November 14, 2011

JHU Press marks 30 years of ’36-Hour Day’ with 5th edition

When the Johns Hopkins University Press published The 36-Hour Day in 1981, the subject of the book—Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias—was little known and barely discussed. In the 30 years since, 2.5 million copies of the Nancy Mace and Peter Rabins–authored book have been sold, and the fifth edition—with 30,000 trade paper and 5,000 large-print copies—is now available. It is also very popular among owners of e-readers.

“That The 36-Hour Day is as popular an e-book as it has been in print editions is testament to its enduring value to caregivers,” said Kathleen Keane, director of the JHU Press.

The book was born of mimeographed pamphlets that Mace and Rabins, both then of the T. Rowe and Eleanor Price Teaching Service at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, had created to assist caregivers of those with memory-related disorders. Today, it is considered the “bible” in its field.