In Pursuit of Memory

The Fight Against Alzheimer's

By: Joseph Jebelli

Narrated by: Thomas Judd

Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

For readers and listeners of Atul Gawande, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Henry Marsh, a riveting, gorgeously written biography of one of history's most fascinating and confounding diseases - Alzheimer's - from its discovery more than 100 years ago to today's race toward a cure.

Short-listed for the Royal Society Science Book Prize 2017
Named "Science Book of the Month" by Bookseller

Alzheimer's is the great global epidemic of our time, affecting millions worldwide - there are more than five million people diagnosed in the United States alone. And as our population ages, scientists are working against the clock to find a cure.

Neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli is among them. His beloved grandfather had Alzheimer's, and now he's written the book he needed then - a very human history of this frightening disease. But In Pursuit of Memory is also a thrilling scientific detective story that takes you behind the headlines. Jebelli's quest takes us from 19th-century Germany and postwar England to the jungles of Papua New Guinea and the technological proving grounds of Japan; through America, India, China, Iceland, Sweden, and Colombia. Its heroes are scientists from around the world - many of whom he's worked with - and the brave patients and families who have changed the way that researchers think about the disease.

This compelling insider's account shows vividly why Jebelli feels so hopeful about a cure but also why our best defense in the meantime is to understand the disease. In Pursuit of Memory is a clever, moving, eye-opening guide to the threat one in three of us faces now.

©2017 Joseph Jebelli (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

" In Pursuit of Memory is a remarkable combination of fine writing, personal honesty, and deep scientific insight - about a devastating and baffling disease that is becoming all too common. Jebelli weighs up all the evidence and all the theories about Alzheimer's and even allows us a glimpse of optimism about a cure." (Matt Ridley)

"A moving, sober and forensic study of the past, present and future of Alzheimer's from the point of view of a neurologist who has lived with the disease, at home and in the lab, from a very young age. The story Jebelli tells illustrates the tantalizing mystery of Alzheimer's: it's both highly visible yet agonizingly elusive...a timely analysis [that] might give comfort." ( Observer)

"An elegant and precise writer, Jebelli follows every lead for a cure with the panache of a detective novelist, giving readers much to hope for despite the devastation Alzheimer's has left in its wake. Based on his meticulous and wide-ranging research, he makes a convincing argument that Alzheimer's will be defeated in the decades to come. Jebelli analyzes every facet of Alzheimer's with personal empathy and scientific rigor, a combination that makes for enthralling reading." ( Kirkus)

Excellent

This was one of the most interesting, well researched books i have read on the subject.

Hopeless and dry

Frankly, this book made me want to crawl under a rock and hide. It left me feeling hopeless and sad.