© 2008
Where Did I Leave My Glasses
by Martha Weinman Lear
Reviewed by Dorothy Black
Where, indeed?
Where, where, where? I mentally, then physically retrace my day's activities and get nowhere. In the back of my mind, as always under similar circumstances, hovers the disturbing thought: am I losing my faculties, am I en route to Alzheimer's disease?
Convinced of it, yet unwilling to give up, I look everywhere for the missing shades, finally asking that they be mentioned in our Philly Con meeting. To my surprise, another member says she has turned them in to the hotel's lost and found, and I retrieve them with a huge sense of relief which, still, does not erase that nagging thought - am I en route to.? But no - I am normal, yippee! The book says so!
I had started this book before this experience. It certainly became relevant and my original interest became intensified. The author, Martha Weinman Lear, is obviously "one of us" and cheerfully so, too. (There, I remembered her name! You think first of Martha Washington, then a little man in a wine bottle, wearing a leering expression. Easy!!)
We learn that people's brains shrink about one-half of one per cent a year, starting in their thirties. Part of the brain is involved with storing memories and another part with retrieving them. Unfortunately, that retrieval is no snap because the search-responsible part of the brain is one of the first areas to shrink. Which is normal, we are told. Imagine that!
The book describes normal memory loss symptoms - first, forgetting names, second, multitasking difficulties, and thirdly, as we age it takes longer to process new information. There are many memory-related details outlined and it is pointed out that the key to remembering is to pay attention. We also learn that forgetting is essential in order that we not be thrown into an overload of information. Post-traumatic stress disorder fits in here - there is a loss of the ability to forget.
Types of memory are outlined, and they are interesting as we can relate to many and realize that our own experiences are legion - they are the experiences of others as well. Amusing examples are related such as what may happen when two people tell about a happening they have both experienced, and describe it quite differently. This, of course, brings to mind accident descriptions, which are often in notorious disagreement.
Ah yes, you wait still. Yes, I know what you, also a member of the "worried well", impatiently wait for. Helpfully, the author offers us lists titled "Probably Normal" and "Possibly Worrisome". And they are not at first glance very different. As an example, the first list says "you often misplace things" and the second, "you constantly misplace things and may blame other people." Another: "you forget the names of new acquaintances" and "you forget the names of close friends and relatives". It is the second glance that tells the truth - in which category do you fit? Eight other illustrations are additionally significant. Ponder these choices.
Martha Weinman Lear, has written much on behavioural and medical topics and was formerly on staff of the New York Times Magazine. She has written this book with the help of her own experiences and her own often cheeky humour. But she has also researched heavily and leaned on the knowledge of many experts in such fields as psychology, biology and medicine.
This is an enjoyable book. It is also - lucky us - a comforting one.
WHERE DID I LEAVE MY GLASSES by Martha Weinman Lear
Wellness Central, Hachette Book Group USA Feb. 2008 245 pages
ISBN - 13: 978-0-446-58059-5