neurotaylor

The strange, hopeful science of dementia

Later this week my new book The Fragile Brain is due to be published by Oxford University Press.

The Fragile Brain was the most difficult project I have ever attempted. Dementia science is exceptionally complicated, even by the high standards of brain research. I have done my best to distill down a vast literature and to explain the intricate web of findings as clearly as possible.

I hope that readers will find the book useful – and also encouraging, because I do think that we are approaching something of a golden age for dementia research. Funding is rising, as is public awareness, while dementia rates may be falling at last. New techniques are accelerating the science. New treatments – after a long list of failures – are finally emerging.

The Fragile Brain was written in part to provide a lucid summary of a tough but important topic. It also arose from my own need to know more about dementia and other age-related brain conditions. Like very many other people, I have recently had personal experience of how these illnesses can stress and torment a family. That history was always in my thoughts as I wrote the book. If you are affected directly or indirectly by dementia, your experience will likely weigh heavily on your mind. I wish you well.