All Categories
Product Description Receiving a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease profoundly alters lives and creates endless uncertainty about the future. How does a person cope with such a life-changing discovery? What are the hopes and fears of someone living with this disease? How does he want to be treated? How does he feel as the disease alters his brain, his relationships, and ultimately himself? Richard Taylor provides illuminating responses to these and many other questions in this collection of provocative essays. Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at age 61, the former psychologist courageously shares an account of his slow transformation and deterioration and the growing division between his world and the world of others. With poignant clarity, candor, and even occasional humor, more than 80 brief essays address difficult issues faced by those with Alzheimer’s disease, including the loss of independence and personhood unwanted personality shifts communication difficulties changes in relationships with loved ones and friends the declining ability to perform familiar tasks This rare, insightful exploration into the world of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease is a captivating read for anyone affected personally or professionally by the devastating disease. Individuals with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease will take comfort in the voice of a fellow traveler experiencing similar challenges, frustrations, and triumphs. Family and professional caregivers will be enlightened by Taylor’s revealing words, gaining a better understanding of an unfathomable world and how best to care for someone living in it. Review "Dr. Taylor’s words shed light on a very dark experience and the reader is led out of the darkness by his frankness, his humor, and most of all his spirit “alive within me.” His penetrating and pleading comments related to care giving cause the reader to take a deep breath, pause, and move forward with much greater insight into the complexity of these emotional relationships. Are these innovative words asking too much of the reader? I think not. We have been shielded too long from the mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease; these fresh words compel us to shed our misperceptions and enter into the world of those who command our attention. Through Dr. Taylor’s beautiful language and poignant reflections, we approach some clarity about the long neglected and misunderstood phenomenological experience of those living with Alzheimer’s disease." ― Reviews Published On: 2001-01-01 "This is not an ordinary book. It is an extraordinary collection of anecdotes, ruminations, insights, comparisons, literary allusion and blinding insights. Be prepared to be challenged. Be prepared to reflect on your own human failings and joy at not having Alzheimer's disease. But most importantly, be prepared to read this book." -- Dementia Journal (UK) ― Reviews Published On: 2001-01-01 "Such a personal telling of a tale . . . Part Eric Berne, part Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond, part the final movement of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, this work moves one to tears." -- Doody's Review Service ― Reviews Published On: 2001-01-01 How poignant [these essays] are in expressing life with AD. [This] is a perspective I had not heard before and the insight is invaluable to me as a caregiver for my dad." ― Reviews Published On: 2001-01-01 "After reading this book I have come to the conclusion that this is perhaps the most important book in the field of dementia care ever written … Dr. Taylor writes with passion and humor about a wide range of topics that capture the experience of living with a diagnosis of "probable Alzheimer's disease" … These poignant essays come from the heart and the soul of a sensitive and intellectually gifted man who has become a national champion and advocate for the millions of people living with this disease." ― Reviews Published On: 2001-01-01 "[These essays] have given me lots of insight as to what goes on inside my mom’s mind. It’s h