100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's

By: Jean Carper

Narrated by: Susanna Burney

Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

After best-selling author Jean Carper discovered that she had the major susceptibility gene for Alzheimer's, she was determined to find all the latest scientific evidence on how to escape it. She discovered 100 surprisingly simple, scientifically tested ways to radically cut the odds of Alzheimer's, memory decline, and other forms of dementia.

100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's will change the way you look at the disease and provide exciting new answers from the frontiers of brain research to help keep you and your family free from this heartbreaking illness.

Jean Carper is the author of 23 books, including three New York Times best sellers: Food - Your Miracle Medicine, Stop Aging Now!, and Miracle Cures. She is a contributing editor to USA Weekend magazine. Narrator Susanna Burney is an actress, voiceover artist, and director who makes her home in Seattle. For almost 20 years, she has performed in theaters all across the US, as well as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. She is the founding artistic director of Our American Theater Company.

©2010 Jean Carper (P)2010 Listen & Live Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A wonderful book that appeals to the lay person, physician and scientist alike, with its beautifully outlined 'what to do' approaches to dealing with the threat of such a frightening disease. It is a must read for all of us." (Brian J. Balin, Ph.D., Professor, Center for Chronic Disorders of Aging, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine)

Off to the Health Food Shop!

What did you like best about 100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's? What did you like least?

The book gave good practical advice in easy-to-listen to chunks. It tackled Alzheimers as a problem that could affect all of us, although there are things we can do to prevent it.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

It wasn't actually a story. It was fine just the way it was as a self-help book.

Did Susanna Burney do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

There were no different characters! This is a non-fiction book with practical advice on dementia prevention.

Was 100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's worth the listening time?

Yes, it was. I would listen to ten different points every day, while walking my dog, so that I could 'digest' them mentally.

Any additional comments?

We all need to take responsibility for our health., Being informed is one sensible way to do so.

Worth Listening

What made the experience of listening to 100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's the most enjoyable?

There is a lot of worthwhile information in this book. I have tried a few of these items and can tell they make a difference for me.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Will the real cause please stand up

An interesting version of the round up article. Lots of good information ... probably lots of questionable information. Interesting to listen to. It is a compendium of what scientists think right now about what one could do to sort of bail the brain out by making new brain cells faster than it can leak and sink.

the author repeats herself, and it is not clear from much of her evidence, that it is evidence for anything more than association. An increase in the chance of getting Alzheimer's is associated with eating more red meat. ... but is it a causal association, or do meat eaters also engage in other behaviors and dietary habits that increase the chance of Alzheimer's. If the association is not one of cause and effect then say eating less meat will not affect one's chances of getting the disease.

My favorite was the fact that problems with balance predate Alzheimer's by some years. But does it follow that practicing standing on one foot will heal your brain? Both the dementia and the bad balance may have the same cause.

When listening to this book, one should look for more than something like: "5000 women smoked more and remembered less." Often there is more .. animal experiments and direct observations of human brains before and after the beneficial or detrimental diet or behavior. One should look for these in addition to the association of a substance or behavior with the disease

One should google her references and even look at the clinical studies themselves if possible (They are usually way technical and choked with arcane acronyms... but worth the effort to see what the experimenters were really measuring and how..

There are much better choices re Alzheimer's

Quite disappointing. This book is basically a collection of attention-grabbing snippets you might read in a magazine or on the internet. There are other books that deal with Alzheimer's in a more scientific manner. Better choice by far, read "Outlive" by Peter Attia.

I agree with the overall thesis that Alzheimer's and other types of dementia manifest themselves over decades and can be headed off early given appropriate lifestyle changes. That said, she lost me one minute into the book in the first item.

Alcohol is not your friend when it comes to Alzheimer's. Period. An occasional glass may not make much of a difference long term but consuming multiple glasses each week will not help you on the path to remaining cogent. After hearing that I strongly suspected that half of the book was likely drivel.

A few chapters later she recommends apple juice which has a high content of readily-available sugar. Interestingly enough, a chapter or two later she discusses keeping blood sugar low. Yes, absolutely keep blood sugar low but that means avoiding fruit juices full of sugar and devoid of any meaningful fiber.

The only redeeming thing in the book and the reason I didn't give it a 'one' rating is that some of the points are valid but that hardly makes up for the bad advice.