The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI)
Raising Awareness & Funding Research Through Art
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Learn About Alzheimer's
There are numerous resources from which you can learn more about Alzheimer's disease. For immediate answers to questions about Alzheimer's, support groups, and advocacy visit the Alzheimer's Association. For expert and community answers to questions about Alzheimer's and news about current research, visit Caring.com. For the best books on Alzheimer's, see our selections below.
When you enter Amazon.com from the link on this page, ANYTHING you purchase there helps us.
Shop at Amazon!
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
This haunting novel tells the story of Harvard professor Alice Howland as she first suspects she has Alzheimer's through the struggles and turmoil the disease causes for Alice and her family. Written from Alice's perspective, Genova (a neurologist) weaves a story you will not soon forget especially if you have a loved one with the disease.
The Forgetting: Alzheimer's: Portrait of an Epidemic by David Shenk
This is probably the definitive book on Alzheimer's. It is part history, part science, and will give you a framework onto which you can build your understanding of the disease. If you're not sure where to start with your reading, start here. (There's also a video.)
Dancing With Rose by Lauren Kessler
Lauren is a gifted writer. She took a job as a "resident assistant" at an Alzheimer's care facility for five months and wrote about what she did and what she learned. She says it was "the hardest and best work I've ever done." I believe it. My plan was to savor this book and read only a chapter a day. I couldn't. I read it practically straight through. It explains a lot. It helped me understand the dynamics of the facility in which my mother is living. Anyone involved with the care of a loved one with Alzheimer's should read this book, especially if you are contemplating a move to an Alzheimer's facility. So should professional caregivers.
Learning to Speak Alzheimer's by Joanne Konig Coste
I've had the pleasure not only of reading Joanne's book, but of corresponding with her too. Recently, at a lecture she gave in Alma, Michigan, we were able to meet. Her book is wonderful. Her own personal experiences as a care partner are so poignant, and the advice she gives is so important. Don't miss this one. If you are caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's it will help you understand and it will help you cope.
Alzheimer's From The Inside Out by Richard Taylor
This book is courageous, inspirational, and totally compelling. Richard has Alzheimer's. His essays are about his journey through this disease. They will break your heart and somehow lift it at the same time.
Aging With Grace: The Nun Study by David Snowden
This is a tremendous book about a most unusual research project that reads more like a mystery novel than a record of scientific discovery. Yet the discoveries about Alzheimer's that have come from this long-term study are remarkable — as are the women who have dedicated their lives to helping others, even in death.
Where's My Shoes? by Brenda Avadian
This one made the short list because it's real: the author put the book together using her own journal entries, which had been kept daily as her father descended into his journey through Alzheimer's. It's authentic: you can FEEL the anguish and confusion that come with learning about elder care while simultaneously realizing that it is YOUR parent who is in need of help (not to mention realizing how little you know, how ill-prepared you are to cope, and how much help YOU need)... And then there's the title itself: Anyone who has spent any time at all with an Alzheimer's patient has heard their version of the plaintive "Where's my _______" question over and over and over...
(Reviewed by Julie Sefton.)
The 36-Hour Day by Nancy Mace and Peter Rabins
Originally written in the 1980's this little paperback has been updated many times and is the "bible" for Alzheimer's home care. It's pages are chock full of practical how-to advice for nearly every situation from getting medical help, to daily care, to helping the caregiver struggle through it all.
Elder Rage: Or, Take My Father…Please! by Jacqueline Marcell
This is a fast read, written in a unique style (punctuated throughout with humorous movie, television, and pop culture references) by a former VP of a television production facility who finds herself taking care of her parents. Sometimes you just gotta laugh. This book proves that sometimes, just knowing you're not the only one going through this, makes it bearable.
Partial View: An Alzheimer's Journal by Cary Smith Henderson and Nancy Andrews
Short narratives written by a history professor who is losing his own personal history to Alzheimer's are paired with black and white photographs taken of him and his family by an award-winning photographer. The combination is insightful and moving. It will open your eyes and your heart.
When you enter Amazon.com from the link on this page, ANYTHING you purchase there helps us.
Shop at Amazon!
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
This haunting novel tells the story of Harvard professor Alice Howland as she first suspects she has Alzheimer's through the struggles and turmoil the disease causes for Alice and her family. Written from Alice's perspective, Genova (a neurologist) weaves a story you will not soon forget especially if you have a loved one with the disease.
The Forgetting: Alzheimer's: Portrait of an Epidemic by David Shenk
This is probably the definitive book on Alzheimer's. It is part history, part science, and will give you a framework onto which you can build your understanding of the disease. If you're not sure where to start with your reading, start here. (There's also a video.)
Dancing With Rose by Lauren Kessler
Lauren is a gifted writer. She took a job as a "resident assistant" at an Alzheimer's care facility for five months and wrote about what she did and what she learned. She says it was "the hardest and best work I've ever done." I believe it. My plan was to savor this book and read only a chapter a day. I couldn't. I read it practically straight through. It explains a lot. It helped me understand the dynamics of the facility in which my mother is living. Anyone involved with the care of a loved one with Alzheimer's should read this book, especially if you are contemplating a move to an Alzheimer's facility. So should professional caregivers.
Learning to Speak Alzheimer's by Joanne Konig Coste
I've had the pleasure not only of reading Joanne's book, but of corresponding with her too. Recently, at a lecture she gave in Alma, Michigan, we were able to meet. Her book is wonderful. Her own personal experiences as a care partner are so poignant, and the advice she gives is so important. Don't miss this one. If you are caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's it will help you understand and it will help you cope.
Alzheimer's From The Inside Out by Richard Taylor
This book is courageous, inspirational, and totally compelling. Richard has Alzheimer's. His essays are about his journey through this disease. They will break your heart and somehow lift it at the same time.
Aging With Grace: The Nun Study by David Snowden
This is a tremendous book about a most unusual research project that reads more like a mystery novel than a record of scientific discovery. Yet the discoveries about Alzheimer's that have come from this long-term study are remarkable — as are the women who have dedicated their lives to helping others, even in death.
Where's My Shoes? by Brenda Avadian
This one made the short list because it's real: the author put the book together using her own journal entries, which had been kept daily as her father descended into his journey through Alzheimer's. It's authentic: you can FEEL the anguish and confusion that come with learning about elder care while simultaneously realizing that it is YOUR parent who is in need of help (not to mention realizing how little you know, how ill-prepared you are to cope, and how much help YOU need)... And then there's the title itself: Anyone who has spent any time at all with an Alzheimer's patient has heard their version of the plaintive "Where's my _______" question over and over and over...
(Reviewed by Julie Sefton.)
The 36-Hour Day by Nancy Mace and Peter Rabins
Originally written in the 1980's this little paperback has been updated many times and is the "bible" for Alzheimer's home care. It's pages are chock full of practical how-to advice for nearly every situation from getting medical help, to daily care, to helping the caregiver struggle through it all.
Elder Rage: Or, Take My Father…Please! by Jacqueline Marcell
This is a fast read, written in a unique style (punctuated throughout with humorous movie, television, and pop culture references) by a former VP of a television production facility who finds herself taking care of her parents. Sometimes you just gotta laugh. This book proves that sometimes, just knowing you're not the only one going through this, makes it bearable.
Partial View: An Alzheimer's Journal by Cary Smith Henderson and Nancy Andrews
Short narratives written by a history professor who is losing his own personal history to Alzheimer's are paired with black and white photographs taken of him and his family by an award-winning photographer. The combination is insightful and moving. It will open your eyes and your heart.