Charles Piller

So yes, for me, this book, this pursuit, this effort to try to expand knowledge about Alzheimer's disease is definitely personal for me and something that I feel that I owe to my family and to myself.

So yes, for me, this book, this pursuit, this effort to try to expand knowledge about Alzheimer's disease is definitely personal for me and something that I feel that I owe to my family and to myself.

Well, my background initially was not in journalism. I studied psychology in school. And I very quickly realized that that was not going to be a profession for me, that I was... You know, as much as I respect and honor people who want to have a one-to-one relationship with patients and clients and help them work through their issues, I realized that that just, you know, that wasn't me.

Well, my background initially was not in journalism. I studied psychology in school. And I very quickly realized that that was not going to be a profession for me, that I was... You know, as much as I respect and honor people who want to have a one-to-one relationship with patients and clients and help them work through their issues, I realized that that just, you know, that wasn't me.

That wasn't my personality. And my grandfather was a quite accomplished psychology researcher back in the day. And he, in a way, inspired me. But then I realized I had to be honest and true to my own interests and talents. And so... What happened was out of college, I went ahead and experimented with freelance writing.

That wasn't my personality. And my grandfather was a quite accomplished psychology researcher back in the day. And he, in a way, inspired me. But then I realized I had to be honest and true to my own interests and talents. And so... What happened was out of college, I went ahead and experimented with freelance writing.

And in fact, one of the first big articles I ever did was something that really sparked my interest in investigative reporting. It had to do with a group of workers in Utah who were working in a lead smelting plant. So this is a processing plant for lead. And this group of workers were exposed to terrible toxic fumes. And the company that they were working for had been covering it up.

And in fact, one of the first big articles I ever did was something that really sparked my interest in investigative reporting. It had to do with a group of workers in Utah who were working in a lead smelting plant. So this is a processing plant for lead. And this group of workers were exposed to terrible toxic fumes. And the company that they were working for had been covering it up.

And what I was able to do was to not just learn about some of the details of that toxic exposure, but to talk to some of the individual workers who were exposed. And this was quite a few years ago. There was no internet. And it was a bit of a challenge. And I used kind of a time-honored device.

And what I was able to do was to not just learn about some of the details of that toxic exposure, but to talk to some of the individual workers who were exposed. And this was quite a few years ago. There was no internet. And it was a bit of a challenge. And I used kind of a time-honored device.

old school method, which was to call from a small town in Utah, where it's not that everybody knows everybody, but people are deeply connected to each other. And I made some random calls, looked up people in the phone book and started calling people and said, do you know someone who works at this plant?

old school method, which was to call from a small town in Utah, where it's not that everybody knows everybody, but people are deeply connected to each other. And I made some random calls, looked up people in the phone book and started calling people and said, do you know someone who works at this plant?

And within about three calls, I had some key sources to understand the depth of the problem there. And that gave me the sort of the bug, if you will, to try to do more in investigative reporting. I worked for newspapers for a while, small, very small newspapers, and then moved on to, uh, magazines.

And within about three calls, I had some key sources to understand the depth of the problem there. And that gave me the sort of the bug, if you will, to try to do more in investigative reporting. I worked for newspapers for a while, small, very small newspapers, and then moved on to, uh, magazines.

And eventually, um, I broke through to a big newspaper job at the Los Angeles times where I did, uh, both, uh,

And eventually, um, I broke through to a big newspaper job at the Los Angeles times where I did, uh, both, uh,

reporting on news subjects and also a lot of investigative reporting and really had the benefit of working with world-class colleagues and editors who were able to help me hone my skills and be even more ambitious and try to do things that required the teams that a big news organization can provide. And that kind of got me on my way, and I have never looked back from there.

reporting on news subjects and also a lot of investigative reporting and really had the benefit of working with world-class colleagues and editors who were able to help me hone my skills and be even more ambitious and try to do things that required the teams that a big news organization can provide. And that kind of got me on my way, and I have never looked back from there.

Sure. Happy to do it. So Science Magazine is a scholarly journal, which is one of the hundreds, thousands of academic journals out there in the world that publish these kind of honestly, dense scientific articles with lots of references and a lot of technical terms. But it also has a journalism side of the magazine. So there's a scholarly article side and the journalism side.

Sure. Happy to do it. So Science Magazine is a scholarly journal, which is one of the hundreds, thousands of academic journals out there in the world that publish these kind of honestly, dense scientific articles with lots of references and a lot of technical terms. But it also has a journalism side of the magazine. So there's a scholarly article side and the journalism side.