Looking for something to read? Below are five books about topics like super-aging, dementia and transforming health care in America.
I Didn’t See It Coming: Scenes of Love, Loss, and Lewy Body Dementia
By Mary Lou Falcone
Mary Lou Falcone says it’s time to put a worldwide spotlight on dementia in general and Lewy body dementia (LBD) specifically, as it is the second most common form of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease and is widely misdiagnosed. As Falcone says in her first chapter, “The arc of life has taken some dramatic turns that I didn’t see coming, and my heart tells me it’s time to share.”
In this memoir, Falcone takes readers on a journey of caregiving that is filled with hope, laughter and tears, making stops along the way for music, romance and surprises. Written to inspire and give hope, Falcone shares in detail her late husband’s struggle with LBD, providing informative, compassionate and inspiring insights into dementia.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Independent Publishers Group
The Big 100: The New World of Super-Aging
By William J. Kole
Journalist William J. Kole explores the looming era of super-aging—incredibly longer lifespans overall and eight times more centenarians by the year 2050—through the lens of past, present and future life at ages 50, 65, 80 and on to 100-plus. What happens to all of us when 65 is a life half-lived?
By 2050, the world’s population of centenarians—those aged 100 or more—will increase eightfold. It’s going to upend everything we thought we knew about health care, personal finance, retirement, politics and more. Whether we’re 18 or 81, this tectonic demographic shift will affect us all.
“The Big 100” confronts readers with both the brightness and potential bleakness of a fate few of us thought possible. As the grandson of a centenarian, Kole guides us on this journey, an optimistic but sometimes fraught exploration of super-aging.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
Preventing Senior Moments: How to Stay Alert into Your 90s and Beyond
By Dr. Stan Goldberg
In Stan Goldberg’s new book, he opens a window into how our brain processes information and shows how numerous scientifically based strategies can be used to simply, easily and independently prevent senior moments that range from forgetting appointments to becoming disoriented.
Goldberg looks at:
- Simple strategies to help deal with the senior moments older loved ones
- may experience
- How to prevent senior moments: play more games, watch fewer cat videos
- Understanding the origin of a senior moment and strategies for prevention
- Creative strategies to recharge an aging brain
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Rowman & Littlefield
Beyond The Walls: Megatrends, Movements, and Market Disruptors Transforming American Healthcare
By Zeev E. Neuwirth
In his new book, Zeev Neuwirth takes the approach of creating a better system, going beyond what’s wrong with American health care and generating optimism about where it can go. A health care executive, physician and innovator, Neuwirth has done years of in-depth research into the factors shaping the present and immediate future of American health care. He shares stories of those behind the movement, uncovering the forces that are driving better health outcomes, more personalized care and lower costs.
In this book, readers will learn about:
- Transformational health care megatrends snowballing within our society, like the digital health revolution and the decentralization of care
- Humanistic movements like senior care, contextual care, whole person
- Market disruptors—megabrands that have entered the health care industry and are acting as titans of disruption, and the partnerships strategy
It All Belongs: Love, Loss, and Learning to Live Again
By Judy and Roy Smoot
“The essence of ‘It All Belongs’ is to help more people allow, even embrace, their grief as necessary to healing and honoring their loved one lost—and to move gently with it, through to the other side,” said Roy Smoot, who lost his wife, Judy Smoot, to brain cancer in 2016. Smoot’s book also offers an intimate window into Judy’s own grief while she travels from devastating diagnosis to the end of her life.
In its special juxtaposition of stories, “It All Belongs” traces the couple’s final four years together, weaving in tools and practices to create an immersive reader experience that approaches end-of-life realities with wit, candor and hands-
on help.
But that’s only half the story. “It All Belongs” then invites readers to journey with Roy after Judy’s death as he struggles to embrace the twin realities of love and grief. He offers a rare window into his struggle, and Roy models the journey through unthinkable darkness to emerging triumphant into a full and abundant life.
