Few families are untouched by Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. Moving accounts of what it is like to care for someone with this disease have already been published, as well as how-to books that offer caregivers advice and information on coping. But this book is the first to provide a comprehensive report of what it is like to have dementia oneself--the subjective experience of living with progressive memory loss.

Each chapter discusses a different aspect of having dementia, from the initial assessment and diagnosis through placement in a nursing home. The discussions are...