Colombia

The Amazon rainforest is the world’s large tropical rainforest, covering roughly 2.7 million square miles. It comprises more than half of the world’s remaining rainforests. It is crisscrossed by thousands of rivers, including the huge Amazon River, and is famed for its biodiversity. It is comparable in size to the United States and extends into nine South American countries. Most of it is in Brazil. Colombia contains only a small fraction of the Amazon rainforest – roughly 6% of it – but the rainforest there makes up 40% of the country.

"Valley of Forgetting: Alzheimer's Families and the Search for a Cure" by Jennie Erin Smith is an account of a community from the remote mountains of Colombia whose rare and fatal genetic mutation is unlocking the secrets of Alzheimer’s disease.Jennie Smith will be talking about and signing the new book on Saturday, May 10 at 3 p.m. at The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany, New York.