I just heard that the great author Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers. Pratchett has written stacks of excellent books which have sold over 55 million copies worldwide. His Discworld novels are brilliant and The Science of Discworld is a superb introduction to scientific thought.

He has released this letter making the announcement. I think that he is remarkably positive (speaking of getting a few more books out) but it is clearly devastating news. Alzheimers is a horrifying disease – I wish him all the best.

I like the end of his letter:

PS.  I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as ‘I am not dead’.  I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else.  For me, this maybe further off than you think – it’s too soon to tell. I know it’s a very human thing to say “Is there anything I can do”, but in this case I would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry.