The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People Who Have Alzheimer Disease and Other Dementias (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book)

The Neurologist who diagnosed my mother with Alzheimers, walked to his bookshelf and pulled out an earlier edition of this book. He sat next to me as I dried my tears and told me that he recommends the book as a matter of routine to anyone who loves and/or cares for someone who has progressive dementia. As I flipped through the pages he advised I buy a copy to reference as our journey progressed. ‘Don’t try to read it from front to back’ Instead flip through and reference as needed. I’I believe it will be helpful over time.’ That was Feb 2024. It’s now Dec 2025. We are coming on one year and this book has been invaluable. My copy has highlights and notations with dates documenting our journey. I find comfort, understanding and practical suggestions within its pages so much so I’ve bought extra copies and have gifted them to others. The book is an excellent resource. Its authors were intentional in its layout and seem committed to keeping their research/insight current. I’ve rated the book five stars but if I could I would have given more.

Great book to help anyone dealing with someone going through dementia. Very helpful tips and resources.

Wonderful book on dementia. I liked you could look up the issue in the back and read a section that applied.

This book was well written and easy to read with only limited medical terminology. I read it in two days (full days) as it’s quite a lot of information. It’s nicely indexed if you don’t want to or need to read it cover to cover and it provides a good overview of the issues a family may encounter. I felt it was a good value for the money spent. I learned a lot from this book that I’m sure we’ll use when dealing with the progression of our elders disease.

This is basically a guide for family members and other non-professional caregivers who are living with or taking care of someone with Alzheimer’s Disease or other forms of dementia. And it’s important to clarify that “other forms” part because as the book makes clear, these are not all exactly the same thing and shouldn’t be treated exactly the same way. Some advice applies to all dementias equally and others are specific to particular variations. Others still vary from case to case and family to family. There’s no way a single volume could contain everything one needs to know about dealing with these insidious illnesses, but this one presents a valiant effort to do just that by offering a good blend of general and specific points of advice and following up with everything you need to know to find the additional resources you will inevitably need if you find yourself in the unenviable position of caring for a family member with such an illness. If I were to offer a word of criticism, I’d say that much of the book’s advice ought to be self-evident (though perhaps some of it bears saying anyway if for no other reason than to help the reader understand that others are dealing with the same kinds of issues) and quite a bit of it tends a bit to the repetitive side. But that may be in part because similar advice applies in the different situation dealt with in different chapters, so if it does repeat itself, that’s because the same formula is equally applicable in multiple places. That said, when reading it cover to cover, one does sometimes wish the authors had dedicated some of those pages to new information instead of repeating the old. Be that as it may, I still consider this to be an excellent book on the whole. Most of my reading about dementia to date has been on the more technical side, so it was quite useful to dive into this one with its more familial and human approach. Don’t get me wrong, it’s one of the most depressing books I’ve ever read. And speaking as a dyed in the wool fan of horror literature, it’s also one of the scariest, without even trying. But it’s not all doom and gloom either. It will genuinely help families dealing with dementia to know at least to a certain extent what to do and what resources are available to them. A word of advice of my own, though. If you’re reading this because you think you NEED it rather than just out of curiosity, read it sooner rather than later. Though it does deal with all stages of dementia, I think people will find it most useful in the beginning to intermediate stages of the disease, whereas by the later stages, people will likely have to rely less on this book of advice and more on professional care. But if you read it early, it does offer some advice on how you should start planning and making arrangements for later challenges.

Doctor recommended this book when a family member was diagnosed. I've not read all of it as yet, but what I have read has some excellent descriptions of types of behaviors that are fairly common among those suffering memory loss and dementia. Suggestions are provided from those who have lived with a loved one suffering with these changes in their lives. Book is aptly named.

If you or someone you know dealing with an alzheimer's patient, this is the book. It was recommended to me, I bought it for a family member. Allows you to search for current symptoms patient displaying and look it up. You don't have to start at the beginning of the book to be a resource.

This book was highly recommended by my Alzheimer's support group. Amazing wealth of information for every caregiver out there.

Recommended to me. This book really helped our family as we navigated news of our mom’s dementia.

my dad was diagnosed and my mum was at a bit of a loss to know what to expect, this book has helped her to know what is next but also with tips from others people on how to deal with the things to come

This is full of very valuable information for families and friends to learn and understand how to cope with dealing with dementia

Has really helped me understand my mum's Alzheimer's. The only negative is it is very American in places so some of advice for getting help not relevant for UK. But gives you an idea of what to look for

This book was very helpful and informative in explaining dementia and strategies for supporting the person with the diagnosis and the caregiver. A very useful initial resource. Would recommend.