Recommended reads from PMC faculty and staff

As the year comes to a close, the faculty and staff of the Penn Memory Center offer you their favorite books they read in 2021. Click the book title to learn more and purchase.

Top recommendations

Creative Care: A Revolutionary Approach to Dementia and Elder Care by Anne Basting

“Anne Basting’s “Creative Care: A Revolutionary Approach to Dementia and Elder Care” is among my prescriptions to caregivers, especially those who struggle to find meaning in creating a typical day that is safe, social, and engaged. Basting, a theater arts professor, makes a persuasive case that upends the usual and customary approaches to caring for persons living with dementia. Her central premise is that together caregivers and patients can create. She offers concrete ideas and steps to address some of the most vexing challenges.” — Jason Karlawish, MD, PMC co-director *Check out Dr. Karlawish’s full list of recommended reads

*Click here to see more of Dr. Karlawish’s recommended reads.*

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall

“I’m sure this book is interesting to runners, but it isn’t a book about running. It’s part history lesson, part science class, part thriller, part meditation, part lifehack. McDougall battles a foot injury to learn about the runners from Mexico’s Tarahumara tribe who run hundreds of miles at a time. The inspirational story may not get you to register for an ultramarathon, but it will surely make you reevaluate how you take your next step forward.” — Terrence Casey, PMC director of communications and outreach

The Problem of Alzheimer’s: How Science, Culture, and Politics Turned a Rare Disease into a Crisis and What We Can Do About It by Jason Karlawish

“”The Problem of Alzheimer’s” by Dr. Jason Karlawish is an interesting and immersive read, my favorite from 2021. The book is an engaging and excellently written exploration into the history behind what we call Alzheimer’s disease and the interconnected stories of clinicians, scientists, entrepreneurs, patients and caregivers who have faced Alzheimer’s in some form. Given the ongoing developments in Alzheimer’s treatments and clinical trials, Dr. Karlawish’s book is very timely.” — Michael Duong, fourth-year medical student at Perelman School of Medicine

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

“Atul Gawande is a phenomenal storyteller who captures your attention while bringing to light the challenges of what it means to live and die in America.” — Brianna Morgan, MSN, CRNP, ACHPN®, PMC Clark Scholar

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an America Family by Robert Kolker

“I couldn’t put down this moving story about a family with twelve children, six of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia. The book weaves together the perspectives of the various family members–as patients and as caregivers but also as people–with a rich discussion of broader issues in medicine and medical research.” — Emily Largent, PhD, JD, RN, Penn Program for Precision Medicine on the Brain (P3MB) researcher

Remember by Lisa Genova

“Lisa Genova highlights key misconceptions with memory and forgetting and was very informative in an easy-read, friendly way.” — Alyssa Rygalski, clinical research coordinator

Most anticipated book for 2022

A Molecule Away From Madness by Sara Manning Peskin

“A Molecule Away from Madness“ by PMC neurologist Sara Manning Peskin, MD, MS, will be released on February 8, 2022.

With a blend of history, intrigue, and storytelling, Dr. Manning Peskin invites readers to play medical detective and trace diagnosis from the patient to an ailing nervous system.

Sylvia Nasar, author of “A Beautiful Mind,” called Dr. Manning Peskin’s book “absolutely terrifying and wonderfully optimistic.”

More recommended reads from PMC faculty and staff

A Tattoo on My Brain: A Neurologist’s Personal Battle against Alzheimer’s Disease by Dan Gibbs (nonfiction)

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Family by Patrick Radden Keefe (nonfiction)

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (memoir)

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (fiction)

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (fiction)

All’s Well by Mona Awad (fiction)

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (memoir)

Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan C. Slaught (nonfiction)

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (science fiction)

The Librarian of Aushwitz by Antonio Iturbe (historical fiction)