Pregnancy books...

The Caveman’s Pregnancy Companion:A Survival Guide for Expectant Fathers

Keeping the Baby Alive till Your Wife Gets Home

The Baby Owner’s Manual:Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance

By David Port, John Ralston, and Gideon Kendall

By Walter Roark

By Louis Borgenicht, Joe Borgenicht, Paul Kepple, Jude Buffum



So my wife gets pregnant and she buys me some books to read about having a kid, go figure. I wouldn’t tell someone to read these unless they needed to.

Of the three the lamest was “Keeping the Baby Alive”. It was a humor book with stories about the Author’s kids. I couldn’t care less. Oh wait, you want to hear funny stories about some kids you don’t know? How about some cute animals? Guess what I did in the bathroom today? Yeah I didn’t think you wanted to know. That’s the way I felt about this one, but hey it added to my goal of a book a week.

The Caveman book used humor here and there. It followed Grunt, the caveman, during his mate’s pregnancy. This one was okay to read about it had useful information along with drawings. It did assume that most guys are about as smart as a doornail. The recipes that it had, so that you could impress your mate with your cooking skills, were pretty basic. I guess the Authors didn’t think most men could cook. The information about what to expect in the changes in you wife and the birth were helpful.

What happened to the good old days when the man waited in for the baby to be brought to him after it was all cleaned up and quiet? Then he passed out cigars and went in to see his wife. Oh well. I really don’t see much reread value in this book unless another kid comes along. After the baby is born there is not much in this book to help you.

Enter the Baby Owner’s Manual starter kit. What, didn’t you get a manual from the hospital? No? Well this book will help fill you in. The only weird part was that the book treated your kid like an appliance. Yeah none of the appliances in my house need a tenth as much attention as a baby does. This kind of bothered me throughout the book. Baby unit, service provider, etc… Cute names for everything. But the practical information in this book along with good detailed illustrations, in say how to swaddle a baby, made this book the hands down winner of the three.

The rest of the starter kit? Well it comes in a nice cardboard box. A sturdy one. There is also a growth chart so when your kid learn to stand you can hang it from the wall and mark their progress. The rest? Schwag. And not the good kind.

Well in reality I’ve been comparing these books as if they are equal. But each is about a different part of the process. So skip the humor book and read the other two. In reality your own self preservation will allow you to get through any problems. What do I mean? Well I really had no idea how to change a diaper. But hey I didn’t want to get anything on me, so that motivated me to change a diaper quickly, efficiently and well it just isn’t that hard. Now as for being tired…