The Forgetting: Alzheimer's, Portrait of an EpidemicDoubleday, 2001 - 290 sider An urgent and moving exploration of the Alzheimer's epidemic, The Forgetting is a dazzling meditation on the nature of memory and self and on the disease that robs people of both. Alzheimer's disease is a demographic time bomb. Since 1975, the number of Americans afflicted has risen from five hundred thousand to five million; over the next fifty years, an estimated eighty to "one hundred million more people worldwide will succumb to it. But it is the story behind these numbers that makes The Forgetting such a landmark work. A magnificent synthesis of history, science, politics, psychology, and profound human drama, the book explores the nature of a disease that attacks not merely memory but the very core of our human identity. Delving into such diverse areas as art history, literature, genetics, and neurobiology, David Shenk shows that Alzheimer's particular terror, the gradual eradication of memory and of mind is as old as humankind itself. He convincingly posits that such historical figures as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jonathan Swift and Frederick Law Olmstead were caught in the disease's insidious grip. Moving portraits of contemporary patients, their families, and their caregivers drive home the sad pattern of regression Alzheimer's exacts, a pathology that eerily mirrors child development in reverse. Yet Shenk offers a well of empathy and understanding for families striving to better understand and come to terms with their loss. With equal mastery Shenk charts the complicated race to find a cure. As scientists pursue a treatment worth billions of dollars, the brutal competition among them poses a serious threat to the traditional ethic of sharing vital research. Butthere "are heartening signs of progress, and for the first time there is excitement among scientists that a cure may indeed be possible. Shenk eloquently calls Alzheimer's "death by a thousand subtractions." The Forgetting is at once a powerful examination of what this means and a forthright discussion of the impact this epidemic will have on the life of every reader. |
Fra bogen
Resultater 1-3 af 33
Side 34
... cause ( 15 percent ) of senile dementia after Alzheimer's ( 60 percent ) . Multi- infarct dementia is caused by a series of tiny strokes . Its victims can have much in common with those of Alzheimer's , but the experience is not as much ...
... cause ( 15 percent ) of senile dementia after Alzheimer's ( 60 percent ) . Multi- infarct dementia is caused by a series of tiny strokes . Its victims can have much in common with those of Alzheimer's , but the experience is not as much ...
Side 73
... caused by cerebral arteriosclerosis , the slow buildup of fat in the brain's arteries over time . Medical schools in ... Cause unknown . Senile dementia- A relatively common condition affecting the elderly ( sixties and older ) , caused ...
... caused by cerebral arteriosclerosis , the slow buildup of fat in the brain's arteries over time . Medical schools in ... Cause unknown . Senile dementia- A relatively common condition affecting the elderly ( sixties and older ) , caused ...
Side 151
... cause or causes of the other 95 percent of cases were not so clear . Much emerging evidence supported a theory that the dis- ease is " multifactorial " -caused by an unfortunate accumulation of genes and environmental factors ...
... cause or causes of the other 95 percent of cases were not so clear . Much emerging evidence supported a theory that the dis- ease is " multifactorial " -caused by an unfortunate accumulation of genes and environmental factors ...
Indhold
The God Who Forgot and the | 44 |
The Race | 62 |
Irrespective of | 72 |
Copyright | |
14 andre sektioner vises ikke
Andre udgaver - Se alle
Almindelige termer og sætninger
ability Alois Alzheimer aluminum Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's patients Alzheimer's research Alzheimer's sufferers amyloid animals Auguste D become begin beta-amyloid blood-brain barrier brain called caregivers cause cells century cerebral cortex children's children's children's clinical cortex create death decades decline doctor drug early elderly Emil Kraepelin experience finally forget friends function genes genetic Glenner Greta hippocampus human ideas imagine important Khachaturian Kooning Kooning's Kraepelin later live lobes longer look lost mice mind molecules Morris neurons never Olshansky parietal lobe percent perhaps person Pete Kelly's Blues plaques and tangles problem progress protein Prusiner Ralph Waldo Emerson Reagan recalled remember Roses Schenk scientists seemed senile dementia someone Stanley Prusiner Swift symptoms Syndrome talk Taos temporal lobe thing thought thousand tion turn understand University vaccine Viktor Frankl wife words wrote York