🏅 2026 Readers’ Choice Book Award Winner – Silver medal in Adult Nonfiction

What if the most important lessons about dementia care came from those living with it?

When someone you love is diagnosed with dementia, it’s easy to focus on what is being lost. But what if there is another way to see the journey?

In Looking Past Dementia, dementia educator and former memory care coordinator Marysue Moses invites readers to look beyond the diagnosis to discover the person who remains. Drawing on more than twenty years of experience, as well as her own family’s journey with dementia, she shares powerful true stories that reveal the humanity, resilience, humor and love that continue to exist long after memory begins to fade.

Rather than offering a clinical explanation of dementia, this compassionate guide helps readers understand what life may feel like for those living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Through memorable stories and practical insights, Marysue demonstrates how small changes in perspective can transform everyday interactions, strengthen relationships, and improve the quality of life for everyone involved.

Inside, you’ll discover how to:

• Communicate with greater empathy and confidence
• Respond more effectively to confusion, wandering and behavioral changes
• Create meaningful moments of connection and engagement
• Recognize the abilities, emotions and strengths that remain
• Find encouragement and hope during the challenges of caregiving

Whether you are caring for a spouse, parent, family member or friend, or you work professionally in dementia care, Looking Past Dementia offers practical guidance, heartfelt encouragement and a refreshing perspective that will change the way you think about dementia. By learning to look beyond the diagnosis, you will discover new opportunities for connection, purpose and joy—for the person living with dementia and for yourself.

What Others Are Saying

Looking Past Dementia offers a much-needed new vision of caring for people living with dementia. With its compelling stories and solid advice gleaned from Marysue Moses’s long career working in memory care settings, this book could take the place of hours of dull lectures about dementia. As I read it, I imagined sending a copy to every person working in memory care, including administrators and marketing people, activities directors, nurses, CNAs, cooks, housekeepers, maintenance people, etc. I also thought about the many family caregivers I know who could use a gentle reminder that people living with dementia don’t lose the ability to give and receive love. This beautiful work reverberates with messages of hope and offers multiple examples of how joy and meaning can be retained when we honor the humanity of people living with dementia by “looking past” their brain changes and acknowledging they have much to teach us.

—Susan H. McFadden, PhD, Professor Emerita of Psychology, cofounder of Fox Valley Memory Project, and coauthor of Dementia-Friendly Communities

Looking Past Dementia by Marysue Moses is a must-read for anyone working in dementia care. Marysue masterfully guides readers beyond the symptoms, losses and challenges associated with dementia to reveal the unique person who remains. Through her compassionate insights and real-world experience, she helps professionals and families understand not only how to provide better support, but also why so many of us are passionate about serving people living with dementia. This book reminds us that meaningful connections, genuine relationships, and opportunities for purpose continue long after a dementia diagnosis. Marysue beautifully captures what those of us in memory care know to be true: when we learn to look past dementia, we discover remarkable individuals whose lives still have tremendous value, wisdom and potential for connection. I highly recommend this book to healthcare professionals, caregivers and family members seeking a deeper understanding of person-centered dementia care.

—Amy House, host and owner of Think Dementia

As a geropsychologist working with dementia patients on a daily basis for forty-five years, I know firsthand that the quality of the relationships they have with caregivers and family members directly affected that their quality of life. Marysue Moses uses her years of experience working with these individuals to highlight the humanity, uniqueness and personality that remains in them despite their dementia diagnosis. She demonstrates how to touch people in an emotionally meaningful way. Looking Past Dementia should provide hope, encouragement and new ways of thinking for those who care for and love someone living with dementia.

—John E. Brose, PhD, CEO and clinical director of Associated Clinic of Psychology

Looking Past Dementia is a deeply moving book that reminds us that humor, love and humanity do not disappear with a dementia diagnosis. Marysue Moses offers hope, compassion and practical wisdom through personal stories and meaningful insights that caregivers, families and professionals can immediately connect with and apply. Her thoughtful guidance, including support for families navigating the transition into a memory care community, makes this book both an invaluable resource and an inspiring read. She has created a heartfelt reminder that dementia does not diminish the human spirit. My heart is happy reading this book! There’s so much gloom surrounding a dementia diagnosis… Looking Past Dementia is proof that it does not have to be that way. With the right support, all those living with brain changes can thrive!

—Melissa Elvrum, founder of Creative Lucidity

Although the title of this book is Looking Past Dementia, Marysue Moses provides an invaluable roadmap for embracing its daily realities head-on with open arms and practical wisdom. The book is full of heartwarming, relatable and engaging true stories that vividly illustrate a wide range of experiences individuals living with dementia and their care partners encounter. Moses seamlessly shares practical strategies and tips she has learned through her years of dedicated work in the field. An easy and lighthearted read, the focus on positivity and promoting quality of life feels like a breath of fresh air.

—Robyn Birkeland, PhD, dementia care research study interventionist