Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong--and What You Really Need to Know (Unabridged)
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4.4 • 151 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“Emily Oster is the non-judgmental girlfriend holding our hand and guiding us through pregnancy and motherhood. She has done the work to get us the hard facts in a soft, understandable way.” —Amy Schumer
What to Expect When You're Expecting meets Freakonomics: an award-winning economist and author of Cribsheet, The Family Firm, and The Unexpected disproves standard recommendations about pregnancy to empower women while they're expecting.
Pregnancy—unquestionably one of the most profound, meaningful experiences of adulthood—can reduce otherwise intelligent women to, well, babies. Pregnant women are told to avoid cold cuts, sushi, alcohol, and coffee without ever being told why these are forbidden. Rules for prenatal testing are similarly unexplained. Moms-to-be desperately want a resource that empowers them to make their own right choices.
When award-winning economist Emily Oster was a mom-to-be herself, she evaluated the data behind the accepted rules of pregnancy, and discovered that most are often misguided and some are just flat-out wrong. Debunking myths and explaining everything from the real effects of caffeine to the surprising dangers of gardening, Expecting Better is the book for every pregnant woman who wants to enjoy a healthy and relaxed pregnancy—and the occasional glass of wine.
* This audiobook includes a downloadable PDf of charts, graphs and an Appendix from the book.
Customer Reviews
Excellent content but…
I would give 5 stars if I actually READ the book, but since it takes for me too long reading in English, I opted for audiobooks.
The content of the book is incredible, a numbers cruncher is telling her “nerdy” obsession for answers, which I really appreciate. But God I can’t stand the tone of her voice… so sorry. It’s too nasal and reminds me the girl in school who always raised her hand for questions or comments… anyways, maybe is that type of girl who has done an incredible research, which, again I greatly appreciate!
A Mixed Review From A Child Development Professional
I get what Emily was trying to do and I admire her desire for true and accurate data. The problem is like many human beings, she is bias and this shows in how she addresses each study. For the studies that don’t align with what she wants, she has a long list of why they are problematic and could be wrong even without any proof-just guessing what maybe could have happened. For studies that align with what she wants it’s short and to the point that the studies are there and also are proof that the other studies are wrong. They don’t have even close to the same level of scrutiny. I tried finishing this book so many times because I loved that she advocating for pregnant women to be treated like intelligent adults who can make their own decisions but I couldn’t learn anything because it was so biased. Emily seems brilliant and like she has the right intentions but I was expecting more from someone who valued data so much.
Amazing for any mom-to-be
This book was incredibly insightful. I love how unbiased and data-driven every topic is. It allowed me to be informed about everything while still being able to form my own opinions on my pregnancy. Highly, HIGHLY recommended!
I also read the second book (Cribsheet) which is another must-read for moms-to-be.