Dr. Peter V. Rabins has been studying the brain, and dementia in particular, for a half century, since before most Americans had heard of Alzheimer disease. He founded and directed the division of geriatric psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Over the decades patients have asked him thousands of questions about how memory works, what dementia is, what might stave it off, how to help someone they love.

The questions he’s asked most often he collected into a short book, called Is it Alzheimer’s? 101 Answers to Your Most Pressing Questions About Memory Loss and Dementia. Now Dr. Rabins has updated 101 Answers and joins us to talk about it.