Winner of the BMA Popular Medicine Book of the Year Award, this
historical and scientific study of Alzheimer's is a fascinating
analysis of the crippling disease that currently afflicts one in 20
over the age of 65. Shenk looks at both the social implications of
the disease and the scientific theories regarding its cause and
possible treatments. He crosses conventional boundaries by
incorporating the personal, the famous (Ronald Reagan is probably
the most well-known sufferer) and the artistic. There are
references to Emerson, who famously suffered, but also literary
figures such as King Lear and characters in Shaw, Chaucer, Chekhov
and Poe. The writing is complex but accessible and the facts are
liberally sprinkled and surprise as they inform: Alzheimer's
unravels the brain almost exactly in the reverse order that it
develops at childhood; it begins in the hippocampus area of the
brain; it was not until the late 1970s that the public began to
learn about it; and aluminium saucepans are not to blame. The
structure of the book is clear and inventive. Set around a
scientific conference that took place in New Mexico in March 1999,
each chapter begins with personal quotes from Alzheimer's
sufferers. Shenk argues: 'whilst medical science gives us many
tools for staying alive, it cannot help us with the art of living'.
But this is not a downbeat look at this debilitating disease.
Scientific advances are encouraging and Shenk even argues that
there is a consolation prize for sufferers - there is a freshness
to living with things that seem ever new. This extraordinary book
is as much about the machinations and ruminations of the scientific
community as it is about the disease itself. The characters come
through loud and clear. But it is Shenk's unerring humanity that
strikes the reader most and makes this account universally
accessible. (Kirkus UK)
"A remarkable addition to the literature of the science of the mind…Shenk has drawn together neurobiology, art history and psychology into a literary portrait of Alzheimer's perfectly balanced between sorrow and wonder, devastation and awe."
'LA Times'
Jonathan Swift once pointed to a diseased elm and declared 'I shall be like that tree, I shall die first at the top'. And, as our lifespans continue to expand, the illness he so dreaded has reached epidemic proportions. Today Alzheimer's afflicts on in twenty over the age of sixty-five. There are currently around twelve million sufferers worldwide, and this number is rising fast. Poignant and hopeful, 'The Forgetting' is the first book to record the history and explain the future of this difficult, frightening disease.
"[An] absorbing and enlightening book…and an engrossing story."
'TLS'
"A lucid, often moving book with an excellent preface from Adam Phillips…Shenk is a wonderful writer…His prose zings with apt metaphors. He has an eye for the social and financial forces that shape scientific interests and he brings key players, whether proteins or people, to dramatic life."
'Independent'
"'The Forgetting' is completely absorbing, fascinating, the best of writing, thought-provoking, socially important and imperative to read – with the narrative pull of a well-written murder mystery."
AMY TAN, author of 'The Bonesetter's Daughter'
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