Customer Reviews

The Forgetting: Alzheimer's: Portrait of an Epidemic

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

"Since 1975, the number of Americans afflicted [with Alzheimer's Disease {ALZ}] has risen from five hundred thousand to five million [2001]; over the next fifty years an estimated [fifteen million in the United States alone] will succumb to it."
In May, 2001, I went to my primary physician with some troubling symptoms of recent memory loss. He ordered a CAT scan, and referred me to my psychiatrist, who was supervising my intensive outpatient treatment of Major [unipolar] Suicidal Depression. The CAT scan depicted some small white areas, which could have been the result of undetected minor strokes or tertiary syphilis. Since neither was applicable to my medical history nor my life style, only the remote possibility of ALZ remained. The psychiatrist gave me the Mini Mental State Examination [MMSE], and I scored less than twenty-five. Based on the MMSE results, he then scheduled me for a battery of tests. My suspicions were confirmed: I now have a diagnosis of "probable ALZ" in the early or middle stages. I am now one of the "five million...When "The Forgetting" arrived, I sat down and devoured it from cover to cover in two days! This was most unusual, since two of the early memory symptoms of ALZ are my recent inability to finish a book cover to cover, or to pick up a book or article where I had left off, and continue on the textual journey.
This "magnificent synthesis of history, science, politics, psychology, and profound human drama" was written especially for me, someone newly diagnosed as "probable ALZ." "Delving into such diverse areas as art history, literature, genetics, and neurobiology" Shenk's "The Forgetting Alzheimer's" clear and concise exegesis continues to give me the data I require to comfort an unbelieving and devastated significant other, my spouse.
Like the forty-two stories contained in the newly-published "Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous," Shenk's marvelous treatise posits what it was like, what happened, and where the afflicted of ALZ are, and gives me experience, strength, and hope. The personal anecdotes, as well as the detailed case histories of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jonathan Swift, Fredrick Law Olmsted, and Ronald Reagan, show me where I have been and what lies ahead in the early, middle, and final stages of ALZ.
Shenk's Yellow Brick Road stretches invitingly ahead of me, and has given me the knowledge and courage to face the challenge ahead: the inevitable, irreversible, and presently incurable ALZ which is now occupying major portions of my hippocampus. Knowing what lies ahead gives me the hope I need to face my confrontation with "probable ALZ." I do not need the false Sirenic lure of: "Maybe, just maybe, my diagnosis is incorrect."
Unlike Dylan Thomas, I propose to "go gentle into that dark night" of final ALZ, and with Shenk's "The Forgetting Alzheimer's" to "be by my side," I now have the data to provide care to/for my significant other, who is devastated by this insidious disease, which afflicts her husband, lover, and strong oak tree, as I go forward and downward into this long dark slide.
There are many, many, books and resources written for and available to the caregivers and professionals who surround those of us afflicted with ALZ. There are few and scanty resources that level with the afflicted party/client/victim. This slender volume meets my needs, goals, and thirst for data and knowledge, in language that is clear and succinct. As I write this review, I am rereading "The Forgetting Alzheimer's" again and again because my short term/working memory ain't what it used to be. With luck and repetition, I hope to implant it in my long term depository, which is currently functioning at an academic level, thank you. That I could finish reading "The Forgetting Alzheimer's" is the best testimony which I can render on its value, as I leave late early stage and begin to progress into middle stage ALZ.
L'chayyim!

The Forgetting will (and should) become a classic on the subject of Alzheimer's Disease. It is at once a wonderfully educating and HUMAN book. This book has taught me more about AD than all of the books on AD combined (and I have read them all).
My mother has had Alzheimer's for 6+ years; it is most certainly "a death of a thousand subtractions". This book should be required reading first for ALL Physicians dealing with this disease and be required reading (at the physicians insistence) by every family that has a loved one(s) with AD;this book goes far beyond education of this disease. For the first time in all these years I understand AD better. While reading this book many "aha's" and "of course's" were spoken aloud by me.
My feelings and emotions were validated by The Forgetting during this long last goodbye to my Mom. I shuddered to read all of the steps to the unraveling of Mom's mind and how the end would be for her should she (God forbid) reach the very end of her unraveling. But, I appreciate this knowledge I have gained from this book so I can deal with Mom's death in a better way, an informed way. I am passing this book along to my brothers and to many friends of mine who have loved ones with AD. My thanks and appreciation (as well as my blessings) go out to David Shenk for writing The Forgetting. This book will bring revelations and comfort to all who read it.

This is a very well-written account of the terrible toll of Alzheimer's disease and I highly recommend it. The text is presented poignantly and lucidly and really let's the reader understand what is like to deal with this disease. There have been several books on Alzheimer's written over the past few years that I have read. This is one of the better ones. For more on what causes the disease and new treatments, I would strongly recommend another excellent book on Alzheimer's that I read recently called "Decoding Darkness: The Search for the Genetic Causes of Alzheimer's Disease" by Rudolph E. Tanzi and Ann B. Parson

In our great-grandparents day, it was called dementia, in our parents time senility, now the terminology is Alzheimer's. Whatever you choose to call it, "The Forgetting" is a remarkably moving book due to the nature of the subject. Alzheimer's takes the form of regression, a pathology that mirrors child development in reverse. The disease attacks not only memory but the core of humanity. The disturbing fact of the book is that over the next fifty years between eighty and one hundred MILLION new cases around the world will be diagnosed. This book is highly recommended to anyone who has a family member or person close to them suffering from this traumatic disease. The author takes an inside look at the history of Alzheimer's, the lastest in research and hope for the future, and this is one of the most complete and up-to-date books written on the subject.

This is the best book I've found on Alzheimers for the general public. It offers tentative hope (which is all that is warranted now). Other books have been very depressing. This is a good overview of where we are now in knowledge of this disease.

This is not meant to be a technical book for researchers. It is aimed towards those with friends and family who are dealing with Alzheimers.

For those dealing with this disease, the stages of Alzheimers are clearly listed. The book differentiates the symptoms of ALzheimers from normal forgetting. This is very helpful information that is not presented as well elsewhere.

My father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in the early 1990's; his illness has now progressed to the point that his condition is "off the charts" (I refer to Shenk's diagnostic outline showing the disease's progress as a kind of ominous reversal of the developmental stages of early childhood.) This book is surely the most comprehensive recent assessment of the state of research on the disease. Shenk has obviously done exhaustive research, and he presents it in admirably clear, often eloquent prose.

I am writing this short, admittedly incomplete review partly in reaction to the comments by another customer (in Ann Arbor), who suggested that there was not much new to be learned from reading the book and that the last portion of the book is insensitive. Though much of what Shenk reports may be found in research and popular journals and scattered across the pages of other books, I have not found a single, comprehensive book that matches this one.
I especially appreciated Shenk's philosophical reflections on the larger implications of the disease for families and our society in the coming years. Yes, we do need to focus on a cure (all children of Alzheimer's victims surely dread the possibility that they too may suffer from it some day). But we also need to learn to live with it somehow in the meantime. As my father's inevitable decline has unfolded over the past ten years, my family and I have searched for positive glimmers amid the gradually spreading darkness of the disease. What does each of us learn from undergoing this painful trial? How can we live our lives differently as a result? My mother, who is still the primary care-giver for my dad, has shown enormous reserves of courage and patience as she copes with the daily challenges. But, as she has told my six siblings and me over the years, great and small tragedies happen in the lives of everyone--we all must muster the strength to weather them. The reflective tone of the closing pages of Shenk's book registered quite strongly. I am deeply grateful for his contribution to public understanding about Alzheimer's.

This is an extraordinary work, a most elegant piece of medical writing that almost soars to poetry of it's own at moments, and that aptly quotes the poetry of others, particularly Ralph Waldo'Emerson's amazing stanzas on his personal experience of disabling memory. loss.
It's hard to believe that a book on such a gloomy subject could be so gripping and, yes, inspiring but it is. Shenk seamlessly includes the history, the politics, the vicious economics of a biotech company vs. not-for-profit Alzheimer research,as well as mini-biographies of scientists, patients and caretakers, about whom (the caretakers) he affectionately writes: "The unique curse of Alzheimer's is that it ravages several victims for every brain it infects....close friends and loved ones are forced to step in and compensate for lost abilities."
Have you ever wondered why, if Alzheimer's was first described at the start of the 20th century, it wasn't until the 1970s that it became a household word.? This is in itself a fascinating story, -( and what a play or screenplay could be based on it.)
I now understand this illness in a far deeper way than I ever did before. Shenk describes how Alzheimer's takes an average of eight years to "erase the brain," followiing a course that he depicts as a regression to infancy. There may or may not be breakthrough products on the horizon, yet lawsuits and charges of patent infringement are needlessly delaying progress.
If I have one criticism of THE FORGETTING, it is simply that it makes most of the other writings on this topic seem pale, or dull ,or lacking clarity..THE FORGETTING will surely reign as the great literary and humanistic classic of this field..

I read "The Forgetting" in hopes of getting support for myself about how my family has been dealing with dad's alzheimer's for four years. We know how awful the disease is, and we can only hope for a cure, which the book puts into perspective, but I need to know how mother can be in denial about it and how my brother can say that in his mind dad is already dead.
This book helped confirm my beliefs that people with alzheimer's are still valuable souls, no matter the form or mind they take, or rather is taken from them. Throughout the book, there are short quotes from caregivers and from those with the disease. They said things I also experienced with my dad and it supports my compassion for him. I think this book could help others desperately seeking peace and reconciliation with dementia. In my search for meaning, "The Forgetting" also presented to me an enlightened viewpoint about what it is like to have memory loss.

If you know little about Alzheimer's Disease, you should read this book. If you are caring for someone with Alzheimer's Disease, or have cared for someone in the past, you should read this book. If you are interested in, or indeed, scared of, Alzheimer's Disease, you should read this book. In short, I believe everyone should read this book.
As a former caregiver who was immersed in this disease for many years, and still devote endless time and energy to the cause, this is valuable work. It is immensely readable, fast paced, interesting, and while offering a face (actual several "real" faces) to the disease, it also refers to the difficulties plagued with research. Research is a business, but not everyone realizes that. Hence, Mr. Shenk describes the immense challenges medical researchers encounter in attempting to arrive at a prevention or cure. This is a critical fact; because age is a major risk factor, if a cure is not found, the increase in the number of Alzheimer's Disease patients will implode in the next several years. If you are a baby boomer, you may not realize that this disease may be an unwanted part of your future.

If you are not close to Alzheimer's Disease, Mr. Shenk takes you through the process but does it in a way that is not overly sugary or depressing. And, believe me, this is one depressing disease. It differs from just about every other life threatening disease because those with Alzheimer's CANNOT speak for themselves. For every single Alzheimer's patient, there are 1 to 3 (or more) "victims" living with the disease.

If you are looking for scientific research, this is perhaps not the book for you. However, if you want an overview of all the factets of the disease, read this book. The images of the people with the disease, and those caring for persons with dementia, will not leave you for a very long time.

Just in case you don't have enough to worry about, consider Alzheimer's disease. Over five million Americans currently suffer from this degenerative disease that attacks the neurons in the brain, slowly erasing memory, verbal skills, motor skills and the basic elements of identity. It is lethal, incurable and only negligible treatments are available. Now think about the baby boomers, currently poised on the brink of the years when Alzheimer's disease begins to strike. Over the next fifty years, the number of Alzheimer's patients is expected to triple, resulting in a crushing burden on the medical community and on family caregivers, who may suffer more than anyone.

People are scared to read David Shenk's book. In his afterword, he refers to a family friend who bought it and intended to read it, but was too intimidated by the subject matter and its implications to delve into it. It's easy to understand why. If you already suffer from Alzheimer's, you may think it's too late to learn about it. If you don't have Alzheimer's and you don't know anyone who does, you might not want to learn any more about this terrible, merciless disease. However, as our population ages, it becomes increasingly likely that everyone will be touched by Alzheimer's --- as a patient, as a caregiver, or simply as a citizen of a world wherein a substantial segment of the population can no longer drive, dress themselves, speak rationally, recognize loved ones, or remember their own names. It is a social force as strong as any war --- and information and communication are our greatest weapons against it.

THE FORGETTING provides a brief history of the disease. Shenk describes Dr. Alois Alzheimer's first patient, a woman who suffered from what was believed to be inexplicably premature senility. He intersperses his accounts of ongoing research with anecdotes of famous people we now know to have had Alzheimer's disease, great minds that self-destructed inside otherwise healthy bodies. Ralph Waldo Emerson's decline was slow and sad. Jonathan Swift died bitter and thwarted by his waning skills. His last words were, "I am a fool."

Painter Willem de Kooning had a different experience. He kept painting, even though his mind was failing and produced some of the best works of his career. His story is a reminder that some Alzheimer's patients find a sort of peace through their disease. In letting go of ordinary habits and concerns, some patients reach a level of tranquility before their last decline.

The book also introduces us to the research community: an army of doctors, scientists, independent researchers and pharmaceutical companies who are working fiercely to find a cure before Alzheimer's disease overwhelms us. It is heartening to know that such an effort is in progress, although it's cruel to end Chapter 14 hinting that a vaccine has been found that will prevent Alzheimer's disease from ever developing and stop existing Alzheimer's disease from progressing, only to mention in the afterword that the vaccine never made it past FDA phase 2 trials. False hope is the last thing these people need.

David Shenk does not mean to be cruel; it's just that research is moving so quickly that the best prospect for a cure in the hardcover edition had already been scrapped by the time the paperback came out. Even so, there's a lot of good information here. Readers might find the Resources section in the back to be the most practical help and Chapter 16, "What Not to Do," lists behavior patterns that researchers (currently) find helpful in avoiding the disease.

--- Reviewed by Colleen Quinn