Where Did I Leave My Glasses?: The What, When, and Why of Normal Memory Loss by Martha Weinman Lear is a book that could almost be funny if it only happened to someone else. Lear’s research turns up some answers that make memory loss even less funny. She questions of the experts that many of us might be reluctant to ask, fearing the answers. Are there characteristics or traits that make memory loss a sure thing or bring it on earlier than “expected”? And when does memory loss “normally” kick in?  Will we all experience memory loss or are there factors that bring it on and/or factors that can delay it? Is age, or education, or family history a factor? The answers may surprise and perhaps shock you.

BOOK EXCERPT - Chapter One: Say Hello to Whatsisname

Here am I, chasing some elusive name up and down the windowless corridors of my mind—Yoo-hoo, name, wait for me!—and the merry little bugger keeps outrunning me, pausing every now and again just to give me the business, make me think I can grab it, and my annoyance turns to frustration, then to indignation, then to impotent laughter—I? practitioner of words, fumbling around in the dark for a Tom, a Dick, a Harry? How absurd.

I begin the usual lament: “I can’t remember his name, it’s right here on the tip of my tongue, this is driving me crazy, you know, way back when Whatsisname was president, the Contract with America guy, what the hell was his name?” Read more… >>