Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife [Hardcover]

Cathryn Jakobson Ramin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2007

Why can't you remember where you put your keys? Or the title of the movie you saw last week? Or the name of your favorite restaurant?

Acclaimed journalist Cathryn Jakobson Ramin takes readers on a lively journey to explain what happens to memory and attention in middle age. Along the way, she turns up fresh scientific findings, explores the dark regions of the human brain, and hears the intimate confessions of high-functioning midlife adults who—like you—want to understand exactly what's going on upstairs.

Anyone older than forty knows that forgetfulness can be unnerving, frustrating, and sometimes terrifying. With compassion and humor, Jakobson Ramin sets out to discover what midlife forgetfulness is all about—from the perspectives of physiology, psychology, and sociology. Relentless in her search for answers to questions about her own unreliable memory, she explores the factors that determine how well—or poorly—one's brain will age. She consults experts in the fields of sleep, stress, traumatic brain injury, hormones, genetics, and dementia, as well as specialists in nutrition, cognitive psychology, and the burgeoning field of drug-based cognitive enhancement. The landscape of the midlife brain is not what you might think, and to understand its strengths and weaknesses turns out to be the best way to cope.

Jakobson Ramin's reporting of the stories of a wide array of midlife men and women will resonate with readers. Her audience will glean spectacular insight into how to elicit the very best performance from a middle-aged brain. A groundbreaking work that represents the best of narrative nonfiction, this is a timely, highly readable, and much-needed book for anyone whose memory is not what it used to be.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Memory loss and other cognitive problems are increasingly the bugaboo of aging baby boomers, as well as many of their elders. In her first book, veteran journalist Ramin turns herself into a guinea pig as she seeks ways to restore her own failing memory and growing inability to concentrate. Looking at a wide variety of genetic, biochemical and environmental factors that slow the connections among the brain's 100 billion neurons, especially in the hippocampus, Ramin undertakes 10 interventions, methods of achieving her cognitive enhancement. She logs the ups and downs of medications such as Adderall and Provigil; she looks at dietary supplements and biofeedback. She ends with discussions with experts, such as Nobelist Eric Kandel, about what keeps some people mentally young into old age; the key seems to be having the "mental reserves" gained from challenging one's mind with new kinds of learning—such as learning a new language or studying art—that use different parts of the brain; the right diet and exercise also help. Overall, the variety of perspectives and the wealth of scientific information Ramin provides, as well as her warm personal style, will reward readers and may well help them stay mentally sharp. (Apr. 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Sometime after her fortieth birthday, journalist Ramin, who counts on her wits and recall, began forgetting the names of people and common objects. She was also having difficulty focusing for longer than it took to look up a synonym for the word whatchamacallit. She was so distressed that her first reaction was to conceal her handicap. She discovered, however, that many friends and associates, all about her age, were suffering the same symptoms and also trying to keep them secret. For the good of others in the same boat, she decided to throw herself on the sword, admit her incapacity, and offer herself as guinea pig as well as reporter to research midlife cognitive breakdown and the interventions available to ameliorate it. Her meaty memoir and science report reveals that there are nearly as many reasons for midlife memory loss (forgetfulness doesn't always presage Alzheimer's) as there are people who suffer from it, and that there are several tests to determine specific causes in addition to numerous resources to correct the root problem. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (April 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060598697
• ISBN-13: 978-0060598693
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #520,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sparkling journey through the landscape of memory, April 15, 2007

By 

David Duncan "DEDuncan" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife (Hardcover)

Cathryn Jakobson Ramin has written a wonderful bit of storytelling about something we all will face one day -- the loss of memory. Weaving in her own story of mild, but highly annoying memory loss and her search to remember, she provides a snapshot of where science is right now with it's knowledge of the physiology of memory. She describes the drugs that enhance cognitive-function, and gives common-sense descriptions and advice about how to eat, sleep and meditate to improve our minds and memory. Her voice is strong and witty and fun -- and authoritative. Her research has been exhaustive. Although the book professes to be about fading memory in midlife, it is really about that hugely mysterious realm of the mind and what we remember. Read this book!

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, September 6, 2007

By 

J. Doyle (Maryland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife (Hardcover)

The big question for all of us in the middle age bracket is this: When we draw a blank when searching for a word or a person's name--is this normal forgetfulness or are we suffering from something much scarier? In this well-researched book, Cathryn Jakobson Ramin does an excellent job of presenting possible reasons for memory lapses and ways to deal with them.

In addition to having her brain and body tested for what might be the cause of her own memory lapses, the author interviewed many people and performed extensive research on the topic. She found that how you treat your brain in middle age will make a difference later. Midlife is the time to act: to make good decisions on diet, stress management, sleeping habits, and exercise.

She writes that today's world is an especially difficult time to reach middle age as we are "smack in the middle of a technological revolution." We can be overwhelmed by the amount of information available and the endless stream of interruptions, multitasking, and over stimulation.

In very readable prose, she explains how our minds are affected by the foods we consume, our hormones, the drugs we take, the chemicals in the environment, our sleep patterns, blood pressure and blood sugar levels, and the amount of exercise that we get. Since we need to build up our cognitive reserve to keep mentally active, she gives tips on how to perform these "intellectual push-ups."

In spite of the seriousness of the subject, this book is a pleasure to read and even funny at times.

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Got a mind worth minding? Read this!, April 30, 2007

By 

Jason Roberts (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife (Hardcover)

This book isn't just a timely discussion of an important topic, it's impressively well-written. Ramin wears her (impressive) learning lightly, threading her own experience, and that of others, into a beautifully-rendered counterpoint to the cutting-edge science she's surveying. I was reminded of books like A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SENSES or THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMNA--it's that kind of solid but compulsively readable book.

Even if you're not in personal panic-mode about your own memory, this is a fascinating survey of how new theories and technologies are informing our very notions of awareness and the mind. Prepare to be not only informed, but fascinated.