Where did I leave my glasses?

the long version

According to Martha Weinman Lear and the memory experts she taps in the book, the memory lapses that begin in middle age are typically no cause for alarm. In other words: You're normal! In fact, remembering less in later years is rarely a sign of Alzheimer's or any other scary memory-loss condition. It's just a part of normal aging. On her hunt for answers, Lear explores why names are the first things to go and what can be done about it, why we forget certain things on purpose, why we forget more than our parents did, and in which cases our brains are actually doing us a favor by letting go of certain knowledge. Weaving together insight from psychologists, neuroscientists, and evolutionary biologists with anecdotes, Lear explores the whys and wherefores of garden-variety memory loss, and, in the process, offers reassurance and hope to the millions of forgetful baby boomers.--From publisher description.