The Memory Bible

June 17, 2002
Nonfiction Notes Growing Older Anyone who has ever forgotten their purse, wallet or cell phone and remembered it while stuck in traffic, or struggled to remember the name of a movie they just saw or a person they just met will find help in The Memory Bible: An Innovative Strategy for Keeping Your Brain Young. Neuroscientist Gary Small says that middle-aged people need to realize that they are "all one day closer to Alzheimer's disease." He gives prescriptive tips for "brain fitness," among them: minimize stress, do puzzles and brainteasers even eat antioxidant fruits and vegetables like prunes and blueberries. Agent, Sandra Dijkstra.

July 15, 2002
Aging baby boomers are becoming acutely aware of their own memory lapses. Is each case incipient Alzheimer's or just a benign "senior moment"? The increase in age-related memory impairment has produced a host of new books on preventing (or slowing) memory loss based on the latest scientific knowledge of brain and memory. In Saving Your Brain, Victoroff, director of the neurobehavioral program at Ranchos Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, challenges the theory that Alzheimer's and similar memory disorders are abnormal responses to aging. Instead, he proposes that age-related memory loss may actually be a natural part of aging. Drawing on his clinical experiences and reviews of some 14,000 research studies, his fascinating treatise explores the evolution and function of the human brain and the many things that can damage the delicate balances that enable us to think and function. The author suggests numerous changes that can prevent memory loss and improve brain function: avoiding even minor head injuries and exposure to chemicals (including pesticides and aluminum in drinking water), increasing physical activity, eating a low-fat diet, and keeping mentally sharp with lifelong learning and other mentally challenging activities while avoiding the mind-numbing effects of television. In The Memory Bible, neuroscientist Small, director of UCLA's Memory Clinic and Center on Aging and the author of Parentcare, has compiled an amusing and informative array of self-tests, puzzles, quizzes, and other techniques to enhance memory performance. He also draws upon current scientific advancements in memory and recommends brain-saving lifestyle changes similar to Victoroff's. Small's approach is entertaining yet practical, and the numerous case histories are appealing, but some of his memory-enhancing techniques (like the "peg method" for remembering numerical sequences) seem too cumbersome to be useful. Both titles deserve a place in aging and self-help collections along with Guy McKann and Marilyn Albert's Keep Your Brain Young, which explores the relationship between brain health and physical well-being in later years. Karen McNally Bensing, Benjamin Rose Lib., Cleveland

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.