Book Review
Dementia and Memory: A Handbook for Students and Professionals
Simon B Thompson
ISBN: 978-0-7546463-3-4; 2006; 235 pages; Ashgate Publishing;
Bruce Barber
Research Fellow, National Ageing Research Institute, Parkville VIC
The back cover of this book claims it to be ‘invaluable to students, healthcare practitioners, clinical psychologists and medical practitioners’ and a glance through the contents list is promising. Unfortunately, production faults and a notable lack of reference to current research and practice undermine the book. The production faults are elementary but substantial. Firstly, whole sections of text appear more than once. For example, paragraphs on pp.4-5 are repeated verbatim on pp.12-13 then again on pp.141-143. Similar reiterations of large sections of text occur several times. At best this problem suggests that the book was not edited. At worst, it suggests that it is a hasty cut and paste job. Secondly, numerous references are cited but not included in the bibliography. There are about 20 examples of this between pp.26–33 and further examples appear throughout the book. Thirdly, despite being published in 2006, very few publications from the last 10 years are drawn upon. A quick search of just one database shows that more than 5000 peer-reviewed research articles were published between 1996 and 2006 on the subject of dementia and memory.
That so little recent research informs the content of this book would seem to be a serious deficit. For example, Baddeley’s Working Memory Model is central to the author’s explanation of memory functions in dementia but both the text information and the schematic representation of the model (presented twice in two successive chapters) are, in the main derived, from 1992 or earlier, ignoring subsequent developments of the model. Similarly, Lewy Body and fronto-temporal dementias are barely mentioned. Even if this were just a matter of nomenclature it is problematic given that they are currently estimated to be the third and fourth most common presenting forms of dementia.
The author has clearly accumulated considerable knowledge and expertise in the field of dementia and memory so it is was a disappointment for this reviewer to discover that the book’s deficits far outweigh the positive attributes. Students, healthcare practitioners, clinical psychologists and medical practitioners are advised to pursue book and electronic resources that have contemporary content.
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