Alzheimer’s disease, a haunting and harrowing ailment, is one of the world’s most common causes of death. Alzheimer’s lingers for years, with patients’ outward appearance unaffected while their cognitive functions fade away. Patients lose the ability to work and live independently, to remember and recognize. There is still no proven way to treat Alzheimer’s because its causes remain unknown.
Mind Thief is a comprehensive and engaging history of Alzheimer’s that demystifies efforts to understand the disease. Beginning with the discovery of “presenile dementia” in the early twentieth century, Han Yu examines over a century of research and controversy. She presents the leading hypotheses for what causes Alzheimer’s; discusses each hypothesis’s tangled origins, merits, and gaps; and details their successes and failures. Yu synthesizes a vast amount of medical literature, historical studies, and media interviews, telling the gripping stories of researchers’ struggles while situating science in its historical, social, and cultural contexts. Her chronicling of the trajectory of Alzheimer’s research deftly balances rich scientific detail with attention to the wider implications. In narrating the attempts to find a treatment, Yu also offers a critical account of research and drug development and a consideration of the philosophy of aging.
Wide-ranging and accessible, Mind Thief is an important book for all readers interested in the challenge of Alzheimer’s.
About the Author
Han Yu is a professor in the Department of English at Kansas State University, where she teaches scientific and technical communication. She is the author of The Other Kind of Funnies: Comics in Technical Communication (2015) and Communicating Genetics: Visualizations and Representations (2017).
Industry Reviews
Accomplished popular science. Yu delivers an expert account of the groundbreaking research that revealed the genetics and biochemistry of [Alzheimer's] disease. * Kirkus *
Engagingly written and thoroughly researched, Mind Thief pulls together the history, biology, and sociology of Alzheimer's disease. The best history of the illness I have read. -- Peter V. Rabins, Richman Family Professor of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Emeritus, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Yu examines, assimilates, and presents a prodigious amount of information on the complex history of Alzheimer's disease and the scientific work it has inspired. Everything is laid out in a clever, easily accessible manner that makes this information-rich book enjoyable for scientists and nonscientists alike. -- Mary Michaelis, professor emeritus, University of Kansas School of Pharmacy
Yu addresses an important, difficult topic in an accurate, approachable way. Mind Thief offers deeply researched insights and critique alongside human interest stories that dig deep into the study of Alzheimer's. This book will be of interest to scientists interested in the long, difficult struggle to find a cure as well as to families affected by this devastating disease. -- Philip E. Hockberger, associate vice president for research and associate professor of physiology, Feinberg School of Medicine
Yu captivates with gripping tales of individual trials and triumphs. Her clear, concise explanations ... are a master class in science writing. * Discover Magazine *
Of immense value for both the medical community and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the subject, 'Mind Thief: The Story of Alzheimer's' is exceptionally well written and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation. Enhanced for academia with the inclusion of fifty-six pages of Notes, a fifty-four page Bibliography, and a fourteen page Index, 'Mind Thief: The Story of Alzheimer's' is an essential and core addition to community, college and university library Health/Medicine/Psychology collections in general, and Alzheimer's supplemental studies curriculums in particular. * Midwest Book Review *
