As an old age psychiatrist, I was naturally interested in dementia. But I’m also trained to doctoral level in philosophy. I’ve been both an honorary professor of philosophy of ageing (at Newcastle) and a professor of old age psychiatry (at Bristol). Whilst training in psychiatry at Oxford, I came across the work of Tom Kitwood. Subsequently, I’ve become great friends with Steve Sabat. His work and Kitwood’s brought home to me the complexity of personhood and its relevance to how we care for and think about people living with dementia. And the more you consider it, the more the notion of personhood broadens out to include citizenship and human rights.
I doubt it’s a mere coincidence that Cahill’s book has the same publisher as the Bartlett and O’Connor book and that it has a Foreword by Sabat. For there is a movement afoot towards broadening the way we see people living with dementia: not simply as biological beings, not solely as psychosocial, not just as citizens in the polis, but now as the bearers of rights. Because, personhood entails that people living with dementia are situated in the legal field as well as the political, and so on. Building on the work of disability rights campaigners, the case for including dementia within the purview of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is given trenchant support. Moreover, Suzanne conveys the urgency of this human rights perspective.
The time has come to further challenge biomedical and clinical thinking about dementia, which has for so long underpinned policy and practice. Framing dementia as a disability, this book takes a rights-based approach to expand the debate. Applying a social constructionist lens, it builds on earlier critical perspectives by bringing together concepts including disability, social inclusion, personhood, equality, participation, dignity, empowerment, autonomy and solidarity. Launching the debate into new and exciting territory, the book argues that people living with dementia come within the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and therefore have full entitlement to all the…
With more than 6-million Americans living with Alzheimer’s, my story is a shared narrative. Because reading creates empathy, I work to widen the perspective of my writing and include voices different from my own. Thanks to neuroplasticity, healthy brains have the ability to keep changing and learning. Each one of these books offers a helpful nudge in a new direction. My essays and articles have appeared in numerous publications including the Washington Post, Luxe, and Variable West, and are listed as notable in the 2019 Best American Science and Nature Writing. I’m currently at work on a second memoir about motherhood and the way travel cultivates a willing acceptance of uncertainty.
The title poem in this collection, (made from lines spoken by the poet’s mother,) manages to embody both caregiver and loved one as Constantine gives gentle structure to a string of seemingly disconnected utterances. Each poem in the book explores themes of loss, memory, and family through a different lens, creating an almost kaleidoscopic vision of the world. The collection is a rumination, a celebration, and a beautiful example of how poetry can expand our perspectives and teach us to speak and hear new rhythms.
As with Constantine's previous titles, Dementia, My Darling can be enjoyed at random or in order. However, when taken in sequence, the poems construct a thesis on life as we remember it from moment to moment. What is your first memory of love? How soon will you forget answering that question?
I’ve been exploring the natural world most of my life as a gardener, naturalist, student, and researcher. I’ve come to appreciate the essentiality of our dependence on plant and other animal life. But I always want to know more. So I try to read across diverse areas of science as well as history, anthropology, linguistics, and archaeology. I want to know the mind of the thinker, the discoverer of ideas, the developer of technology. I want to understand the process of creativity from the view of the artist or inventor. Thus, I seek first-person accounts of scientists, doctors, inventors, as they struggle to understand the world that fascinates them.
The meaning of evolution, the foundation of creativity, the nature of consciousness—nobody can write so clearly and evocatively about these things as Oliver Sacks did over his long and productive career. This book offers a fresh look into the mind of a big thinker. Sacks explores issues and ideas across a remarkable breadth of disciplines. Here, he delved into questions most people probably have never thought to ask about evolution, botany, medicine, as well as the arts. He explores the science and humanity in everything, including his own growing awareness of memory loss. Having read most of his other books, I found this one as new and novel and enlightening as the first I came across decades ago.
From the best-selling author of Gratitude, On the Move, and Musicophilia, a collection of essays that displays Oliver Sacks's passionate engagement with the most compelling and seminal ideas of human endeavor: evolution, creativity, memory, time, consciousness, and experience.
Oliver Sacks, a scientist and a storyteller, is beloved by readers for the extraordinary neurological case histories (Awakenings, An Anthropologist on Mars) in which he introduced and explored many now familiar disorders--autism, Tourette's syndrome, face blindness, savant syndrome. He was also a memoirist who wrote with honesty and humor about the remarkable and strange encounters and experiences that shaped him (Uncle Tungsten,…
During my decades of working with caregivers as a dementia care expert, I have heard many accounts of what the experience is like—from the sad and hollow to experiences rich in significance. Everyone faces obstacles when caring for a loved one; some of these obstacles come in the form of uncomfortable or painful emotional histories or past unresolved conflicts. After each opportunity to raise awareness and understanding about how dementia impacts individuals, their families, and their communities, I have been gratified to witness enhanced feelings of hope and comfort for all involved. It is my hope that through this book I will enter your home or your professional caregiving setting and work alongside you.
The 36-Hour Day is a comprehensive guide for caregivers that is often recommended by physicians to the families caring for a loved one with any cause of dementia symptoms or cognitive decline. I found the information provided very practical on the medical, legal, financial, and emotional aspects of caring for an individual presenting any level of dementia symptoms.
The clinical insights provided were very helpful, and the information for the caregiver throughout on the value of accessing outside help is such an important reminder for them to not try and navigate this dementia care journey alone!
Combining practical advice with specific examples on how to cope with the challenges associated with caring for a loved one with dementia symptoms make this an excellent guide for the family caregiver.
Through five editions, The 36-Hour Day has been an essential resource for families who love and care for people with Alzheimer disease. Whether a person has Alzheimer disease or another form of dementia, he or she will face a host of problems. The 36-Hour Day will help family members and caregivers address these challenges and simultaneously cope with their own emotions and needs. Featuring useful takeaway messages and informed by recent research into the causes of and the search for therapies to prevent or cure dementia, this edition includes new information on * devices to make life simpler and safer…
This story is about love, but it also has an element of mystery. It’s beautifully written and I
actually missed the characters after I’d finished the book! I also love historical fiction, but this is a
little bit different in that there’s a sprinkling of the supernatural.
The author brings so much
emotion to the characters and the story; it stayed on my mind for a long time afterward.
*** A BBC2 BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK *** *** BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME ***
'A fascinating, beautiful, heartwarming novel. It kept me gripped from the very first chapter' -- BETH O'LEARY
In Second World War Bath, young, naive wireless engineer Will meets Austrian refugee Elsa Klein: she is sophisticated, witty and worldly, and at last his life seems to make sense . . . until, soon after, the newly married couple's home is bombed, and Will awakes from the wreckage to find himself alone.
No one has heard of Elsa Klein. They say he was never…
The key to a great contemporary thriller—as opposed to older novels about say, Sherlock Holmes or James Bond—is that solving the mystery reveals something essential about the protagonist. In other words these are character investigations as well as whodunits, where the same action provides revelations in both arenas. It’s what I discovered I wanted to do, when I veered from “serious fiction” to the books I began to write, starting with Presumed Innocent.
Sheldon Horowitz, an aging widower suffering from dementia, has been removed from New York to Oslo, so he can live with his granddaughter, his only relative, and her new husband.
Confused but wily, Horowitz is soon on the run in a country he does not know, hiding the neighbor boy being pursued by the thug who murdered the boy’s mother. This book was a total surprise to me, and seemed an unlikely amalgam of elements that could never work together—but did.
He will not admit it to Rhea and Lars - never, of course not - but Sheldon can't help but wonder what it is he's doing here...Eighty-two years old, and recently widowed, Sheldon Horowitz has grudgingly moved to Oslo, with his grand-daughter and her Norwegian husband. An ex-Marine, he talks often to the ghosts of his past - the friends he lost in the Pacific and the son who followed him into the US Army, and to his death in Vietnam. When Sheldon witnesses the murder of a woman in his apartment complex, he rescues her six-year-old son and decides…
An author of a caregiving memoir myself, I’m also a former magazine and newspaper editor who has had the opportunity to read and write about many topics. For the past five years, I have been a manager and director of AlzAuthors, an online global organization that offers the world’s most comprehensive collection of books and blogs on Alzheimer’s and dementia. To say I have done a lot of reading on this subject is an understatement. I’ve been honored to work with so many talented and big-hearted authors who share their Alzheimer’s and dementia experiences. Being immersed in the Alzheimer’s world through AlzAuthors has given me insight into many of the best memoirs on this subject.
I can’t even imagine having both parents diagnosed with Alzheimer’s on the same day. But Jean Lee handles this situation with grace and devotion. Through her parents’ letters, she shares their love story. Ed and Ibby have a beautiful bond as do their daughters, yet the girls face a challenging road of caregiving that is sad, humorous, and touching, but always a model for how to love well. In Jean’s book, she casts a spell of nostalgia, faith, and whimsy, pulling the reader into a circle of intimacy.
What would you do if both parents were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s?At the time of their diagnosis, Ed Church struggles to his feet, yelling, “How dare you use the A. word with me,” while Ibby wags her finger at the doctor scolding, “Shame on you.”They protect each other, Ibby by asserting, “We’re not leaving our home,” and Ed reassuring, “We’re just fine.”About his driving Ed defends, “I’m an excellent driver, I’ve never had an accident.” When their daughter, Rosie, finds dings in Ed’s car, he dismisses, “Someone must have bumped into me.”After Rosie moves them to assisted living, convinced they are…
I’m a physician and a writer. Together, they create a matrix of practice, research, and writing. I care for patients at the Penn Memory Center and am a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where I teach and study topics at the intersections of bioethics, aging, and the neurosciences. I wrote The Problem of Alzheimer’s: How Science, Culture, and Politics Turned a Rare Disease into a Crisis and What We Can Do About It and the novel Open Wound: The Tragic Obsession of Dr. William Beaumont and essays for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Hill, STAT, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. I raise whippets, and I’m a passionate reader of the physician and poet John Keats.
Among my prescriptions to caregivers – especially those who struggle to find meaning and in creating a typical day that is safe, social, and engaged – is Anne Basting’s book. Basting, a theater arts professor, makes a persuasive case that upends the usual and customary approaches to caring for persons living with dementia. Her central premise is this: Together, caregivers and patients can create. She offers concrete ideas and steps to address some of the most vexing challenges such as when a patient asks the whereabouts of a long-ago deceased relative.
A MacArthur Genius Grant recipient pioneers a radical change in how we interact with older loved ones, especially those experiencing dementia, as she introduces a proven method that uses the creative arts to bring light and joy to the lives of elders.
In Creative Care, Anne Basting lays the groundwork for a widespread transformation in our approach to elder care and uses compelling, touching stories to inspire and guide us all-family, friends, and health professionals-in how to connect and interact with those living with dementia.
A MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, Basting tells the story of how she pioneered a radical…
As an educator, author of children’s books, and caregiver of a loved one with dementia, I felt that I had to write a story about the disease from a child’s point of view. When I became a caregiver, I was struck by the lack of information for children and the misconceptions of the public about the disease. I wanted to create a story that reassures children and gives them guidance on how they can help be a caregiver. I added the Author’s Note to provide accurate information to adults so that more people are aware of the signs of dementia and to build understanding and compassion.
This story shows how an individual who loves crossword puzzles and storytelling can be affected by the disease of dementia.
Elijah notices that his grandmother Eleanor is struggling with language and figures out a way to carry on her legacy. It’s so nice to see this aspect of the disease (memory and language) addressed in a positive, helpful way.
This poignant story from New York Times bestselling author Jason June and #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long reminds us of the life-changing power of words and the ways we remember the ones we love who've been affected by Alzheimer's or dementia. Perfect for fans of Drawn Together and The Rough Patch.
Elijah loves spending time with his grandma Eleanor. She knows all the best words to answer tricky crossword puzzles and to tell the most beautiful stories to her family and friends.
Everyone calls her "Never Forget Eleanor" because she remembers every word she reads and person…
I am a registered nurse, author, and dementia daughter. As a nurse and hospital case manager, I spent many years caring for people living with dementia and their families. This inspired me to write a novel, Blue Hydrangeas, an Alzheimer’s love story. I soon encountered difficulties marketing my book. I reached out to two other dementia daughters I’d met online who had also written books on the subject from personal experience and together we founded the non-profit organization AlzAuthors.com. Our mission is to carefully vet resources – stories of personal caregiving – to help busy caregivers find the information and inspiration they need for their own journeys. To date, we are 300+ authors strong.
Jennifer Bute is a medical doctor living in the United Kingdom. After being diagnosed with dementia she had to retire from her practice and moved into an assisted living facility. Here, she continues caring for others by offering seminars on living with dementia and writing about her journey on her blog and on Facebook, as well as in this beautiful book. Her story is brave and inspiring and dispels many myths about living with dementia.
Jennifer Bute, author of Dementia from the Inside, was a highly qualified senior doctor in a large clinical practice, whose patients included those with dementia. Then she began to notice symptoms in herself. She was finally given a diagnosis of Young Onset Dementia in 2009.
After resigning as a GP, Jennifer resolved to explore what could be done to slow the progress of dementia. She and Louise Morse decided to co-write this book, Dementia from the Inside as a practical resource for those who are living with dementia.
The book tells readers what it's like to live with dementia, how…
