Both a heart-rending memoir of a loved one’s cognitive decline and a scientific exploration of the brain

A son's journey through his father's dementia.

As a cardiologist, Sandeep Jauhar is trained to think logically and dispassionately about medical problems, and primed to offer his patients reassurance and solutions. But when his father is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s there are no magic treatments or miracle drugs – only the promise of unstoppable decline.

For years Jauhar watches his father undergo a distressing transformation. Once a prominent research geneticist and author, he now repeats questions over and over, forgets what he has eaten for breakfast, makes baffling financial decisions and turns into a liability behind the wheel.

Jauhar investigates the science of dementia and what actually happens in the brain as we age and our memory falters, uncovering the history of Alzheimer’s from first discovery to the most cutting-edge research, and whether modern treatments offer any hope in a global crisis. A blend of science, history and memoir, My Father’s Brain is a brutally honest and moving account of how Jauhar and his siblings grappled every day with some of life’s toughest questions.