Pet Books

If you have an extremely disturbed cat and are considering destroying it, this book makes a point that there may be other ways to solve the problem. The author describes some truly frightening situations and have had what sound like pretty good outcomes.

Its a well written book. My main criticism is that the cat behaviors described, although no doubt true, seem extreme and not something that I would actually expect to see.

I have seen an extremely disturbed cat, but she was nowhere near as deranged as some of the cats described in this book.

If you have a normal cat and just want to learn more about its behavior, this book is probably not what you are looking for (in my opinion). However, if you want the courage to help a problem cat in your house, this could give you several suggestions to talk over with your vet.

I have not read the whole thing yet, BUT I am finding the stories in it entertaining and helpful, as well as enlightening about cat behavior and things I personally do that may aggravate and/or help to relax my cat. Glad my vet recommended this to me and glad I followed her advice.

Dodson writes well and describes cats with affection. In virtually every case, however, the afflicted cat ends up being treated with buspirone. (Dodson does not mention any tips on how to get cats to take the pills.)

I STOPPED reading on page 115--about half-way through the book when yet another cat was medicated. At the bottom of page 115 Dodson reveals that he has a patent on buspirone. Dodson has, according to the back jacket of the book "four patents for the pharmacological control of behavior problems".

While behavior problems can and should be humanely addressed, I wonder if forcing pills on cats cannot end up being counter-productive. Certainly it can help some of the time, especially if your cat likes to take pills. But the book ends up reading like one long advertisement for feline SSRI's.

My 15-year-old cat had become anorexic and suffered from disorientation and insomnia after the death of a companion animal; after several months, his health was rapidly declining. After reading this book, I decided to ask my vet to give him anti-depressants. Within 24 hours, my cat was sleeping and eating normally. Anti-depressants can be wrongly prescribed for cats, just as they can be for people, but there are times when they can save a cat's life. This book opened my eyes to treatment options I had never considered.

After reading a fantastic book about natural remedies, homeopathic treatments and preventative care, and the dangers of introducing foreign substances into your animal (vaccinations, steroids and other traditional medications presumed to be "safe"), I was excited to expand my repetoire with a book about cat behavior and behavior modification techniques. I was horrified to find out that each case study basically ends with a prescription for a powerful drug, often-times an anti-depressant or tranquilizer, that I would be hesitant to use myself, much less introduce to a pet. Seems like most Americans are taking SOMETHING to keep them happy, or calm, help them fall asleep or stay awake, and apparently this "doping of America" extends to our pets as well. If you buy into that mentality and you're at your wit's end with your problem cat, then this book is for you. What unnerved me was at no point in the book did I see specific studies cited indicating that any of these drugs were tested and found to be safe for our pets.

After reading previous research regarding vaccinations, not to mention recent pet food scares, I'm pretty skeptical of anyone pushing the traditional "western" treatment techniques when it comes to our pets who are thrust into an unregulated food and drug industry with little protection except for their owners who may (or may not) be willing to do the extra research to learn the real story behind these highly profit-driven industries. I was surprised at how many pet food companies don't care so much about the pets we consider to be family members, and won't think twice about using diseased, drugged and rotten meat in their products because it's cheap and no one is telling them they can't do so. Similarly, the same drug companies that advertise ad nauseum to HUMANS in prime time are producing drugs and vaccines for our pets and we know how powerful and persuasive THOSE companies are--far be it for a vet to speak out against them, especially when the majority of their business comes from annual re-vaccinations, whether or not they're necessary.

If you prefer to get to the root of the problem and really change the behavior without harsh checicals and quick fixes, pat yourself on the back and bypass this book. If you see nothing wrong with doping up your cat (or dog), I urge you to ask some tough questions and educate yourself first, if you don't look out for your pet's health and well-being, no one else will.

Riding between the worlds did exactly that, took you between the world of the horse and human. I finished the book in one sitting it was that engrossing to me. Thanks again for another wonderfully written book.

Required reading! She describes people she's healed and how the horses in her equine assisted psychotherapy help clients hearts to heal the way they did ours when we were kids. It also talks about the deep and painful losses of our horses that were taken from us. Other adults have had the exact same experiences that seem to symobolize our parents robot menatilty to take away our childhood.

Though overall this book is too "new age" for my taste, I believe Ms. Kohanov probably does a tremendous amount of good pairing horses with people and solving inner or repressed emotional conflicts at her ranch in Tucson, and in the clinics she presents. I found the examples she sited very believable for both horse and person, and truly believe horses can heal emotional wounds. I very much agree "it is never JUST a horse!" Horses reveal our deepest secrets and conflicts, they sense these before we even can give them words. I liked, and I promptly employed, the technique of telling my horses things about my life that I believe make me similar to each one. The horse always listens, and the verbalization is good for both. This book adds understanding to our relationship with horses by making the reader more aware of what the horse "knows" or senses immediately about us, and thus makes us more open to the horse.

I bought this book simply because Amazon advertised it to me and it had good reviews. It obviously makes a connection to certain type of people (presumably "extreme sensitives") but it didn't do much for me. I found it hard to work out who the author was actually writing for. She didn't provide insights to assist troubled people, so clearly you have to actually attend her therapy program to benefit from her knowledge. Nor did she detail what she does in her therapy with horses, so you are left wondering exactly what is happening in the round yard. I suppose if you are on the inside (ie part of the horse-assisted therapy community) this book will mean more to you than it did to me. I tried to have an open mind but sorry, I ended the book not feeling at all convinced that horses are somehow in tune with the real meaning of life just like yogis.

When I saw the beautiful cover of this book, and the intriguing title, I couldn't wait to read it. It promised mysteries and a wild ride into the unknown. Actually, the riding is transformative. The author overcomes a destructive marriage to find her way back to life through her interactions with some very wonderful, talented, compassionate and truly honest animals. A lifetime of fascination with, and interaction with horses leads her into an astonishing field of work, using members of her herd as therapy animals, in the treatment of trauma victims and people with emotional problems.

There is so much to this book that resonates, for anyone who has ever ridden a horse, or wanted to, or just enjoys watching them. Some of the stories are just inspirational. There is a wonderful section in which her beloved mare, Rasa, prematurely foals, and a community of helpers keep the young horse warm with body heat and take turns milking his dam so he can nurse. What a fantastic story.

Some of the horses are stories themselves. There's Noche, the abused horse, who is tender and kind with abuse victims. There is Merlin, a disturbed stallion, who finds love. There is Rasa, a powerful empath and spiritual guide.

I kept waiting for the book to turn New Age-y, but it's not preachy at all. This is one woman's journey that touches and heals. I won't look at horses the same way again.

If you love beautiful and unique photos of flowers, then this is the book for you. I purchased it for inspiration as I am an amateur photographer and believe me, I am inspired!!!! You won't be disappointed.

This pictorial book is totally outstanding in it's presentation of a perfectionists view of many beautific flowers. Just stunning!

Christopher Beane's new book, Flower, is a floral autobiography.

Beginning with traditional, abstract, black & white compositions in the 1990s, Beane's early works make reference to a number of noted photographers but also reveal how he developed his own eye for presenting unusual floral shapes and textures.

In the late 1990s, Beane left the b&w world behind and dove head-first into vibrant colour. In the words of Anthony Janson, who narrates the book: "Fortunately, in 1997 Beane began to experiment with color photography."

"Fortunately" is an understatement: right from the first few photographs in Beane's aptly titled "orgy" series, we see a whole new world of color within his macro subjects, and Beane's explorations quickly depart from whatever preconceptions you may have of floral macro photography. Beane's colour work is truly his own: creative and evocative in a manner not as obvious as one usually finds in the sensual photography of pistils and stamens and pretty petals. In his representations you will find more abstract emotion, perhaps evoking flames and mysterious sea creatures... as well as gasp-worthy ultramacro depictions of familiar subjects.

The cover of the Flower is itself a flamelike depiction of tulips; fortunately, an unadorned version can be found inside (plate 40). The book continues through the evolution of his macro photography, with each subject a new step forward for Beane. After mastering a particular motif, Beane deconstructs and reinvents his approach and summons up entirely new perspectives, new ways to infuse form with colour.

While it is impossible not to marvel at the intricacies of his macro subjects, from the Coral Charm Peony (plate 51) to the sensual Bearded Iris Blue (plate 42), his latter work moves forward ever more progressively and ultimately departs the ultramacro realm in the direction of abstract art. Particularly striking to my eye are the Fritillaria (plates 127 and 128) which play with a reduced colour palette in an entirely new way, departing from the natural colours of the flowers themselves but somehow remaining true to them in abstract impression.

In addition to plate after plate of masterful 4x5 colour photography, the reader will find details of Beane's battle with stage-4 lymphoma, how this affected his mood and vision, and how he returned, triumphantly, to his craft. Beane's adventure is inspiring and not only in the visual sense.

I very highly recommend this book. It is truly inspirational and provocative.

A disclaimer up front - Christopher Beane is our son!

For over 40 years we have watched Christopher grow and develop - both as an extraordinary human being and as an exceptionally talented artist. His creativity has always been evident - whether in the things young kids make in school; in his water colored paintings; as he advised his mother how to decorate our home; in his landscaping of our yard; through his intriguing work during freshman year in the Rhode Island School of Design's challenging one, two and three dimention design studios; and finally, as his photographic career has evolved the past fifteen years.

But, as parents, perhaps we are most proud of how he battled near fatal cancer, diagnosed just three years ago, including the eight months Christopher spent in New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital. He never lost his will to live. And with his engaging personality he brought out love and support from all those around him.

Perhaps the greatest fear Christopher had during his long illness was that his talent might somehow desert him. As all can see this concern has been fully relieved and his newest work exibits both continued artistic growth and his amazing creativity.

Some thoughts from Christopher's proud parents Rosemary & Frank Beane

We just finished our first reading and viewing of Christopher Beane's "Flower". What a beautiful prose and photography volume this is.

The essay reads with warmth, knowledge, and critical praise for the photographic plates that adorn the book, not to mention the affection communicated for the photographer and his professional development. The author's grasp of the essence of art history including photography builds a firm foundation for the complex interpretations and lucid explanations he provides.

The crowning elements of the book are, of course, the photographic plates. Grouped by Christopher's evolving periods and changing forms of expression, many of the plates will evoke a gasp, a sigh, a tear, or a smile upon turning the page. One in particular caught my eye, Plate 112, Bloomed Clemantis, as appearing almost human in the blossoms struggle against the wind. The author, we later found, also saw that strength and aligned that with Christopher's own strength in dealing with his health issues over the past two years.

We highly recommend the book to anyone interested in art, photography, or life, since the essay and the plates create a valuable life story of strength and beauty.

I read this book several years ago but I find myself constantly referring to it in conversations about politics and global events. The chilling examination of rape, genocide and infanticide practiced by male orangutans, chimpanzees, and gorillas (respectively) is depressingly resonant of our human penchant for violence, and suggests that we come by these behaviors "honestly" by way of a shared genetic heritage. Unfortunately, we don't seem to share as much behavior with our other close relatives, the bonobos, who make love, not war. More poignantly than anything else I have read, this book poses the question of whether humans can ever overcome their genetic predisposition for violence and create a more peaceful society. If the past decade of world events is any indication, the very depressing conclusion would seem to be in the negative. But there are always pockets of progress and glimmers of hope -- of all the great apes we are the most adaptable and unpredictable. By illuminating the biological imperatives underlying our most unattractive behaviors, the book adds to our self-knowledge and, we can dimly hope, may even help our flawed species alter its violent trajectory.

After spending some time postulating theories which might help explain the motives and actions of school shooters, I gathered a list of relevant keywords such as aggression, violence, hate, and male, (since all school shooters I know of have been male) I found myself drawn to a handful of books which I subsequently checked out from my local library. Among these books was a copy of Demonic Males, which I chose (thank God) to read first. I was not disappointed.

In this book Wrangham makes a careful academic study out of his theory that human males are inherently aggressive or demonic as he says, and that this trait is inextricably bound to our common ancestory with apes, and in particular, chimpanzees. He shows this by contrasting human and chimp behavior with other apes, and detailing the calculated murderous behavior exhibited by both species. The result is fascinating. Wrangham carefully shows that aggression is a behavior that evolved in chimps and humans because it enables males to attain a higher status, which in turn guarantees a high percentage of success when feeding and also passing down our genes by sexual reproduction. This search for status he says, to become the alpha male, is the driving desire behind every male, and I could not agree more. As a good example of an aggressive male myself, I confidently say that this desire for status is a primary occupation for all men, especially when they are placed in situations with other males. This, Wrangham asserts, and I also believe to be true, is always the case, regardless of whether the choice to seek a higher status is conscious or not. On an interesting note, he connects (however not assertively or forcefully) that higher animal intelligence in humans and other apes allows the animal to anticipate more effectively, and therefore it can see an obvious advantage to eliminating other males and taking their females and territory (as in the case of chimps) and in the ability of humans to effectively use weapons to kill massive amounts of other people while potientially suffering very few casualties. But Wrangham is tactful on these points, since it would be out of step with current PC thought to assert that the smartest animals kill each other simply on the basis of genes. He is careful to give culturally determined influences their shared blame in this regard, which helps to avoid exonorating those who commit violent crimes.

This is what I find most admirable about the book. Though Wrangham is a born and bred ethologist, he avoids emphasizing the nature side of the nature/nurture debate. Rather he labels that debate as an error perpetuated by Galton, the man who coined the phrase nature versus nurture in the first place. Here the author allows that both biological and cultural factors have their respective and undeniable effects on our behavior, and carefully explains the error in choosing either extreme.

Regarding my interest in school shootings, this book together with chimpanzee politics is essential reading when trying to understand what I would call the more unconscious motives of school shooters, and perhaps even the reasons as to why other males often fail to react aggressively and violently in such situations, given the lean odds for survival and the lack of pre-formed coalitions due to benign competition for alpha male status in a classroom.

If I can derive such information from this book where school shootings are scarcely even mentioned (it was published in 1996 before most memorable shootings), then most any reader interested in the possible reasons for inherently male aggression will delight in the reading of this text. Truly, I cannot reccomend it enough.

I would refer you all to a recent documentary in the BBC "Horizon" series investigating the whole "demonic male chimp" controversy, based on comparing the chimp colony at Gombe with others. Suffice to say, it told a disturbing story of inductive research, extensive intervention by the researchers themselves, affecting the apes' behaviour and ditching of evidence which refuted the "demonic" hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis presented was that the Gombe chimps are unusual, and their aggression owes more to overcrowding within a shrinking area of forest than to any natural "demonic" streak; other chimp colonies apparently show far lower levels of mutual aggression, if any at all. The scariest moment came not from learning that the legendary Frodo had killed and partially eaten a human baby, but from Dr Goodall's apparent coldness towards this incident. Had a tiger or crocodile done this, it would have been shot within days, but tigers and crocs don't have glamourous young women anthropomorphising them in bestselling books or on primetime TV.

This one provides a quasi-sociobiological and evolutionary historical look at why people are so fond of raping and murdering each other. The authors look at the social relations among the great apes and find, who would have thunk it, very humanlike patterns of war, rape, murder, and other such cute behaviors. They also give various paleontological factoids and speculation about our immediate ancestors which support their thesis. I couldn't help but be annoyed at their blanket condemnation of the entire Y chromosome; they seemed to use the example of the relatively peaceful Bonobo chimps as an excuse for some kind of radical (and nebulous) feminist social engineering a la Aristophanes play 'Lysistrata' where women halted war by withholding nookie. I figure thusly: men are the primary rapists and murderers and warmakers, but wimmenfolk also participate in these activities. Men are also rather stronger and more capable of violence. Furthermore, they are largely responsible for lifting the race from the mud (but wimmenfolk also participate in these activities). These facts are almost certainly related. Menfolk simply have more time for mischeif. Women can be just as vengeful and brutal as men. Still, such books are worthwhile, as there are entire swathes of humanity who think if we all would just indulge them in their particular social, economic or sexual peccadillo, we'd all be peaceful in happy. Not so. Appreciation for the benefits of civilization can only grow when being reminded of the nature of humankind.

What drives humanity to engage in its incessant wars? Why do men fight over apparent inconsequentials? Is rape a "natural" and "sex-driven" event, or merely the consequence of human cultural demands? These questions and a host of others are addressed in this superb survey of primate behaviour studies. Ever since Jane Goodall discovered chimpanzees sought colobus monkeys for dinner treats, new studies of primates have revealed arresting behaviour patterns. Like humans, other primates murder, rape and even make war. The authors have scoured a wealth of primate studies to derive a picture of our heritage. They suggest we learn what our cousins do in order to better understand what we do. Otherwise, we will continue to make bad decisions based on flawed assumptions.

Our fellow primates are avid territorialists, argue the authors. Borders unseen by us are clearly delineated by chimpanzees, orangutans and monkeys. These defined areas are hotly defended. The other side of the coin produces invasions. Opportunism, failing resources, or just spite, drives chimpanzee groups to stealthily scout and enter another band's range. Rarely, an individual will stage a foray, but only if he thinks success likely. Too often, the raids appear to have no particular purpose. A sally may lead to injuries or even death, but the attacking troop is just as likely to withdraw to its original range with neither captives nor booty. What prompts these seemingly mindless assaults? Are they inevitable among primates?

The latter question was answered, according to the authors, with the discovery of the "pygmy chimpanzee" or bonobo. This species contrasts sharply with its common chimpanzee cousins, who live in bands beset by tension. Common chimpanzees may raid other groups, but "back home" the hierarchical structure leads to internal conflict. Raids on other groups may vent some aggravation, but it's the struggle for dominance that rules common chimp behaviour. Bonobos, by contrast, use sex to resolve their social conflicts. Bisexual and same sex couplings are common and frequent. With no hierarchy to climb, males need not struggle for dominance. Although a senior female may wield some authority, even her "rules" are imparted by selected groomings or couplings with aggressors.

Bonobos are late arrivals on the evolutionary stage, having split off from the chimpanzee line after chimps and humans diverged from their common ancestor. Humans tended in some ways toward chimpanzee behaviour, toward bonobos in other aspects. Male dominance and most aspects of male violence stem from similarities to our nearest cousins, the chimps, say the authors. They stress that most human violence is rooted in our volutionary past. Although they're prompt to deny that this foundation cannot be overcome, they stress that we must understand these roots in order to make better decisions. Most significantly, they argue, we must shed the mythology of violence as a cultural artefact. This will be a difficult step for many, but it must be taken. This book will ease the path.
[stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

This book is very down to earth and easy to understand with thought provocing facts about the spirits of weather and our connection to Nature. After reading this book, you will never look at a cloud or a storm in the same way.

If you are like me and you are secretly or blatantly in love with the weather, then you will adore this book. Nan Moss writes with clarity and passion about her knowledge and experience of the various weather beings, angels, spirits and helpers. She brings you into intimate contact with them and then shows you how to go there for yourself. By the time you have finished reading this book, you will be asking yourself: How can I lightly touch, interact with and learn from these divine forces? And you will realize all the answers are in the book and inside you.

Here are some random chapter headings to show you what you have to look forward to:

"What is Weather? Emotion, Reciprocity and Change."
Nan Moss: "The climate and the weather have been master teachers of the principle of change in our world."

"The Sacred Nature of Storm."
Nan Moss: "We have it in our power to cultivate a perspective that is spacious."

"Healing With Weather."
Nan Moss: " . . honoring the weather brings balance and well-being."

Exciting and intriguing, don't you think?

This book is also filled with other people's stories and experiences. You will receive quite a variety of perspectives and methods, but in the end it will come down to your own perspective and method. However, I will bet that even if you are not on a shamanic path, the next time you are confronted with a graphic weather system, from achingly joyful blue skies to dense and determined pouring rain, you will find yourself out there dancing to it with your understanding, your acceptance and your love. Watch, now! See if you don't get a response back!

This book is full of fascinating information, both for people who know about shamanism, and those who are just learning what it is. Gives a wonderful perspective on something we tend to take for granted (weather!), and opened my mind to a new way of thinking about our world, and how we might experience it. Very well written, too.

The book about Boxers has lots of information about the breed. Those of us who are unfamiliar with the breed, gathered lots of things that will help us in the care and nuturing of this wonderful animal! Who knew that big old grizzly looking Boxer was a sweetheart, full of affection and devotion! Great reference book to have on handle, especially if you're rearing a pup.

We've just become the owners of a boxer pup, and used this book before and after he joined our family. The book is very easy to understand and contains a wealth of useful material. It also has a lot of general sections that would be relevant to any new pet owner. This isn't a book you would use for hard-core research, but I recommend it for the average new pet owner as an easy to read reference. It was well worth the price.

I agree with one of the preceding reviews. Substitute beagle or French poodle for boxer and you have 90% the same book. I was looking for a little more insight.

Like most for dummies books, this is essentially a cut and paste of all of their other dog books with the word boxer inserted in place of dog. In a few cases it has stories of the writers experiences with boxers but this book is really nothing special. Try culture clash to get a better understanding of your companion.

I really enjoyed reading this book on Boxers. I am researching dog breeds before I commit to a new family member. There was a careful balance of enthusiasm for the Boxer and warnings of their specialized needs AND the responsibilites of Boxer ownership.
I especially enjoyed the observations he made between male and female boxers, puppy training, and problematic behaviors.
Even if I don't decide to own a Boxer in the future, this was an entertaining educational read that I would recommend to all.

A must have for anyone who desires to learn tree identification. Quite technical but has been in use since 1913.

I did not realize when I ordered this book that it was in black and white illustrations. I would have much more prefered it had colored photos of trees to help me identify them. I considered it a waste of money.

Pretty decent book, quality paper and covers, informative, a fairly good guide, I would prefer full pictures of trees, which would show the bark, even if only in black and white.If your new to trees this book could be quite helpful and useful.

I have been identifying trees since childhood, and have found this book quite useful. It is applicable not only to Michigan, but also to surrounding states (I live in Illinois).

The front of the book includes a summary of basic leaf anatomy. It includes sketches of leaf shapes and leaf margins. There is also a diagram of oak leaves as related to their immediate environment of growth (swampy, etc.). A sketch of inflorescent types is also provided.

The remainder of the book is primarily a key to tree identification. Two pages are devoted to each tree. The left open page is a description of a particular kind of tree. A moderate level of knowledge of botanical terminology is needed to fully comprehend it. The right (facing) open page contains diagrams (not photos) of leaf shapes, flowers, seeds, etc. for the tree being identified.

This is a great book both for identification and for planning which trees to plant in your yard. For each tree, not only its size, but also shade tolerance, growth rate, moisture requirements, preferred habitat & other trees that share its habitat are listed. A second book is planned to cover the shrubs & vines, which I am looking forward to.

The final chapters cover aspects of the Michigan climate including the different types of plant communities, vegetation history of Michigan from the glaciers to the present day, length of growing season for different areas, and average temperature & precipitation.

This book covers the basics from shelter and feeding to hoof trimming and deworming, but everything is kept brief for the novice goat owner. Easy to read for goat owners of any age. For the more serious goat owner one of the Storey's Guides such as Storey's Guide to Raising Meat Goats (Storey's Guides to Raising) or Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats: Breeds, Care, Dairying
would be a better choice.

This is one of two books I purchased for my dad who is a new goat owner. He has read this book completely and uses it as a reference on a regular basis.
He is very happy with the book.

This book gives me the basic information on raising my Nigerian Dwarf wether and doeling. Having raised horses, dogs, and more in my life time, these little kids are a unique species and need special information. This book is a great start.

The book was just what I was looking for ... I needed information on breeds and photos of the breeds, as well as caring for and raising goats. It had all of the information I needed.

Any who would own a goat must have THE GOAT HANDBOOK as a home reference: written by two DVMs, THE GOAT HANDBOOK covers everything from the initial purchase and housing to health and behavior, including care of pastures and meadows so goats stay healthy. Color photos peppered throughout add interest, but THE GOAT HANDBOOK is primarily an owner's care book and will appeal to any goat owner who needs a basic reference at hand.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

My daughter (age 7) is never "keen" to read books. When she told me she liked the "Fly Guy" books she read in class - I went and bought the series! There are 5 books, total. The stories are silly and have a fun "gross" factor that most kids would enjoy. The books have a few chapters, but they are easy readers and so it allows the kids to have a sense of accomplishment (having read a "Chapter" book), while not being too labor-intensive. I would definitely recommend them for kids that need to be "encouraged" to read.

Even though our 9 year old son loves to read our 7 year old Daughter does not, Until She found the Fly guy series of books !!!!! Now She is reading other books !!!!!! Thanks for the Fly Guy books they jump started her Reading & We also Thank Amazon because alot of Book Stores in our area do not have them !!!!!!

I read What To Expect (most of it) during my first pregnancy, and I subsequently sold it at a yard sale (both copies I had). Yes, there is a lot of good information in it, but it does come across making you feel like a bad mom if you don't do most of it's suggestions. Yes, they may be what's best for your baby, but I think what you need to take with you when you're done with this book is the general rule of trying to eat healthy when you can, don't smoke, don't chance it with alcohol even though most people say a glass of wine here and there is fine, and limit (you can have a little) caffeine (face it, with morning sickness, there are some things you just can't handle, and some of those things may be the healthiest things in the world). I did think it was pretty useful for info about what you definitely should avoid (although a little extreme). Also, it has good info about normal symptoms that you may experience (constipation, pains caused by your uterus stretching, etc.) that you don't normally know about in your first pregnancy. You just have to keep in mind that sometimes, a pain is just a pain and you shouldn't panic. Overall, OK, but you should always talk to your doctor about anything that concerns you.

If you plan on having a natural birth this is possibly the worst book to ever hold in your hands. It creates much anxiety for the expectant mother and is not worth reading. It addresses common problems a mother may encounter during pregnancy but offers no simple solution. This is a medically biased book. It is more likely that a women will encounter the c-section knife after reading this book by being seduced by its many lures towards excessive trust in medical professionals. It gives absolutely no confidence in the mother to give birth the way mothers have done for thousands of years. Also the website is very demeaning. I visited the forums on the website and many of the women are conformist to the medical system and do not realize that doctors are hiding the truth about a women's ability to give birth naturally. The women in the forums who were advocates of What to Expect book and website were equally demeaning towards me and any mother who even considered natural home birth the old fashioned way. PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THIS BOOK AND WEBSITE!!! It will save you a lot of problems in pregnancy, family living and future births.....

I picked up "What to Expect" the moment I found out I was expecting. At first, I thought I should read it cover-to-cover, and then realized how big it was. That quickly turned into reading the month-by-month scenarios, which gave me a little something to look forward to as I crossed into each month... until I figured out there was a world of websites out there that did the same thing, and they sent it to my email automatically! This book has very little sense of humor, and really is a worst-case-scenario synopsis. I have been using it lately as more of a guide book for a specific question (i.e. can I eat ____, etc.) but then I still turn around and look up the same question on the web. I would recommend Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy, or Hello, My Name is Mommy over this book any day! My partner actually asked me, as his nose was in a Dad-To-Be book, what I was learning about how to take care of a baby, and I replied NOTHING! You have to get the next WTE book for that! He then took me to the bookstore to find a replacement. I'd join the website and save your money from the book. Same info a lot cheaper.

This is my first pregnancy at 36 years old. A friend of mine let me borrow this book after I'd already read a whole bunch of Your Pregnancy Week by Week. I like that one much better. I found it an easier read. What to Expect When You're Expecting, is good but the picture of the pregnant lady on the front of this version is scary. This is the one I was lent. She looks tired and sad. I hate that! It make me feel like I will be tired and sad if I read it. I guess they thought she looked peaceful, but I think she is sorry and sad. Too much information for me. I guess I'd already found so much on the Internet and from reading the Week by Week book that I felt like I was having to read too many things that didn't pertain to me. It's organized that way to include all possibilities within each week.

While this book is filled with information, it's mainly a list of things not to do when you are pregnant. If you don't care for humor or entertainment in your pregnancy book, then this is the book for you.