Narration Grating, Tone Somewhat Condescending

I know this is supposed to be the pregnancy bible, but I am not a fan.

I gave it overall 3 stars because the information is there, but I was really not a fan of the narration. I usually can listen to audiobooks for hours while I clean, take walks, commute etc, but the author's voice has a tone to it that would cause my ears to hurt. If I listened too long (in my case about an hour), I started getting a headache. The author is not the only narrator. There was a woman who seemed to pipe in with the more science type passages. I MUCH preferred her voice.

I also felt like the author was condescending but trying to hide it with obnoxious, cutesy expressions and puns. The condescending tone is in the language, but I think having the author read the book herself made it more obvious. For a pregnancy bible, I would like the information without the undertones of "this is what you should do if I were you".

I listened to this book because my husband and I are preparing to have children. I should note that I'm also a fan of the Great Courses and listened to the book Scientific Secrets for Raising Kids Who Thrive. In that book, some interesting pregnancy information was provided, and I wanted to get more scientific information specifically targeted to pregnancy. Since this is the pregnancy bible, this is where I started. I would say the book is science-lite mixed in with those infantile expressions (I plan on having an infant, that doesn't mean I want to be talked to like an infant) and suggestions. I suspect there has been criticism in the past because there were several times when the author made statements at the beginning amounting to "even if you are from (insert nontraditional background or role here) this book is still for you".

I'm disappointed because I was hoping for something that provided the facts and information without an agenda. I will say that compared to other books, the agenda is not as in your face, but the agenda while more subtle is still there. (Not going to lie, I wish there were a Great Courses version of this...)

I was happy to encounter more modern day topics such as the low carb (keto) diet, paleo, and raw food diets as well as things like e-cigarettes discussed (even though none of them apply to me). They seemed to be trying to address modern issues that are coming up.

12 people found this helpful

The author writes as though we are children

The writing and reading style is overly cutesy makes me cringe. I can't listen to it any more. The author writes and reads as though the readers/listeners are children. For example, the experience of morning sickness is constantly referred to as "a case of the queezies" and "tummy troubles". I'm a grown woman and just because I'm pregnant does not mean that I've lost my ability to understand nausea and anatomical terms like stomach.
Additionally, as a listening experience, the Q&A sections are hard to navigate. Much of it is not be relevant to each person. It requires constant fast forwarding and you never know what questions are next. The excerpts for male partners are sparse and patronizing (which is hilarious). It is written with the unsympathetic, uninvolved, and clueless stereotype of a male in mind. These also assume there is a male partner or Daddy. Some folks are going at it alone and some folks are not partnered with males.

3 people found this helpful

Great resource...with some caveats

I would not recommend getting this book as an audio book. There's just TOO much content and there's no value add from listening. In fact, you'll be able to skim through it and only focus on what's relavent to you with a hard copy.

There's a lot here, which is why this book is still so popular. There's some things that they did surprisingly well, like their coverage of post partum health for mom - especially mental health.

But there's a number of areas where the advice they give is too conservative for my taste. For example, there was a section on food where they cautioned against the health food aisle because there haven't been studies on things like the safety of herbal teas or flax seed. I don't recall them spending ANY time discussing why there's a natural child birth movement. There was no discussion regarding the negative consequences of epidurals, which made me scratch my head since she literally cautioned against too much mint tea. I'm not against epidurals, I believe to each their own, but understanding why some people are concerned is helpful and important information. I also don't recall much discussion on the rising popularity of doulas. There were pieces here regarding exercise that made me too nervous to continue many of my regular activities, which my doctor ultimately didn't agree with.

The book also chooses to cover SO much which means that there's not a lot of depth in a lot of areas. Moreover, there's not a lot of WHY. If understanding the logic, numbers and research is important to you, I strongly suggest reading Expecting Better by Emily Oster. Surprisingly this book actually provided more info on the labor and delivery process than this one.

All in all this is a good resource, but please don't let it be your only one!

7 people found this helpful

least helpful book on pregnancy

After becoming pregnant I reached for this book as if it were the bible of pregnancy. It's the most common known and I assumed for a good reason. This book filled me with fear and uncertainty within the first 15 min of reading. Definitely wouldn't recommend. There are so many wonderful pregnancy books available. From the hips being my most favorites and easily digestible.

1 person found this helpful

Informative But Not Reference Based

The author uses a lot of "Some Doctors" and "a study" and "Should", not a lot of references as to which ones. Also, the book is riddled with cliches that would make your middle school teacher flunk your paper. Overall a better paperback than an audio book.

3 people found this helpful

not all authors should be narrators

I couldn't finish it. The narration was so mind-numbing that my pregnant brain always shut down and it lulled me to sleep. The book is great, but the audiobook is not one I can recommend. (Written by Sam's wife)

3 people found this helpful

Too much of everything and not enough specifics

It feels like the reason this book has been so successful is because it has a great title.

This book covers pregnancy in broad strokes. It spends a lot of time on what to eat, and jumps back to eating often. It also spends a lot of time on beauty upkeep. Which I find to be annoying. It’s hard to skip through the BS because of it being an audible. I also find the over use of baby puns annoying.

It also is written to speak to a very traditional family archetype. They clearly made an addition to it where they said hey— this is to represent all families even though we say mom and dad throughout the entire book. Just pretend we’re talking to you & your circumstance. Woo woo.

I am certain there are better pregnancy books than this one. Save your credits and find one. This is one feels dated, despite being updated often and tries to hard to cover a very broad audience.

6 people found this helpful

great

very long but jam-packed with very helpful details on almost everything that you can think of

2 people found this helpful

Very informative

My husband and I found this very informative! We are going to be first time parents and getting all this information made us feel more prepared for our future baby. Definitely worth buying!

2 people found this helpful

Informative and detailed

I enjoyed having the highlights of everything I didn't know to ask as well as the addressing of several pregnancy facts and myths. It's well-written and pleasantly performed (clear and soothing voices).