Customer Reviews

Birth and Beyond

5 star:		(3)
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This book has rolled together the highbrow medical perspective with the practical day to day parenting from the nine months before birth and nine months after. The blend of the to approaches come together to form a seamless reference book for all who are pregnant or about to embark on this wonderful journey. The images used are inspiring and beautiful. This book is a must.

I bought this book after reading the reviews on Amazon UK and have found the book to be informative, interesting and open minded. The tone of the book is very intelligent and thorough yet the reader is kept engaged with a number of references to the individual experience and personal stories. Overall, this is a book to get if you are tired of cutesy reads. The book does not condescend to the reader and carefully explains the medical jargon, tests and results that expecting parents might come across. The facts that the author shares regarding the development of your child's brain, body and personality are thrilling and the book also details the changes to your own body, brain and personality.

On the downside, this book is written for the UK market (which is good for me as I am an American living in the UK) and addresses childbirth and care options available in the UK. It does make passing references to the US and other places but they are more for reference of how things can be different from the UK, rather than useful for people living in the other regions.

From a fetal developement and parenting standpoint, this is still a outstanding book to read. But for medical options outside of the UK, you might want to pick up another book.

This is a great book combining medical knowledge and emotional understanding, traditional and alternative medicine, a holistic and respectful view not only of the human body, a woman's experience but also of parenting and its accompanying rights and responsibilities both in the family and in society. Written by British authors, the book focuses on the UK health system, but even when I ended up having my baby in Germany, I still found it tremendously helpful. Strongly recommended.