Another book about Alzheimer’s that I learned about from an interview on NPR. Yes, NPR may not be the best source for news, but it’s still a great way to get book recommendations.

My Father’s Brain is a memoir by Sandeep Jauhar, a cardiologist dealing with his dad developing Alzheimer’s and leading all the way to his death, over a period of about seven years. His father was a renowned professor and wheat geneticist, the author of countless academic papers and books. Intelligent. But by the time he was holding his retirement party, concerns about memory loss were there, and quickly confirmed as Alzheimer’s.

The book alternates between Sandeep’s journey with his father’s illness and discussions of the facts of the disease and what the latest science is. I appreciated this, as often books written by caregivers focus mostly on the caregiving, and not too much on the details of the disease itself. Although he admits he didn’t know much about the disease initially, being a cardiologist, he is a doctor and has the ability to read in depth and understand the journals better than I can. This book was published just a few months ago, so the science is up to date. The other Alzheimer’s books I have that do cover more of the pathology of the disease are older, so some of it might be out of date.

I read this book when it first came out. My mom has died of Alzheimer’s since I finished reading it. She was already in hospice at the time and she was deteriorating quickly. I didn’t have any idea she’d be gone as soon as she was, but I had no illusions that she’d be around for years and years. As I was reading this, I saw it almost as a guide—or a warning—of what was to come. And I thought about his descriptions of his father’s final days as I was sitting there by my mother’s bedside during her final days. I felt like I knew ahead of time some of what would happen. It prepared me in a way I probably wouldn’t have been otherwise.

The book reads like a novel or a magazine article. Dr. Jauhar has a secret dream of being a novelist instead of a doctor. The very descriptive scene setting almost took away from reading the book at times, as it was unexpected in this type of book. It also made me feel inadequate as a writer, because that’s just not how I write. But I feel that’s how “authors” write.

Dr. Jauhar, at least during his father’s struggle with the disease, was very against assisted suicide. Even though his father had expressed his desires to not suffer and linger on if he ever had a condition like Alzheimer’s, Dr. Jauhar fought with his two siblings about trying to extend their father’s life as long as he could. Even in the final days and hours, he was trying to prolong his father’s life. In his interview with NPR, he gave some perspective on why he acted like that. Mostly he was afraid of losing his dad. Now he says he would want physician-assisted suicide if he develops Alzheimer’s like his dad did. I think most people who have first-hand experience with someone suffering from Alzheimer’s feel the same way. I sure do.