Customer Reviews

Making Time: Lillian Moller Gilbreth -- A Life Beyond "Cheaper by the Dozen"

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The work of the Gilbreth couple has been influencing the way people work both in industry and at home since the beginning of the last century; and this influence has been quite underestimated, mainly because of the lasting succes of the books "Cheaper By the Dozen" and "Belles on Their Toes". The time has come to write a both thorough and neutral review on this work and to show the driving forces behind it. I am very pleased to say that Jane Lancaster with her book "Making Time" wrote this perfect review, which is carefully researched from the scientific point of view and very well written for the reader's pleasure.

Ms Lancaster delivers several things: (1) A precise and complete description of the life of both Gilbreths (which of course is mostly the life of Lillian M. Gilbreth, because she survived her husband by almost 50 years). (2) A neutral evaluation of this work, where she points out that most of Gilbreth's work was outlined and carried out by Lillian M. Gilbreth, although Ms Gilbreth kept herself in the background during the life of her husband. (3) The creation of a well-deserved attention for the work of Ms Gilbreth beyond her (not neglectable at all!) role of a mother of 13.

Having dealt with the work of the Gilbreth couple for more than 20 years, I highly recommend Jane Lancaster's book both for reading pleasure and for scientific work. "Making Time", in my opinion, sets the standards for the research on the work of the Gilbreth.

Lillian Moller Gilbreth is well remembered today as the patient mother of "Cheaper by the Dozen". This book makes it clear that this was the least of her attributes.

Dr. Gilbreth spent over a half century as one of America's leading engineers. First colloborating with her husband, Frank Gilbreth, she spent the first forty years of her widowhood on an intense schedule of conferences, consulting, and teaching, finally retiring near her ninetieth birthday.

While the primary focus of this book is on Dr. Gilbreth and her engineering career, and the conculsion makes clear author Jane Lancaster's bitterness that Dr. Gilbreth is best remembered for the fictionalized mother of "Cheaper by the Dozen", fans of the book will find material to satisfy them. Several chapters deal with the family's life. Few of the many footnotes are simply to "Cheaper" or its sequel, "Belles on their Toes"--appropriate, as a later chapter deals with how "Cheaper" came to be, and that it was written not as non-fiction, but rather as things should have been. For example, the episode in "Cheaper" where Dr. Gilbreth spent a day in bed, and the children were convinced that a new baby was due, having associated Mother's brief bedstays with childbirth, was based on Dr. Gilbreth giving birth to a stillborn, thirteenth child.

Jane Lancaster gives life to this pioneering woman engineer, unfortunately typecast by her children's books. Highly recommended.

I just finished the book. Lillian led an exhausting life of lecturing, travel and endless writing. As the mother of 13 children, she puts us all to shame (with many fewer children)because of her unbelievable work schedule. This book does a great job of paying tribute to her life's work which is clearly well-documented.
Although she did not promote herself as an activist for Women's Rights, Lillian Gilbreth took giant steps for all women because of her dedication to her family, husband, and her monumental career.
Jane Lancaster has a beautiful command of the English language. This book is well-written without being intimidating. I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in juggling family and/or career.

"This is funny, you might like it."

That suggestion from a long-ago English teacher introduced me to a book called "Cheaper By The Dozen," which in turn kicked off a lengthy fascination with the Gilbreth family and their other books. Along the way, I got a taste of the fact that Lillian Moller Gilbreth was among the more important women of her generation, up there with Marie Curie and Eleanor Roosevelt. But, as other Gilbreth-philes surely know, her children's writings only hinted at that importance, concentrating instead on her role as the family matriarch. This, the first full-length biography not written by a family member, is therefore a welcome addition to the already sizeable collection of books about the Gilbreths.

Jane Lancaster's research is very impressive, as is her ability to overcome the surviving Gilbreth children's noted concern for their privacy. Through over a century's worth of private letters and papers, she provides a surprisingly vivid look at the family you thought you knew as a kid. More importantly, she provides a well-rounded look at Lillian Gilbreth, who even in early life was not nearly the demure introvert so often portrayed elsewhere.

Though very much a product of her 19th century upper crust California childhood, she was quite independent minded from the beginning, as reflected in her decision to go to college, get married and move East while most of her siblings never left home. A lifelong Republican and a close friend of Herbert Hoover, she was nonetheless an early and effective advocate of workplace safety regulations, paid breaks, eight-hour workdays and, of course, women's right to work outside the home. (Oddly, Lancaster makes no mention of Gilbreth's views on women's suffrage, by far the most prominent feminist issue of the era.) In earning a PhD, she overcame not only sexism and the responsibilities of a large family, but a "lost" dissertation as well.

There are also more stories of the children, although few of them are as lighthearted as the ones you already know. Chances are you'd already figured out that "Cheaper By The Dozen" and "Belles On Their Toes" were a couple of idealized memoirs, but if not, prepare to have your bubble burst! Lillian's long absences from home after Frank's death were quite hard on some of the younger children, and Lancaster suggests (without going into much detail) that many of their childhood memories were not all that rosy. Still, Lillian's heroic role in keeping the large family together through hard times comes through everywhere.

I do find Lancaster's thesis - that Mrs. Gilbreth's reputation was shortchanged through her simplistic portrayal in "Cheaper" - slightly unfair. As at least four generations of middle-schoolers know, that book ends with Mother choosing to soldier on with Dad's business after his death and to continue raising all her children on her own. That was no small undertaking for a woman in 1924 or for a single parent of eleven children in any era. (If anything, it gives her slightly more credit than is due: Lancaster reveals here that she briefly sent one daughter to live with her grandmother in California.) The admittedly less-remembered "Belles On Their Toes" and "Time Out For Happiness" are both loaded down with accolades for her achievements both at home and professionally. Also, engineering is not like music, sports, art, or literature - the geniuses of the field, male or female, are generally remembered only by people who practice it. Still, Lancaster does have a point that this pioneering giant of her profession is too often remembered only as a doting mother. And she's done a great job of helping to change that.

This book is about a true super champ worthy of admiration - Lillian Gilbreth.(.... and you are going - who?).

Here is what makes Lillian Gilbreth great - and let each item I list below, compound on each other.

1. Mother of 12 (13 actually, and one child died young)

So? You say to yourselves. Folks of our grandparents` generation and before had large families. What is the big deal? But, can we please all acknowledge, 12 children! I thinking raising a couple of children saps time and energy. Let alone a dozen (a connection coming up with the word 'dozen')

2. PhD in Industrial Psychology

So? You say to yourselves. We know plenty of women who have a PhD. How about this, then? First woman ever to get a PhD in Industrial psychology? She was born in the late 1800s. She got her PhD, just when psychology was taking off. So was Industrialization. She was a pioneer that combined the two fields. And this was all at a time before women could even vote in the U.S.!

3. Partner in her husband's consulting firm.

So what? You say to yourselves. Plenty of us are consultants or run our own business. Well, her husband Frank Gilbreth died suddenly of a heart attack in his mid fifties. The third day after his death, she had to take a ship to Europe (dressed in black) to deliver a series of lectures on Industrial Engineering on his behalf. She outlived her husband by 50 years and became one of the foremost women in the field of Industrial Engineering

4. She was a rival to Fredrick Taylor.

Yes that Fredrick Taylor. The guy we learned about. The stop watch - time and motion study king.

Whereas Taylor was all about squeezing out productivity out of the worker, maximize profits for the firm, the workers health be damned; Gilbreth was focused on how the worker did his job, so that he was both effective and did not injure himself. She spent most of her latter career trying to unify these two rival camps

5. She is the mother of 'ergonomics'

Before the term ergonomics was invented and now the biggest currency in management (think of carpel tunnel syndrome, repetitive motion injury etc), she already laid the foundation for it in a psychology based, engineering based, scientific way

6. She received nearly 20 honorary doctorates from the major universities Standford, Harvard etc

7. Her children all grew up to be fine citizens and professionals One of her sons and daughters teamed up to write a biography. Turns out that they are one funny family as well. So here is the connection. Their book 'Cheaper by the Dozen' became an all time classic children's biography. It is read in schools to this day. Funny riotous read.

8. This book was later made into a movie, Cheaper by the Dozen. And then remade recently again starring Steve Martin (The Steve Martin movie did not stay true to the biography)

9. Her contributions were so significant that she was honored with a U.S. Postage stamp with her picture on it

10. At her peak in the late 50s she was compared on par with Eleanor Roosevelt and Marie Curie!

Mother of 12, first PhD in Industrial Psychology, creator of ergonomics, all in a pre-modern era.

Lillian Gilbreth - super champ.

I hope you agree.

When you think of Lillian (Cheaper by the Dozen) Gilbreth you can help but think of her more as a mother than anything else. The movie presented a story of a wonderful mother, but none the less, just a mother. As is often the case reading the book gives one a much better, much more complete story of her life.

You don't think of a female engineer from her time. Engineering was something that a man did. Yet she was an engineer of some reknown. And being left after her husband's death with eleven children under nineteen she had to face many of the same problems that women have to face today.

To see how she faced them so many years ago is enlightning. Just to see that all of that many children graduated from college is rather amazing even in our world.

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth were the husband and wife consulting team that inspired the book and movie, Cheaper by the Dozen. In fact, there never were a dozen living children. (The second child, a girl, died in childhood from diptheria and a thirteenth was still born. But the Gilbreths always referred to their brood as a "dozen")

Frank had no education beyond high school and began his "career" as an apprentice bricklayer. That every bricklayer had his own technique fascinated him and led him to search for the "best way" the lay brick. He became a self-declared "engineer" in the emerging scientific management movement that Frederick Taylor pioneered.

In contrast, Lillian was well educated with a doctorate in psychology. She was the brains behind the consulting team comprised by Frank, her, and assistants. She was a remarkable woman who endured the discrimination against professional women in the early 20th century to become a real icon of success for the generation of women engineers who came after her. Her story, told in this book by Jane Lancaster, is an inspiration. I would liked to have known her.

This book was first written as a thesis. It shows. It is very complete with footnotes but unlike many a college thesis, it is very entertaining. It shows just what a remarkable women Lillian Moller Gilbreth was. She was a true feminist in the best sense of the word. This book fills in a lot of holes left by the books by her children. The Gilbreth's were helped a great deal in their child-rearing primarily by Mr. Gilbreth's mother. Mrs. Gilbreth was actually supposed to travel with her husband to the conferences to Prague and London in 1924. This book will shatter any notions you may have about the family from reading "Cheaper" and "Belles" so those who want to keep the picture they formed of the family from those two books should not read this book. The "real" Lillian Moller Gilbreth was much more interesting and complicated than we ever thought. This book just increased by many-fold my admiration of this woman.

If bringing up a dozen boisterous children and being a "working mother" at the same time seemed like it was fun when you read CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, this is the flip side to the hijinks. Lillie Moller (she changed her name to Lillian upon graduating from college because she thought it sounded more mature) was the daughter of a well-to-do family who could have married into "money" and been pampered for the rest of her life. Instead the bright, intelligent girl, who attended college and won a degree, then went on for her doctorate in an era when women were supposed to be maternal or ornamental, married self-taught engineer Frank Bunker Gilbreth, who willingly accepted his wife as an intellectual partner. Together, until his death in 1924, and then afterwards, Lillie Gilbreth made inroads in the field of motion study and psychology in the workplace. This biography reveals many personal things that weren't brought out in CHEAPER and its sequel, BELLES ON THEIR TOES (which were, after all, not really intended to be in-detail biographies but humorous memoirs). If you were ever curious about the Gilbreths beyond the process charts, taking a bath in the least amount of time, and having tonsils removed en masse, this is an in-depth, well-paced narrative that reveals much more about the family, their own families (such as Lillie's sweet but domineering mother and Frank's own sturdy mother, who sometimes overwhelmed Lillie), their colorful family handyman Tom Grieves, and the business associates who helped--and hindered--the Gilbreths' research.

If you are looking for more anecdotal tidbits on life inside the Gilbreth family, or further insights into each of the twelve children you were briefly introduced to in "Cheaper by the Dozen", this is not the book you are looking for. And be aware that the author is a researcher, particularly of women's history, with accompanying feminist slant. I would sum up her goal as attempting to portray Lillian Moller Gilbreth as a very much equal partner to her husband Frank, in their motion and time study work. Bias towards Lillian, and bias against Frank, came through in her writing. She is critical of Frank and how much time he spends away from the family on business, but is defensive of Lillian for doing the same. She seems reluctant to cut Frank any slack, and rarely has anything positive to say about him. It sounds to me like this book may have originally been a college thesis, and then rounded out to make a book. Therefore, it is somewhat dry, and occasionally repetitive. I found myself trying to read between the lines to keep my interest.