My Father's Brain: Life in the Shadow of Alzheimer's

Sandeep Jauhar

Apr 2023 · Sold by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

About this ebook

Named a best book of the year by The New Yorker | A Smithsonian top ten science book of 2023 | One of AARP magazine's favorite books of 2023

“Blending the humor, compassion, and absorbing family drama of first-rate memoir with expert science writing, [Sandeep Jauhar] has composed a can’t-miss introduction to what has been called the Age of Alzheimer’s.” —Sanjay Gupta, author of Keep Sharp and World War C

A deeply affecting memoir of a father’s descent into dementia, and a revelatory inquiry into why the human brain degenerates with age and what we can do about it.

Almost six million Americans—about one in every ten people over the age of sixty-five—have Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia, and this number is projected to more than double by 2050. What is it like to live with and amid this increasingly prevalent condition, an affliction that some fear more than death? In My Father’s Brain, the distinguished physician and author Sandeep Jauhar sets his father’s struggle with Alzheimer’s alongside his own journey toward understanding this disease and how it might best be coped with, if not cured.

In an intimate memoir rich with humor and heartbreak, Jauhar relates how his immigrant father and extended family felt, quarreled, and found their way through the dissolution of a cherished life. Along the way, he lucidly exposes what happens in the brain as we age and our memory falters, and explores everything from ancient conceptions of the mind to the most cutting-edge neurological—and bioethical—research. Throughout, My Father’s Brain confronts the moral and psychological concerns that arise when family members must become caregivers, when children’s and parents’ roles reverse, and when we must accept unforeseen turns in our closest relationships—and in our understanding of what it is to have a self. The result is a work of essential insight into dementia, and into how scientists, caregivers, and all of us in an aging society are reckoning with the fallout.

Ratings and reviews

This is an amazing read. I found this book on Internet and had a look at it just by curiosity, since I'm navigating a similar situation with my dad. The book simply drew me in, I was unable to read anything else. It tells the story of the author's father disease but not in a factual or cold medical way. I loved the literary style. And by reading the book I highlighted passages that I experienced too. It was astonishing to see how many there were, leaving me with the feeling that I am not alone. I particularly liked that it not only talked about the development of his father's Alzheimer, but also how it affected the others around him - their love but also the physical or emotional burnout, the indecisiveness in big questions, denial, sometimes dark thoughts, guilt and so on. For me reading this was a kind of therapy, helping my grief as I navigate my own dad's Alzheimer and it would deserve to be recommended as lecture for concerned families by dementia homes, doctors and nurses.

About the author

Sandeep Jauhar is the bestselling author of three acclaimed books, Intern, Doctored, and Heart: A History, which was named a best book of 2018 by Science Friday, The Mail on Sunday, and the Los Angeles Public Library, and was a PBS NewsHour / New York Times book club pick; it was also a finalist for the 2019 Wellcome Book Prize. A practicing physician, Jauhar writes regularly for the opinion section of The New York Times. His TED Talk on the emotional heart was one of the ten most watched of 2019.