The Thousand Mile Stare: Our Family's Journey Through the Struggle and Science of Alzheimer's

Gary Reiswig has written a beautiful book that combines current scientific information about Alzheimer's disease with poignant descriptions of individual and family responses to this illness over several generations. It is crafted in a responsible and loving way. I have worked for many years with both Alzheimer patients and their families and this book captures the unique challenges faced by all. Reiswig provides useful information as well as invites us into his very personal relationship with this disease throughout his life.

Gary Reiswig has written a terrific book! The Thousand Mile Stare is both the personal story of one Oklahoma family who, for generations, have suffered a sword of Damocles gene for early onset Alzheimer's disease. So many of the Reiswigs have been struck by and died of Alzheimer's, that they became the subjects of genetic studies to find the cause. Gary, a wonderful writer, artfully mixes what is known currently by the medical and scientific community, with his personal story; watchinging his father and uncles die difficult and painful deaths of the disease. This was before anyone in the family really understood that it was a disease, and not just that these folks were "dotty" or forgetful. Fascinating, moving and beautifully written. Bravo Mr. Reiswig!

Even though I'm part of this family, Gary's book helped me understand Alzheimer's from a different point of view. I too lived with it in my childhood. This book is interesting, and very hard to put down.

This unusually poignant and informative memoir skilfully executes the fairly difficult tightrope act of threading a personal story with a scientific one. The unusual and invariably lethal form of early onset Alzheimer's disease affecting the author's family (onset comes as early as the late 30s in affected members of the family) is the root point for a narrative that shoots off in various directions and through various points in time. The narrative smoothly segues between an account of the evolving scientific understanding of this disease and the truly heart-wrenching story of how this family has been decimated by an autosomal dominant gene. As the survivor and unaffected sibling of his immediate family, Reiswig seems to have finally worked through his guilt at surviving to come to be conscious of, and to terms with, a feeling of responsibility to his affected and at-risk cousins, nieces and nephews, grandchildren and other relatives, as well as a larger political and social responsibility. The story of the author's redemption in the face of such a daunting emotional weight is just as powerful as the larger story he tells. Unique both because of what it tackles and in terms of its unusual but rewarding structure, this book should be sought out by all who are interested in the topic of degenerative disease as well as any who crave a literary memoir of deft ability.

I had read a "draft" of this book prior to publication and rated it then as a "book one could just not put down". I got my copy the day before leaving for a WORK - CRUISE [where we train employees from our 25 world offices - held on a cruise ship .... eg. less expensive that flying them all into headquarters AND we spend more quality time together, including "class / seminars" on ship]. I took the book with me, but was so busy, I did not get it out until waiting at LAX airport for flight home. I pulled it out, started reading, and continued reading on the 3 hour plane trip to Dallas..........again I could NOT put it down. This is a tremendous story, and TRUE, as I and my wife, Dr. Linda Miner, worked with this family from 1972 through the late 1990's, helping them get connected to the right medical and research facilities. I read VERY FEW books, even though I'm an author myself ..... and can say that this is the FIRST BOOK I've read "in one sitting" and COMPLETED, for years !!!!! Great