Martha Weinman Lear
FROM "WHERE DID I LEAVE MY GLASSES?": "...Consider our own memory situations, yours and mine. Here is mine: "Adjectives elude me. Verbs escape me. Nouns, especially proper nouns, totally defeat me. I may meet you at a part, have a long, lovely conversation with you, be charmed by you, want to know you forever, and a day later not remember your name. (Do not feel offended. It is not your problem. However, if you do not remember my name, I promise you that I will feel offended.) "Often I can't remember what I had for dinner last night, never mind what my husband and I discussed while we ate it. But I can report with reasonable accuracy that our dinner table conversations, these days, proceed more or less like this. "`I started to tell you something.' "`What?' "`I can't remember.'" Or: "`Remember I asked you to be sure to remind me to call someone?' "`Yes.' "`Who was it?' "I forgot.' "And those are the better moments... "Among my friends, most of whom have been my friends for decades, it's the same story. We gather in a living room to watch, say, the Academy Awards -- several of us insisting, as we do each year, that we watch only to see the gowns -- and then somebody says, `That actress with the big lips -- what's her name? I always forget her name,' and somebody else says, `You're asking me?' and a third says `I can't remember a thing anymore,' and a fourth says, `Get in line', and we all laugh merrily. Much too merrily. "Because what unnerves us all, of course, is the specter of Alzheimer's disease. `My God, I must be getting Alzheimer's,' we say to one another. With that same edgy little ha-ha, just to show that we are joking. More or less... "...And so, with a pocketful of angst, I went to see the director of a memory-aid program at a major hospital in New York City. He put me through a battery of tests, told me that I showed no sign whatever of developing abnormal memory loss, and sent me on my way. I floated home. The old forgetfulness still drives me batty but, given the assurance that it's normal, I no longer lose any sleep over it. Which seems, in fact, to improve my memory. "Would that we could all relax. There is always the possibility of being hit by dementia. Or by a truck. But the sweet probability is that ours is the kind of normal memory loss that comes with the years. It is one of the various prices of admission to longevity, and when you consider other prices that one might pay, it's the best buy in town. It even has advantages, as you will see..." |
WorksWhere Did I Leave My Glasses? The What, When and Why of Normal Memory Loss
Memory not as good as it used to be? This is the book that explains why – and what to do about it. A reassuring report on the normal kind of forgetfulness (as in: “I keep forgetting names”; “What was I just saying?”; “Where did I leave my glasses?”) that comes with the boomer years, but worries boomers because they do not know that it is normal. Based on interviews with distinguished neuroscientists and psychologists, Lear explores why we forget names first, the crucial upside of memory loss, how memory relates to diet and exercise and gender, why we remember emotional pain better than physical pain, how our memories deceive us, the distinctions between normal memory loss and dementia, evolutionary theories about why we forget, and what science is producing today (it only sounds off the wall) to enhance our memories tomorrow. “Lear writes clearly, personably and gracefully, and her new book deserves to attract many of the ‘worried well’ who want to know more about why they’re remembering less.” –Publishers Weekly “Lear, a former articles editor at The New York Times, strews her chatty and informative book with anecdotes and quotations from scientists. She seems to have met as many neurologists as there are kinds of dementia…” – Associated Press “…It includes new findings from neuroscientists, psychologists and evolutionary biologists; amusing anecdotes; and such provocative topics as the upside of memory loss and why we are actually wired to forget; the differences between his and her memories…and the future of memory enhancement.” – Hartford CT. Courant “If you are one of the millions complaining about remembering less as they grow older, Where Did I Leave My Glasses? will answer a multitude of questions…” – Providence R.I. Journal “The factual and entertaining book explores the issue of forgetfulness – why and when it happens and how we can compensate for it.” – Dayton O. Daily News “This book is witty, insightful and, yes, comforting, and should be on the bedside table of almost everyone over the age of 30.” – Tucson Ariz. Citizen “Oh, how I loved this book! Rarely do you find one that informs as it entertains. Martha Lear does both. I laughed out loud and was reassured to know that when my friends and I forget names (as we so often do), it’s normal!” – Mary Tyler Moore “An informative (and enjoyable to read) overview of our current understanding of how memory changes with normal aging and what the future might hold for memory enhancement” – Dr. Adam Gazzaley, Director, Neuroscience Imaging Center, University of California San Francisco Heartsounds, The Story of A Love and Loss
The portrait of a marriage in which a medical tragedy illuminated all the ties that bind. Suddenly the doctor was a powerless patient, viewing all of medicine from the other side, enraged and astonished by what he saw. Suddenly his wife, the journalist, was both reporter and participant in a frightening medical drama, fighting the medical bureaucracy, the grim prognoses, the fates – fighting for his life. “Engrossing, touching and frightening” – The Washington Post “A testament to the power of human love and the will to live” – Publishers Weekly “Unsparing, proud, so painfully revealing of herself and her foredoomed husband…He is not dead in these pages but alive, gloriously so…so uncommonly brave one weeps through the last chapter for the man who is no more.” – The Los Angeles Times Book Review “It is about loving as much as about dying… absorbing, wild, funny, tender, enraging and absolutely remarkable.” – The New York Times Book Review |
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