June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month. According to the Alzheimer’s Association website, over 55 million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Dementia is defined by the National Institute on Aging as a loss of thinking, remembering, and reasoning skills. Contrary to popular belief, dementia is not a normal part of aging. It is caused by damage to or loss of nerve cells and their connections. Symptoms can be cognitive, psychological, or both, and may include changes that exceed memory loss, such as getting lost when driving, problems with reasoning or performing complex tasks, changes in speech and/or changes in personality.
The Alzheimer’s Association has a list of 10 Healthy Habits, and they reassure us that it’s never too early or too late to start taking care of your brain health. Want to take a guess what the first item on their list is? CHALLENGE YOUR MIND! And where is a great place to challenge your mind? At the library, of course! Not only can you check out books, ebooks and audiobooks, you can use a computer, go to a class, watch a performance, or even sign up to volunteer with one of our Friends of the Library groups. Our calendar of events is easy to access online, or ask a staff member at any branch to fill you in.
Reading about any topic is good for your brain, but we also have a number of books about stimulating your brain, as well as puzzles and games. Here are some newer titles for YOUR brain:
- The Ageless Brain: How to Sharpen and Protect Your Mind for a Lifetime by Dale E. Bredesen (2025)
- The DOSE Effect: Optimize Your Brain and Body by Boosting Your Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin and Endorphins by Tj Power (2025)
- The Ideological Brain: The Radical Science of Flexible Thinking by Leor Zmigrod (2025)
- Reversing Alzheimer’s: The New Toolkit to Improve Cognition and Protect Brain Health by Heather Sandison (2024)
- Mind Magic: The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How it Changes Everything by James R. Doty (2024)
- Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness by Renée Fleming, ed. (2024)
- Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold on to What Matters by Charan Ranganath (2024)
- Memory Activity Book: Engaging Ways to Stimulate the Brain, for People Living with Memory Loss or Dementia by Helen Lambert (through AARP) (2018)
In the Dewey Decimal system, games and puzzle books are found in the 793 area. The library also has a collection of board games for checkout.
New at the Library
Fiction
- The Traitor of Sherwood Forest by Amy S. Kaufman
- How to Have a Killer Time in D.C. by Sam Lumley
- Ghost Station by S. A. Barnes
Nonfiction
- The Hebridean Baker: The Scottish Cookbook by Coinneach MacLeod
- Edgar Allan Poe: A Life by Richard Kopley
- Rethinking Medications: Truth, Power, and the Drugs You Take by Jerry Avorn
Children
- These are My Rocks: A Story about Collecting by Bethan Woollvin
- What a Garden Needs by Katherine Chu
- Candle Island by Lauren Wolk
