Reply to: Did anyone watch the Terry Pratchett Program?

[bobspud]

I'm looking into it as early onset can be hereditary and it aint a pleasant death.

Very true...

I watched my nan die of this illness, it started when I was 9 and took a further 9 years to finally get her.
The really horrible part of it, is watching the stress rip the rest of your family apart. My grandfather cared for her for as long as he could until he eventually had a stroke. We ended up having to bring him home to live with us. Unfortunately we put my nan into a home, where she continued to receive first class care and love. It added years to her life all the time the disease ate away into her taking more and more of her away from us.

She would go on pirates adventures and end up being found in 1980's Brixton at 3 in the morning sitting on night bus with a purse full of cash and her bus pass no one ever touched her...

Watching the programme was almost unbearable as I have an all too real knowledge of where he will end up in his journey. To curse a man that lives for his intellect with this end is proof for me, that if a god ever existed he moved in with Satan years ago...

[Churchill]

I'm looking into it as early onset can be hereditary and it aint a pleasant death.

Most EMI patients who have the condition don't even know about it.

[norrahe]

Yikes. Are there any early detection tests they can do... or even statistics to say how at risk you are?

Raises the question... if it were something you could test for when young, would you want to know?

I'm looking into it as early onset can be hereditary and it aint a pleasant death.

[d000hg]

Yep.

I found the program quite depressing considering 2 of my relatives have died recently from alzheimers related ilnesses (early onset) and another uncle has just been diagnosed.

Yikes. Are there any early detection tests they can do... or even statistics to say how at risk you are?

Raises the question... if it were something you could test for when young, would you want to know?

[norrahe]

Part 2 is on tomorrow (Wednesday) - I think

Yep.

I found the program quite depressing considering 2 of my relatives have died recently from alzheimers related ilnesses (early onset) and another uncle has just been diagnosed.

[Pogle]

Part 2 is on tomorrow (Wednesday) - I think

[d000hg]

And on the subject of the TV program... how did he get 6 monitors running on what I presume was a Windows PC (he mentioned MSOffice)? I can't decide if I would be able to use a 2nd row of monitors, or if it would make my neck hurt.

[d000hg]

But the universe we already have is infinitely diverse. Even the world we inhabit has too many stories to tell.

Fantasy writing is ok if that's your thing but surely you realise why it is not considered 'top drawer' literature when real life offers so many stories and challenges to the writer?

Tolkein's pretty well respected... of course some critics dislike any book you care to mention... sure you can say infinitely many stories can be set in the real world but so what? Books are considered great (by me) if the plot is original and interesting, the characters are well-developed and the actual implementation (the way it's written) draws me in and captivates me. Books are entertainment to me, not art.


It's an interesting subject but can we discuss it somewhere else... was hoping we might keep this thread focused either on Alzheimer's itself or the TV program, not TP's books.

[Board Game Geek]

real life offers so many stories and challenges to the writer?

You need to let go of the mundanity and boringness of real life, before it gets a hold on you, bogey. Otherwise you will grow old before your time.

Real life will never contend with ideas of the imagination, given life by a skilled author.

[bogeyman]

All comes down to personal taste... you see rehashed ideas, I see a series of interesting stories involving the same characters set in the same universe. Certainly wouldn't claim his writing is incredible, or even the plots, but it's nice to read a new book where you already know many of the characters - and the universe he created is kind of cool.

But the universe we already have is infinitely diverse. Even the world we inhabit has too many stories to tell.

Fantasy writing is ok if that's your thing but surely you realise why it is not considered 'top drawer' literature when real life offers so many stories and challenges to the writer?

[Pogle]

All comes down to personal taste... you see rehashed ideas, I see a series of interesting stories involving the same characters set in the same universe. Certainly wouldn't claim his writing is incredible, or even the plots, but it's nice to read a new book where you already know many of the characters - and the universe he created is kind of cool.

I concur

[d000hg]

I'll probably make myself (more) unpopular now, but I think his books are drivel.

Much the same idea as the late Douglas Adams. It's formulaic: Take one idea/joke/conceit and beat it wafer thin over several million words.

All comes down to personal taste... you see rehashed ideas, I see a series of interesting stories involving the same characters set in the same universe. Certainly wouldn't claim his writing is incredible, or even the plots, but it's nice to read a new book where you already know many of the characters - and the universe he created is kind of cool.

[bogeyman]

Works for CUK.

What's with your av prawn?

Some creepy old geezer feeling up some uninterested bird.

What's it all about?

Please revert to your customary crustacean form.

[bogeyman]

Which ones have you read, out of interest? The early books aren't nearly as good as the later ones. Though I think "The Unadulterated Cat" is one of his best.

I liked his comment as he went on stage at the fanfest "My name is..." (reaches for piece of paper).

Strata, Dark Side of the Sun when I was young and the first couple of books in the Discworld series. Rapidly lost interest. Even at 15 I could see it was lazy pretentious crap.

[moorfield]

Very interesting, I didn't know that variant of Alzheimer's even existed. Not a very cheery program, and I don't even know anyone who suffers.

Really interesting, and good to see someone like him raising awareness and donating to the cause etc. etc. but WTF were the old blokes dressed as Greeks all about ??? That lost me completely.