It’s such an exciting time…so many new images of dementia are coming out. Here’s one – I read about it on the Speaking of Faith website. Phillip Toledano’s Days with My Father is a going to be coming out as a book, but for now is a web-based photo essay about his father’s memory loss [...]
Archive for the ‘books’ Category
Photo Essay
Posted in art, books, cultural phenom, disability, tagged images of aging, memory loss, Phillip Toledano, photo essay on dementia on March 26, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Now available: Zeisel’s I’m Still Here
Posted in art, books, tagged alzheimer's, dementia, environment, I'm still here, John Zeisel, treatment on March 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I remember sitting in a conference hotel (which hotel was that? which city?) and meeting (oh! I remember, it was Atlanta…) John Zeisel for the first time. Meeting John is not something you forget (the city, now that’s a different matter). John’s engine revvs at an unnaturally high level and doesn’t seem to stop. At [...]
It’s Ready!
Posted in books, tagged forget memory on November 25, 2008 | 2 Comments »
At the GSA (Gerontological Society of America) conference over the last weekend I visited the Johns Hopkins University Press booth and lo and behold! Forget Memory is listed in the spring 09 catalog! I shifted the “About” column to feature the blurb/reviews and the ordering info. It’s been a long time in coming – so [...]
To Love What Is…
Posted in books, cultural phenom, public education, tagged alix kates shulman, brain injury, caregiving, memory loss on September 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Oliver Sacks calls Alix Kates Shulman’s latest book “An extraordinary and important book.” I agree. To Love What Is is Shulman’s (author of Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen) account of a life-altering night when her beloved husband fell from their sleeping loft in their remote cabin in Maine. Many harrowing encounters with the health care [...]
Ballenger’s Call for Alzheimer’s Activists
Posted in books, cultural phenom, history of memory, public education, tagged activism, alzheimer's, dementia, history, Jesse Ballenger on July 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Jesse Ballenger has a fantastic article in Newsday today, which contextualizes the lived cultural experience of people with Alzheimer’s, and inviting more activism to insist on creating a valued place in culture for people with dementia. Ballenger is the author of the incredibly detailed and rich history of senility in modern America, Self, Senility, and [...]
Forgetting to be rebroadcast
Posted in books, cultural phenom, film, public education, tagged alzheimer's, books, David Shenk, dementia, films, The Forgetting on June 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Looks like PBS will be rebroadcasting The Forgetting this summer. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, the film certainly has been a powerful tool for raising awareness. The local feeds afterward, which feature more nuanced discussions of the experience of dementia, are very informative and moving. But the film itself is pure tragic [...]
Maybe Dementia Does Sell
Posted in books, cultural phenom, public education, tagged alzheimer's, books on dementia, can't remember what I forgot, carved in sand, stigma, Story of Forgetting, Where did I leave my glasses on June 3, 2008 | 1 Comment »
When I was first pitching Forget Memory to agents, a very successful agent whom I admire a great deal told me that it was a great idea, but that unfortunately, in her experience, “dementia doesn’t sell.” I just got word today that Lisa Genova’s book Still Alice, which she initially self-published, has been picked up [...]
New book on memory by Sue Halpern
Posted in books, cultural phenom, history of memory, science of memory, tagged books on memory, memory loss, sue halpern, what's normal? on May 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
As the population ages, the marker of “normal” in memory loss will continue to shift. There are several books out now that address the worry over memory loss in all its manifestations – from seemingly benign to the significant losses in the dementia experience. The latest entry is coming out this month from Harmony Books, [...]
Outside the U.S. Part 1
Posted in art, books, tagged art and dementia, communication and dementia, dementia positive, John Killick, Kate Allen, Tom Kitwood on April 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I had a conversation yesterday with a friend who had just talked with some of the fascinating folks doing person-centered dementia care in Australia. There is lots of work happening internationally that fell out of the scope of Forget Memory (which is United States-centric), and I start this series of entries to draw people’s attention [...]
Why Block’s Story of Forgetting is so good…
Posted in books, tagged alzheimer's, dementia, early on-set, novels, review, stephen merrill block, The Story of Forgetting on April 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I picked up the book at Kramer’s (another favorite independent bookstore) in D.C. when I was there for the American Society on Aging in March. I started reading in a cramped Thai restaurant (sipping my favorite soup) and finished on the plane to Florida a week later. But the characters are so inviting (quirky as [...]
