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| Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife | 
 enlarge | Author: Cathryn Jakobson Ramin
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $6.09
You Save: $7.86 (56%)
New (39) Used (14) from $5.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 226504
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 1
ISBN: 0060598700
Dewey Decimal Number: 150
EAN: 9780060598709
ASIN: 0060598700
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
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Product Description
Why can't you remember where you put your keys? Or the title of the movie you saw last week? Anyone older than forty knows that forgetfulness can be unnerving, frustrating, and sometimes terrifying. With compassion and humor, acclaimed journalist Cathryn Jakobson Ramin explores the factors that determine how well or poorly one's brain will age. She takes readers along on her lively journey—consulting with experts in the fields of sleep, stress, traumatic brain injury, hormones, genetics, and dementia, as well as specialists in nutrition, cognitive psychology, and the burgeoning field of drug-based cognitive enhancement. Along the way, she turns up fresh scientific findings, explores the dark regions of the human brain, and hears the intimate confessions of high-functioning midlife adults who—like so many of us—are desperate to understand exactly what's going on upstairs.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
A sparkling journey through the landscape of memory April 15, 2007
57 out of 59 found this review helpful
Cathryn Jakobson Ramin has written a wonderful bit of storytelling about something we all will face one day -- the loss of memory. Weaving in her own story of mild, but highly annoying memory loss and her search to remember, she provides a snapshot of where science is right now with it's knowledge of the physiology of memory. She describes the drugs that enhance cognitive-function, and gives common-sense descriptions and advice about how to eat, sleep and meditate to improve our minds and memory. Her voice is strong and witty and fun -- and authoritative. Her research has been exhaustive. Although the book professes to be about fading memory in midlife, it is really about that hugely mysterious realm of the mind and what we remember. Read this book!
 Very scary book January 12, 2008
27 out of 48 found this review helpful
I'm not sure which scares me more -- this book or the overwhelmingly positive response of my fellow reviewers.
First, this book can be dangerous because a naive reader might believe, "Most people experience significant, life-affecting memory loss as they age." I can see employers using this rationale to avoid hiring anyone over 50 for a significant job.
Jakobson relies entirely on self-reports of memory loss. "I used to be able to ... and now I can't..." But research shows that people of any age experience hindsight bias and other memory distortions. To be truly scientific, we would need a time series study, where we compared how memory actually changed over time. It's entirely possible that we are simply more conscious of these episodes of forgetting, so they become more salient. If we are told to expect more episodes, we may be creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We also need a systematic way to assign instances of forgetting to aging rather than other causes. For example, Jakobson describes a man who forgot he had taken his car to the repair shop that morning. I'm afraid I don't view this example as a symptom of midlife memory fading.
One of my workout class instructors - safely below age 40 - was telling us to move our mats. "Move your ... um ..." I can recall hunting for my keys since I was a twenty-soomething. And if you ask airport van drivers how many people forget where they left their car, I think you'd get a fairly wide age distribution.
I would expect anyone (of any age) to bring reminders to important meetings when they need to make 5, 6 or even 10 points. That's why so many people carry note cards or use PowerPoint. I've seen 20-year-olds freeze at the podium during a talk. Are these episodes more common as we grow older? I would want to see stronger evidence.
I would also want to see tests for hidden intervening variables. For example, at any age it's easier to remember things that can be placed in an existing context. Experts remember details because they have "hooks" to create association. Possibly as we age we change contexts or find reasons to remember things that lack context. Possibly we get more triggers for Freudian forgetfulness. And possibly we are really just overloaded.
Jakobson gives details of data collection. Apparently her survey resonated with hundreds of people. Yet she ended up with just 200 completed surveys - not very many, as research surveys go, and as she admits, hardly an unbiased sample.
Ultimately I think this book could be interpreted as a warning to be cautious when heeding medical advice. Jakobson describes visiting a doctor who saw patients at 10-minute intervals - and prescribed an antidepressant minutes after their meeting. She warns that drugs can have horrific side effects, including effects on cognition.
Finally, the biggest omission from this book is the influence of socioeconomic status on mental health and memory. While wealthy people do get Alzheimers, many of Jakobson's recommendations require a solid professional and financial base. For instance, those resistant to memory loss have access to mentally stimulating activities - concerts, books and libraries - and continue meaningful work (not happy make-work volunteer activities or endless bingo games).
You can get many memory-enhancing benefits simply by visiting your Humane Society and adding a friendly mutt to your household. But once again, you need the means to live in a pet-friendly home and provide food and care.
No doubt midlife memory loss occurs more than I, for one, would like to admit. But I'd like to see a more rigorous definition of the phenomenon as well as a more scientific estimate of its prevalence.
Got a mind worth minding? Read this! April 30, 2007
25 out of 29 found this review helpful
This book isn't just a timely discussion of an important topic, it's impressively well-written. Ramin wears her (impressive) learning lightly, threading her own experience, and that of others, into a beautifully-rendered counterpoint to the cutting-edge science she's surveying. I was reminded of books like A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SENSES or THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMNA--it's that kind of solid but compulsively readable book.
Even if you're not in personal panic-mode about your own memory, this is a fascinating survey of how new theories and technologies are informing our very notions of awareness and the mind. Prepare to be not only informed, but fascinated.
An Engaging Read April 12, 2007
21 out of 27 found this review helpful
I was surprised how often I laughed out loud at this intelligently written book. I usually read fiction, and this book in many ways was like a good novel. Carved in Sand is engaging, easy to read, yet very informative and funny all at the same time.
REALLY ENGAGING! April 17, 2007
16 out of 25 found this review helpful
I'm only half way through this book but I'm so engaged by it I can hardly put it down. When I'm done reading it, I'll be back to update my review. Just couldn't wait to give it my vote. Pamela D. Blair, Author The Next Fifty Years: A Guide for Women at Mid-Life And Beyond
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