Customer Reviews

A Life Shaken: My Encounter with Parkinson's Disease

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Ever since my father was diagnosed with PD I read everything about the disease; Joel Havemann's book is excellent. He explained the medical condition in simple terms and helped me understand what was going on with my dad. I hope more people living with the disease will write about how they cope with it, because not only does PD affect the person with the disease but all of their friends and family.

WHEN MY HUSBAND WAS DIAGNOISED WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE LAST YEAR I HAD VERY LITTLE KNOWLEDGE OF THE DISEASE. JOEL HAVEMANN HAS WRITTEN A BOOK WHICH IS EASY TO READ AND EXTREMELY HONEST ABOUT WHAT ONE CAN EXPECT TO FACE IN DEALING WITH THIS DISEASE, BOTH AS THE PATIENT AND AS THE CARE GIVER. HE HAS GIVEN AN EXTREMELY FRANK ACCOUNT OF HIS OWN COPING SKILLS. HE HAS RESEARCED ALL OF THE LATEST TREATMENTS AND DRUG THERAPIES. I SAT DOWN WITH THE BOOK AND READ IT COVER TO COVER. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

Mr. Havemann provides us with an incredibly personal view into Parkinson's disease. His wit, candor, and superb writing style draws the reader into his story to such a degree that it is difficult to disengage. While telling his story he concurrently entertains and educates the reader as to where medicine stands with regard to research and current treatment, and how individuals cope. I'm looking forward to his next work.

One of the best examples of medical and personal journalism, combining the author's riveting personal story of encountering Parkinson's with an interesting explanation of the disease itself -- its mechanisms and treatments -- that achieves the distinction of being rigorous and very accessible at the same time. Unlike many scientific-themed books of this sort, it provided sufficient detail and rigor to engage the intellect while remaining interesting, accessible, and easy to read. I could not put it down once I started it. I recommend it not just to those who might have a personal interest in the condition known as Parkinson's disease, but also those who have an interest in the human condition -- that is, everyone.

Other books about PD scared the heck out of me, but Havemann's sense of humor and indomitable spirit have changed my perspective. I'm not afraid anymore. Thank you Joel. The book is honest and straightforward. He describes what happens to a brain with PD so clearly that I finally understand it!

Author Joel Havemann weaves his own story of living with this progressive neurological disease with a clear and carefully researched explanation that ranges from symptoms and drugs to challenges and the outlook for a cure. "For an adventure it is - not one that I would have chosen, but an adventure all the same." Mr. Havemann, an editor with the Washington bureau of the Los Angeles Times, helps us look at the human brain and its intricate yet magnificent operation, and the disastrous consequences of even the simplest misfire. He has created an excellent reference guide for caregiver, family member and patient alike that affirms the paradox of our own frustrations and hopes for the future. We feel Mr. Havemann's determination to keep going for his family, anger at the debilitating symptoms, and belief that the scientific and medical communities will deliver an answer.

This was by far the most comprehensive, detailed and informative book on Parkinson's disease I have read.
The author is an Early On Set Parkinson's patient and yet, with support, has been able to continue to raise his family and work full-time at his job as Editor of the Los Angeles Times.

He thoroughly investigates medications and other medical proceedures available and their benefits and disadvantages, which I found extremely helpful- certainly more information than I received from any physician.

Further, the author discusses, with amazing frankness, his own physical and mental challenges, which takes it beyond pure information to a story of courage and personal growth.

Joel Havemann brings the journalist's practiced eye for detail, detachment and clarity of expression to the task of understanding, describing and coping with Parkinson's. He also allows his heart to speak and the result is a work that should be especially valuable to those who have themselves have recently received a Parkinson's diagnosis or who have a close relative or friend thus stationed.
The book offers clear and interestingly presented facts about the various drugs, treatments and hopeful research that become an integral part of having Parkinson's, as well as the historical and public policy context in which those elements have evolved in the centuries since the disease was first identified. There is just the right mix of facts, opinion and sometimes barely concealed disgust in Havemann's treatment of these matters.
As valuable as those chapters are, I think many will find Havemann's account of his personal odyssey and that of his family to be the more valuable aspect of his book. He is unstinting in his descriptions of the physical and mental effects of the disease and frank about his occasional failures to deal with those effects as effectively as he would like. He also spares little in telling of his fears about the disease's potential progress and what it could mean for him and his family.
I can't think of a better preparation for confronting the many challenges and crises that accompany the arrival of Parkinson's in the life of an individual and family. A Life Shaken is strongly recommended.

A noted surgeon who left his native Philippines to escape the connubial dictatorship of the Marcoses and continued his practice in Canada and, later, the U.S., my Dad read Joel Havemann's account of his valiant and ongoing battle with Parkinson's Disease, and had nothing but praise for this highly interesting and informative work.

He wrote, "I found A Life Shaken a great and wonderful book that proved most valuable to me because your Uncle Nene has been fighting his own battle with PD for the last 10 years and is now in a fully assisted nursing home. Joel Havemann's description of his disease is very vivid -- much better than any of my old medical textbooks".

Retired for 20 years now, my Dad, Dr. Gumersindo Garcia, Jr. maintains his status as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and attends medical conferences regularly, while also keeping up with medical developments through the medical journals he gets at home.

He concludes, "I know that Parkinson's and Alzheimer's afflict millions of Americans, which is why I hope and pray that cures will be discovered for these horrible diseases soon".

Whether or not you are a Parkinson's Disease patient, you will be gripped by the candor, courage and clarity in Joel Havemann's A Life Shaken: My Personal Encounter with Parkinson's Disease. This book is so authoritative that author Havemann -- a Harvard-educated mathematician and working journalist - could well add the initials "M..D." after his name and get away with it.

Diagnosed with this horrendously frightening disease at age 46, Havemann came to a fork on the road that was his life. What to do? Take the fork that will lead you to a cocoon where you will wither away as Parkinson's ravages your mind, your body and your soul -- your own private world? Or, do you (as the author recites his core beliefs - his religion, he says -- in the final paragraph of his book) fling the gauntlet and shout, "Parkinson's, do your worst. You can't rob me of that."

Havemann has thrown the gauntlet; Parkinson's has not responded. Here's a book you can't put down.

Adriano Delfino
Lincoln, CA., USA