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Memory's Last Breath: Field Notes on My Dementia
by
Gerda Saunders (Goodreads Author)
In the tradition of Brain on Fire and When Breath Becomes Air, Gerda Saunders' Memory's Last Breath is an unsparing, beautifully written memoir--a true-life Still Alice that captures Saunders' experience as a fiercely intellectual person living with the knowledge that her brain is betraying her. Saunders' book is uncharted territory in the writing on dementia, a diagnosis
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Win a Copy of This Book
Memory's Last Breath: Field Notes on My Dementia
by Gerda Saunders (Goodreads Author)
by Gerda Saunders (Goodreads Author)
Release
date: Jun 13, 2017
Enter to win one of thirty finished copies of MEMORY'S LAST BREATH: Field Notes on My Dementia by Gerda Saunders.
"[A] courageous and singular book."- ...more
"[A] courageous and singular book."- ...more
Format: Print book
Giveaway ends in:
a
Availability: 30 copies available, 611 people requesting
Giveaway dates: Jun 30 - Jul 15, 2017
Countries available: US
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Community Reviews
(showing 1-30)
3.5 Stars
” And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to remind us that our life is not our life, merely the story we have told about our life.”
--Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
A now retired scientist, Gerda Saunders was 61 when she was diagnosed with early onset dementia, more specifically - micro-vascular disease. This memoir is her thoughts, fears, frustrations over the following years, the affect it had on her, her husband, her children, and dai ...more
” And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to remind us that our life is not our life, merely the story we have told about our life.”
--Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
A now retired scientist, Gerda Saunders was 61 when she was diagnosed with early onset dementia, more specifically - micro-vascular disease. This memoir is her thoughts, fears, frustrations over the following years, the affect it had on her, her husband, her children, and dai ...more
May 09, 2017
Shirley Freeman
added it
Gerda Saunders was a scientist, an intellectual, a wife, mother and writer when at age 61 she was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers. For the next several years, she was able to document what was happening to her brain and how it affected her every day life. This erudite memoir is a combination of research explained and daily struggles noted. Saunders does not complain about the unfairness of it all. She goes about her business doing the best she can under the circumstances. Her husband and f
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Heartbreaking on so many levels, personal and otherwise. But still, her strength and vivacity comes through on every page.
Disappointing. I picked this up after hearing the author on NPR, so I expected to like it but threw in the towel about halfway through.
It is actually 13 essays about various aspects of her dementia, which is a wise choice of structure for someone with her problem. She talked of the difficulty of writing and how long it took her, so she might not have been able to craft a book-length work.
I was not getting nearly as much insight into her experiences with dementia or her progression as I expected, ...more
It is actually 13 essays about various aspects of her dementia, which is a wise choice of structure for someone with her problem. She talked of the difficulty of writing and how long it took her, so she might not have been able to craft a book-length work.
I was not getting nearly as much insight into her experiences with dementia or her progression as I expected, ...more
Jul 03, 2017
Cyndi Beane-Henry
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
anyone
Recommended to Cyndi by:
Amazon Vine
This has been my favorite read so far this summer. A poignant look, through the first person eye of the writer, at dementia. As a geriatric nurse for 30 years, I have seen it come to many, many people. Slowly it attacks the mind. Until eventually, the person that houses the mind, is just a shell. The mind is gone.
Where does the mind wonder to in these individuals? How much of the world around them are they aware of?
These are all things the author contemplates. And she expounds on the way to beco ...more
Where does the mind wonder to in these individuals? How much of the world around them are they aware of?
These are all things the author contemplates. And she expounds on the way to beco ...more
A remarkable book, written without a hint of self-pity. Just sad-the decline of a brilliant mind but also her manifesto about the meaning of life ("There is no essence, or meaning to life...").
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GERDA SAUNDERS grew up in South Africa, where she obtained a B.S. in Math and Chemistry from the University of Pretoria. After working as a research scientist at the South African Atomic Energy Board for three years, she taught Science and Math at Kempton Park (Afrikaans) High school and Math and Physics at the Kempton Park Technical Institute. In 1984, she settled in Utah with her husband Peter a
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