work towards a more cohesive effort at finding the solution. Drug ...more
This was the most useful book I read when my father was dealing with with his 7 year battle with AD in the late 90s. It is a clear & informative description of the sequence of biological changes that take place in the brain with the progression of the disease. It helps in dealing with the personality changes & mood swings when you can understand each is caused by a biological event. I have loaned it to many friends on the same journey and all have found it useful.
Shenk does a terrific job of covering Alzheimer's disease from many angles. The book beginning with the clinical (history, theories, avenues of research), then moves into personal experiences of caregivers and people who have the disease. At the end he turns philosophical, musing about the relationships between memory and self.
Both informative and comforting; a solid resource for anyone wishing to learn more.
Both informative and comforting; a solid resource for anyone wishing to learn more.
What an interesting book....the history of alzheimers, but more than that....it takes one through the stages; a perspective from a young man with Alheimers....ideas on how to support those affected....and just a lot of information on our memories and how they work. Highly recommend, even if you don't have a family member or friend who has faced this challenge.
Diana Bogan
added it
powerful, enlightening and an altogether frightening look at this disease. i thought Shenk succeeded at unwrapping the long history of this disease, while providing the reader with a humanistic and scientific window into the world of Alois Alzheimer's disease.
This was a very complete portrait of the stages of Alzheimer's disease. Pretty intro-level stuff, but I found it hugely useful in thinking about my Grandmother and what she's going through.
Thought-provoking. The sections regarding Ralph Waldo Emerson and his dementia are so artfully done. A must-read.
a very good biography of the disease. an excellent place to start for anyone curious about alzheimers and how it affects the mind of the patient as well as the family members, caregivers and scientists involved in the inevitable decline.
Excellent book for anyone wanting to learn more about Alzheimer's. David Shenk did a great job. This book is very inclusive.
what can I say, I learned a lot from this book -- got a bit of a historical perspective of the diagnosis of the disease, the culture of scientific research in search for causes and cures, and a bit of an inside view on the experience of Alzheimer's. Would be a great read even for someone who doesn't have a family member with the disease.
Joyce
rated it
Recommends it for:
anyone who has a relative or friend who has it.
Recommended to Joyce by:
The Madonnas of Leningrad
This is not a fun book. It was in the recommended reading from The Madonnas of Leningrad. It is for someone who is dealing with Alzheimer's in some way. It gives you information of the cause and results. It prepares you for the various stages of Alzheimers. It was helpful to me.
Excellent book -- I highly recommend it. It gives a very humanizing portrait of Alzheimer's disease, both the positive and negative sides. I'd never thought of it as anything but something to be horrified of and afraid of getting myself, so it was really encouraging to read this.
This book has served as a God send at this point in my life. The best way to describe it is that is "written with a researcher's attention to detail and a storyteller's ear" (New York Times Book Review).
This was an interesting read, although I would have preferred more concrete information about living with the disease, and less-detailed accounts of medical research.
Good book. Makes the science behind Alzheimer's easy to understand, but probably a little outdated, as it was written in 2002.
This book about Alzheimer's is written beautifully. The best book about Alzheimer's. Instructive, literary.
A nice balance between story and science. Fascinating explanation of retrogenesis.
Especially moving for someone who has lived with an Alzheimers' sufferer as I have.
I miss my grandma.
Great book
Cassie
marked it as to-read
Jaime
marked it as to-read
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David Shenk is the award-winning and national-bestselling author of six books, including The Genius in All of Us: New Insights Into Genetics, Talent, and IQ ("deeply interesting and important" - New York Times), The Forgetting: Alzheimer's, Portrait of an Epidemic ("remarkable" - Los Angeles Times), Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut ("indispensable" - New York...more
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