Recommended Reading
If you live with a loved one struggling with a condition related to dementia, we recommend one of the following books to help you learn and cope.
The Itty Bitty Dementia Book
The Itty Bitty Dementia Book presents a revolutionary new way to look at dementia. Designed for family members and professional caregivers, this book helps you quickly understand dementia — what it is, how it affects behaviors, and how to become a more effective, less stressed-out caregiver. It includes easy-to-follow assessment tools to help you determine which stage of memory loss best describes your loved one's behaviors and current condition. The tools assist you and the doctor in planning for the next stage of needed care.
Welcome to Planet Alzheimer’s
by Candace A. Stewart
“And that’s where the idea for this book came from. Trying to explain to loved ones how to successfully communicate with someone who has Alzheimer’s disease, so that person doesn’t get angry and defensive, and is allowed to save face regarding their continuing inability to remember things.”
Elder Rage – Or, Take my Father, … Please! How to Survive Caring for Aging Parents
by Jacqueline Marcel and Rodman Shankle
"Elder Rage" is a Book-of-the-Month Club selection (a caregiving book first), receiving 400+ 5-Star Amazon reviews. It is a riveting, often LOL humorous, non-fiction novel chronicling Jacqueline Marcell's trials, tribulations, and eventual success at managing the care of her aging parents."
Still Alice
by Lisa Genova
“Still Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience from Harvard University.”
Creating Moments of Joy: A Journal for Caregivers
by Jolene Brackey
"Jolene Brackey has a vision. A vision that will soon look beyond the challenges of Alzheimer's disease and focus more of our energy on creating moments of joy. When a person has short-term memory loss, his life is made up of moments. But if you think about it, our memory is made up of moments, too. We are not able to create a perfectly wonderful day with someone who has dementia, but it is absolutely attainable to create a perfectly wonderful moment; a moment that puts a smile on their face, a twinkle in their eye, or triggers a memory. Five minutes later, they won't remember what you did or said, but the feeling you left them with will linger."
The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide for Caring for People with Alzheimer's
by Nancy Mace & Peter Rabins
"This classic family guide to caring for persons with Alzheimer's disease, related dementia, and memory loss in later life is now available in this user-friendly, over sized mass market edition. Reissue."
Learning to Speak Alzheimer’s
by Joanne Kolnig
"More than four million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, and as many as twenty million have close relatives or friends with the disease. Revolutionizing the way we perceive and live with Alzheimer’s, Joanne Koenig Coste offers a practical approach to the emotional well-being of both patients and caregivers that emphasizes relating to patients in their own reality."
A Bittersweet Season: Caring for Our Aging Parents – and Ourselves
by Jane Gross
"Here, the longtime New York Times expert on the subject of elderly care and the founder of the New Old Age blog shares her frustrating, heartbreaking, enlightening, and ultimately redemptive journey, providing us along the way with valuable information that she wishes she had known earlier."
The Long Hello: The Other Side of Alzheimer’s
by Cathie Borrie
"A paean of redemptive beauty, The Long Hello cherishes the bond between mothers and daughters, and creates a startling sea change in society's perception of those journeying through Alzheimer's. It is also a book for those interested in the universal themes of family, loss, divorce, and the power of love to find meaning in suffering."
Alzheimer’s Disease and other Dementias – The Caregivers Complete Survival Guide
by Nataly Rubinstein
"As a caregiver, you face challenging situations and conflicting information concerning diagnoses, treatments, coping with everyday activities, and dementia itself. This easy-to-read book will give you the resources to make informed decisions regarding the best possible care for you and your loved one."
My Past is Now My Future
by Lanny Butler, MS, OTR and Kari Brizendine, PT
"A Practical Guide to Dementia Possible Care. What we perceive to be true becomes our reality. If we believe that an individual who has dementia is unable to bathe, dress, feed and toilet themselves, that will become your loved one's reality. Only because you have made it so for them."
Lessons in Simply Being: Finding the Peace Within Tumult
by Carol O. Eckerman
"Lessons in Simply Being is the memoir of a recovering control addict who finds meaning in life after the collapse of all she had clung to. Plunged into despair, she calls upon the skills honed in her thirty-four years as a behavioral scientist and professor at Duke University."
Ten Thousand Joys, Ten Thousand Sorrows: A Couple’s Journey Through Alzheimer’s
by Olivia Ames Hobiltzelle
"This beautiful book is unlike any other personal account of living with Alzheimer's disease that I have ever read . . . it offers patients and families practical insights into how they can live their lives more fully amidst the heartbreak of a mind-robbing illness."- Paul Raia, Director of Patient Care and Family Support, Alzheimer's Association, Massachusetts Chapter"
The Myth of Alzheimer’s: What you aren’t Being Told About Today’s Most Dreaded Diagnosis
by Peter J. Whitehouse and Daniel George
"Dr. Peter Whitehouse will transform the way we think about Alzheimer’s disease. In this provocative and ground-breaking book he challenges the conventional wisdom about memory loss and cognitive impairment; questions the current treatment for Alzheimer’s disease; and provides a new approach to understanding and rethinking everything we thought we knew about brain aging."
Strange Relation: A Memoir of Marriage, Dementia, and Poetry
by Rachel Hadas
"In 2004 Rachel Hadas's husband, George Edwards, a composer and professor of music at Columbia University, was diagnosed with early-onset dementia at the age of sixty-one. Strange Relation is her account of "losing" George. Her narrative begins when George's illness can no longer be ignored, and ends in 2008 soon after his move to a dementia facility (when, after thirty years of marriage, she finds herself no longer living with her husband)."
Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief
by Pauline Boss
"In this sensitive and lucid account, Pauline Boss explains that, all too often, those confronted with such ambiguous loss fluctuate between hope and hopelessness. Suffered too long, these emotions can deaden feeling and make it impossible for people to move on with their lives. Yet the central message of this book is that they can move on. Drawing on her research and clinical experience, Boss suggests strategies that can cushion the pain and help families come to terms with their grief."
The Validation Breakthrough – Simple Techniques for Communicating with Alzheimer’s Type Dementia
by Naomi Feil
"Arguing that as the elderly lose contact with the outside world, they turn inward and to the past to work through unresolved emotional issues from their lives, Naomi Feil presents her method for therapeutically dealing with patients with Alzheimer's and other dementias."
Life in Balance – A Physician’s Memoir of Life, Love, and Loss with Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia
by Thomas Graboys, M. D. and Peter Zheutlin
"At the age of 49, Dr. Thomas Graboys had reached the pinnacle of his career and was leading a charmed life. A nationally renowned Boston cardiologist popular for his attention to the hearts and souls of his patients, he had a beautiful wife, two wonderful daughters, positions on both the faculty of Harvard Medical School and the staff of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a thriving private practice."
Moving to the Center of the Bed: The Artful Creation of a Life Alone
by Sheila Weinstein
"If you have suffered the loss of a partner, either through illness, death, or divorce, and you are wondering how to overcome the despair and depression that has taken over your life, Moving to the Center of the Bed is for you."
Life Worth Living: How Someone You Love Can Still Enjoy Life in a Nursing Home: The Eden Alternative in Action
by William H. Thomas, M. D.
"The grassroots handbook for Edenizing nursing homes."
What Are Old People For: How Elders will Save the World
by William H. Thomas, M. D.
"We live in a society that opposes aging, despite the evidence that each of us is, in fact, aging. This anti-aging bias has prevented us from thinking about old age in a way that feels good or that will create a good elderhood. Removing our ageist blinders, Dr. Thomas provides a motivational and visionary blueprint for old age as a healing force in society."
In The Arms of Elders: A Parable on Wise Leadership and Community Building
by William H. Thomas, M. D
"A doctor's visionary tale about a place where the wisdom of the elders offers timeless moral lessons. The fact that elders contribute significant guidance and knowledge to their relationships is exemplified throughout the book. The importance of community and value of elders being at the core of that community are strong messages of the story."