Tag: Internal Medicine

‘The Vanishing Family’ Review: Robert Kolker’s Powerful Story of FTD and Hope

‘The Vanishing Family’ by Robert Kolker is a moving look at genetics, dementia, and identity. Photo: Penguin Random House

Book Review: The Vanishing Family: Love, Fate, and the Quest to End Dementia

Author: Robert Kolker

Genre: Nonfiction / Narrative Journalism / Science

The Story

The narrative opens with a tense prologue: after years of delaying testing, 41-year-old Barb receives a lab letter that will confirm whether she carries a devastating genetic mutation. She’s currently the same age her mother, Jean, was when symptoms first emerged.

Oliver and Jean lived in Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania, raising nine children: Kathy, Christy, Sue, Dutch, Mary, Peggy, Scott, Jenny, and Barb. As the older siblings moved out to start their adult lives, Barb remained at home to witness their vibrant mother fall under a dark, gothic spell, transforming into someone withdrawn, neglectful, and entirely unrecognizable.

A Cruel Genetic Mutation

The family carries a rare genetic mutation (V337M) that causes frontotemporal dementia (FTD) with a cruel twist. Striking early, often in a person’s early forties, it causes formerly devoted parents and high-achieving executives to:

  • Lose their jobs unexpectedly
  • Have reckless affairs and take up heavy drinking
  • Shed all social inhibitions and moral responsibility
  • Experience total personality loss, leaving families with strangers

With a 50/50 chance of inheritance, the children face the constant terror of an impending genetic fate.

Alongside this human tragedy, Kolker documents the high-stakes scientific race against neurodegenerative disease. Decades of research into this single family’s rare FTD mutation may ultimately provide the key to preventing and treating all forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Pick up your copy of ‘The Vanishing Family!’

Review

The Vanishing Family unfolds like a heartbreaking psychological thriller as the siblings watch the illness strike one by one: first Christy, then Mary, and beyond. Kolker captures the agonizing tension between love and fear, forcing the family to confront profound questions about predetermined fate, obligation, and identity.

Key Themes Explored

  • Identity and Disintegration: The erosion of character when the brain’s frontal lobe declines.
  • Family Resilience and Devotion: How siblings step up to care for one another despite emotional devastation.
  • Medical Discovery and Hope: The scientific journey to turn a family curse into a cure for millions.

The Science Behind the Story

Beyond the personal narrative, Kolker guides readers through the history of neuroscience:

  • Historical Milestones: From the famous 19th-century case of Phineas Gage, whose altered personality after a brain injury proved that specific brain regions govern behavior, to early diagnostic breakthroughs that established dementia as an organic physical disease rather than a mental defect.
  • The Clinical Battle: A clear overview of genetics, clinical trials, and the decades of frustrating dead ends that have challenged medical researchers.

Chapter Highlights

  • Chapter 10: Barb has been caring for Christy, the first sibling to display symptoms, when Mary arrives unexpectedly. Seeing the exact same behavioral shifts in Mary, Barb realizes with horror that the disease is genetic and that every sibling is at risk.
  • Chapter 11: A deep dive into neuroscience for readers who want the exact mechanics of FTD, Alzheimer’s, and brain pathology.
  • Chapter 20: A crucial breakdown comparing Alzheimer’s and FTD. While Alzheimer’s primarily destroys memory and cognition, FTD attacks emotional processing. Patients lose the ability to recognize their own physiological responses to emotion, causing drastic changes in personality without self-awareness or shame.

“It’s a conclusion with relevance beyond dementia. We most profoundly lose ourselves, it seems, when we can no longer see, feel, or touch the minds and hearts of others.”

Final Thoughts

Overall, The Vanishing Family is a compelling look at family genetics that balances intimate human drama and medical detective work. It’s deeply tragic without ever feeling hopeless, showing how severe illness can reshape a family while highlighting extraordinary resilience.

Kolker never lets complex science obscure the real people at the center of the narrative. For readers who enjoy family sagas, medical mysteries, or popular science, this is an unforgettable read. It serves as a powerful reminder of how much of our identity is tied to memory, personality, and the people who love us, and how hope remains a force even against inherited fate.

“The tragedy is that because some elements of the person are still detectable, the sense of loss is ongoing – like witnessing a living death.”

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

About The Author

Robert Kolker is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Hidden Valley Road, named an Oprah’s Book Club Pick, a New York Times Book Review Top 10 book of the year, a GQ Best Book of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century, and a Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century. His first book was Lost Girls, named a New York Times Notable Book and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2013.

** Thank you to Michael Goldsmith and Penguin Random House for the gifted ARC for review consideration. I haven’t been compensated for this review and all views and opinions expressed are my own.

The Real Cost of the American Dream: A Review of Craig Yorke’s ‘Steep’

‘Steep:’ is the inspiring memoir by Craig Yorke. Photo: Barnes & Noble

Related Post: Book Spotlight: ‘Steep: A Black Neurosurgeons’ Journey’ by Craig Yorke.

Book Review: Steep: A Black Neurosurgeon’s Journey by Craig Yorke

Steep: A Black Neurosurgeon’s Journey by Craig Yorke is an inspiring memoir that explores the sacrifices, resilience, and determination required to overcome adversity. Yorke chronicles his remarkable journey from a struggling Boston neighborhood to becoming a respected neurosurgeon in the American Midwest. What began as a personal letter to his sons unfolds as a candid life narrative: while Yorke has gained immense wisdom, he refrains from lecturing or preaching, and, above all, he refuses to see himself as a victim.

An Uncompromising Opening

The narrative opens with Dr. Yorke taking a middle-of-the-night emergency call for a severe motorcycle accident. Covering Topeka’s hospitals and the surrounding region every other night and weekend alongside his daytime practice, he rushes into the ER. As the nurse cuts away the patient’s t-shirt, a prominent WHITE POWER tattoo covering the man’s chest is revealed—setting the stage for a story deeply rooted in composure, duty, and professional detachment.

This intense opening flashes back to his childhood in Boston, when a young Yorke was rushed to the ER after accidentally eating poisoned bread left behind the refrigerator for rats. Known mostly through family lore, the incident left a lifelong mark, he still recoils at the mere memory of Ipecac.

As the only child of Dorothy and Craig Sr., he grew up sickly, struggling with asthma and a clubbed right foot. Throughout the book, Yorke explores how his parents’ backstories shaped their parenting style, leading into his school years, surgical career, eventual retirement, and the enduring lessons of his journey.

Table of Contents

  1. Stealth
  2. Crucible
  3. Educated
  4. The Better Angel
  5. Fledgling Pillars
  6. Peaks and Valleys
  7. Twilight of Enterprise
  8. New Eyes

Chapter Highlights

Chapter 6: Peaks and Valleys

Yorke detail the launch of his independent practice with a close friend, revisiting memorable cases, including a young neighbor who developed a life-threatening brain clot. Most insightful are his encounters with uninsured patients: while accustomed to delivering difficult medical news, he found himself unprepared for the devastating financial catastrophes his patients faced. Even when waiving his own professional fees, the external medical costs wreaked havoc on their lives.

Chapter 7: Twilight of Enterprise

Here, Yorke candidly recounts facing a legal malpractice suit after failing to diagnose a fractured larynx in a patient. Though the lawsuit ultimately failed, the emotional impact was severe. As Yorke reflects:

“The ordeal was a blow to a kid whose identity was yoked to his confidence.”

Core Themes & Takeaways

Yorke writes with exceptional honesty and humility, revealing moments of doubt and self-reflection that make his story deeply relatable. His path underscores the importance of discipline, education, and refusing to let circumstances dictate one’s future. The narrative thoughtfully balances professional achievement against personal fulfillment, demonstrating that compassion and empathy are just as vital in medicine as technical expertise.

While Yorke’s identity as a Black surgeon in a predominantly white field provides crucial context, Steep ultimately moves beyond a simple critique of systemic bias. Instead, it serves as a raw, honest exploration of the heavy cost of high achievement and the quiet sacrifice required by the American Dream.

At its core, the memoir delivers profound lessons on resilience, identity, and personal reckoning:

  • The Price of Ambition: Success often exacts a steep personal toll, demanding emotional compartmentalization, strain on relationships, and constant self-reliance.
  • Resilience Over Circumstance: Roots do not define limits; discipline and laser-focused perseverance can bridge the gap between systemic disadvantage and elite achievement.
  • Reconciling the Past: True fulfillment requires making peace with where you came from rather than attempting to outrun your origins.

Final Verdict

Overall, Steep is an engaging, introspective, and essential read for anyone navigating their own steep climb. It offers a poignant reminder that reaching the peak is only half the battle, retaining your humanity is the rest.

“We neurosurgeons are caricatured as filled with conceit, short on empathy. And there’s truth in that cartoon. But hubris is tough to maintain while completing and signing your patient’s death certificate.”

Rating: 4 out of 5.

** Thank you to Wes Seely and PR by the Book for my gifted ARC for review consideration. I haven’t been compensated for this review and all views and opinions expressed are my own.

Book Spotlight: ‘Steep: A Black Neurosurgeon’s Journey’ by Craig Yorke

‘Steep’ is the new memoir by Craig Yorke. Photo: Barnes & Noble

Book Spotlight: Steep: A Black Neurosurgeon’s Journey by Craig Yorke

Steep traces an odyssey from a gritty Boston neighborhood to a neurosurgical practice in Middle America. It’s more about the price of success than the weight of bigotry – a story of resilience and self-discovery that will resonate with anyone who has wrestled with their past as they chased the American Dream. (PR by the Book, 2026)

The word “steep” has two meanings: the adjective that conjures a precipitous climb—or descent—but also the verb that connotes a ripening or maturing over time. Both definitions are evident in Yorke’s story, one that will resonate with anyone who’s run from their past, and anyone whose world feels too small.

Get your copy today!

Praise for Steep

“Written with the deftness of a brain surgeon and the ear of a concert violinist, Steep is the unforgettably moving story of one man’s life and times. But it is also a wise and courageous commentary on our time.”

— Cyrus Console-Soican, Ph.D., Professor of Liberal Arts, Kansas City Art Institute

About the Author

Dr. Craig Yorke was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He received a BA from Harvard College in 1970 and an MD from Harvard Medical School in 1974. His parental directive insisted he avenge centuries of bigotry with a life of infinite success.

After a neurosurgical residency at the University of California at San Francisco, he and his wife Mary found their way to an unlikely destination. He practiced in Topeka, Kansas, for 25 years, wrestling with his history and the armored identity it had imposed.

He’s a credible violinist, having played the Bruch G Minor concerto with the Boston Pops at age 17, and hits tennis balls with passion. Steep is his first book.