Dementia Dimensions

Dementia Resource Center Blog for At Home Caregivers

Book Review

Symbolically linking the passage that a person with dementia travels (along with his/her dementia caregiver) to Neil de Grasse Tyson's description in the series Cosmos, of his dog walking along a beach going back and forth but always proceeding in one direction, the authors of Alzheimer's The Uncertain Journey: Navigating the Challenges set the stage for the significant trials with which the book hopes to assist.
It is easy to see why Creating Moments of Joy has resonated so much and for so long with family caregivers.
According to the 2024 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures approximately 10% of dementia caregivers are providing help to a spouse with Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia.
If your loved one is newly diagnosed with dementia and you are looking for a current (published in 2023), comprehensive book to get you started on researching, we found one to recommend.
Author of Reclaiming Joy Together, Daphne Johnson, states that the book is "to serve as both an inspiration and a practical tool that will allow others to successfully build a Respite Community to honor and care for those families living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia." Having had the privilege to hear Johnson speak in person at a recent New York State Caregiving and Respite Coalition conference, it can be attested that she is pure "motivation" to take on the cause of providing respite to caregivers of people living with dementia.
This memoir will remind you the importance of quality time with your family and the power memory has.
Early on in her memoir Embracing What Remains, Andrea Couture describes her father—at the time a physician navigating his own retirement party—as “a man who had changed people’s lives, saved them, and led a team of proud and energized people.” At the event, Couture hears her father’s colleagues, friends, and even former patients describe him as not only a brilliant practitioner and clinical leader, but as an empathetic one.
Alzheimer's disease is a complex topic for even adults to fully understand, especially because the disease progresses differently by individual and no two journeys are exactly the same.
There are certainly many books documenting the dementia caregiver's journey, both those from personal perspective as well as third-person accounts. However, few could also be viewed as an inspiring love story.