Rating: 
Summary: Stay away , the cover should have a warning!
Review: I have had this book for the 8 months and feel now that the girl on the front should have warned me to stay away. She looks positivly miserable and most of the book is the same. Very dry in it's contents. This is not the book to read if you have any sense of humor about your pregnancy or want to get the real scoop! Do yourself a favor, Go for Pregnancy for Dummies or the Girlfriends Guide, they are much better reads.
Rating:
Summary: Silly, flawed and blatantly ignorant
Review: The book lacks an easily accessible organization and a wholesome approach--apart from being flawed and, in many places, plain wrong. You may, for instance, have symptoms in the second month that only show up in the book's fifth or sixth month; so the month-by-month approach this book takes (and which had attracted me to it) turns out to be of no use at all and even quite disorienting. It also concentrates on all kinds of problems--some of them rather silly, others rather exotic medical conditions. The result is that you feel sick and silly after reading the book, not more informed and more in control of your life and able to make good choices.
One of the books erroneous presumptions is that the only safe place to have a baby is the United States of America. Never mind the greater availability of organic food, the huge variety of wholegrain products, the stricter environmental standards and the free health care in most European states. Before you follow the book's advice and only frequent "American restaurants" to avoid all those empty starches and greasy foods, ask yourself, why such a great percentage of Americans are overweight and obese and Europeans are not. For authors, there is no excuse for assuming such blatant ignorance in their readership.
Rating:
Summary: why do people still buy this book??
Review: This book is old and it's information is outdated. Tbe tone is highly negative and well, simplistic. If you want a good overall pregnancy book try The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth by Sheila Kitzinger.
Rating: 
Summary: Kind of Indifferent
Review: I was given this book at my first doctors appointment after I found out I was pregnant. I liked other books that I bought much better, and would not reccommend buying this one for yourself. I did look up a couple things, but it was to compare to things I read in other books or when I had a question. The diet they expect you to be on is a complete joke, and the book has kind of a preaching tone to it.
Rating:
Summary: I needed a starting book and this one sounded good
Review: If there were half stars available, i would give this book 3.5 stars instead of three. I liked this book, but i found it to be very short in description as to what happens each month. Since this is my first pregnancy, I was looking for a good book to reference for what i could expect each month and different ways to handle it. I found there to be more each month in a sort of "Letter to the Editor" fashion, than actual this is what to expect and this is how to deal with it. Which is more what i was looking for. But long lines of pregnant women in my life said this book would be a great starting place and it was, but it left me wishing for a bit more. I wouldn't say that i wouldn't recommend this book to someone in their first pregnancy, but i wouldn't use it as my only guide.
Rating: 
Summary: my pregnancy bible!!
Review: Excellent! I reccomend this book to anyone who is pregnant. This book has been a bible to me throughout my first pregnancy and now my second. Each chapter is thorough and very well organized. I have read each chapter before I began that month and have found them to be both reassuring and informative. The book includes in it a preconception plan, information about choosing a doctor, childbirth alternatives, second pregnancies, twins, sex while you are pregnant, and coping with the common and not so common pregnancy symptoms. I especially found helpful the chapters about labor and delivery. Most of what it said did actually happen to me, although the book made some things sound worse than they are. Some parts can sound pretty scary, but you need to be prepared for the worst. There is also a chapter that covers what the fathers can expect! This chapter covers everything from mood swings to sympathy symptoms to bonding. My boyfriend also has read this entire book and tries to follow the tips and advice more than I do!
Overall, i strongly reccomend this book to anyone who is planning to start a family. It is very helpful to have a guide to turn to whenever you have any kind of question at any time of the day!!!
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time or $$!
Review: Like others, I wish there was a no star rating. This book is TERRIBLE! When a former co-worker was pregnant, I saw her reading this book daily. So when my husband and I found out we were expecting, we went out and bought this book. What a waste of money!! My husband is a nurse, and found the just for dads chapter ridiculous, not to mention insane. I got so nervous about Labor and Delivery after reading this book I went out and bought 3 more books, just on L&D. I found the Sears' book, The Birth Book, to be the best guide. I wish I'd had their Pregnancy book, I'm sure I would have liked it much better. The diet that others mention in their reviews is completely insane and the authors make you feel like if you don't follow it, you'll have a child that has problems.(I didn't, I ate what I wanted, took my prenatal vitamin every day, and had a healthy 9lb+ baby.) Plus, if you're having a fairly normal typical pregancy, and you are a worrier, this book is awful- I worried for 8 months about all that could go wrong.(and all that happened was that I was slightly anemic and delivered one week early.) I would recommend that any new expecting woman go to the bookstore one evening, sit down in the pregnancy section(or get a selection of books and go sit down) and scan through the books. Find the one that seems to fit you the best and buy it. Or check them out of the library before buying. I wish I had. With my next one, I probably will. And I will never give this book to anyone who's expecting.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of money, infatilizes women, and overall [not good]
Review: Don't bother getting this book unless you enjoy scare tactics, paranoia, and unresonable expectations regarding weight gain and diet that are out dated at best. The tone suggests that women are slightly stupid, and the diet is one of the worst things I have ever read. Kitzenger, Sears, and a number of other authors have much better books that provide wonderful information, accurate, much more woman positive, and doesn't treat pregnancy like a horrible disease or disaster waiting to happen.
Rating:
Summary: What To Expect When You're Expecting, Third Edition
Review: This book was fabulous for letting you know exactly what was happening & what to expect throughout your pregnancy. I found this book to be a wealth of information. There weren't any questions that it didn't answer for me. I like honest forthright information. I highly recommend this book to every pregnant woman, especially the first time!
Rating: 
Summary: Pedantic - treats you like an idiot - guilts you to death
Review: For some strange reason, this book has become "the book" for pregnant women to read. It is unfortunate, because it is *not* the best book out there by any means. In all likelihood, it's expectant mothers' penchant for feeling guity that drive sales of this one. The facts in it are fine for the most part and agree with other materials I have read. But the presentation . . . If you have a (very common - 30% of women) problem like light spotting in the first trimester, do not expect any comfort - or even much information from this book on the troubling event. If you enjoy learning about a very strict diet (called "Best odds") and reminded throughout the book of what a loser you are if you eat something that's 'not very best-odds,' you might enjoy this one. There is no question that nutrition is important during pregnancy. This book would have you believe, however, that eating *anything* that's not:
1. packed with vitamins and/or calcium and/or protein and
2. low fat
is more or less akin to a very grave sin (practically murder.) It is so pedantic!! Ice cream, for ex, craved by many pregnant women (though not me) is just "not very best odds." You can just hear the sneer when the authors say something they don't want you to eat "isn't very 'best odds' anyway." Get off the high horse, authors. Most responsible pregnant women will try to eat healthy food and most will also indulge some of the cravings for foods that just aren't "best odds" according to you. These authors will make you feel that eating anything they don't consider best-odds is harming your babies gravely, depriving them of the very source of life - blah blah blah. Read here about your odds of having every weirdo and odd-ball pregnancy malady - that'll make you feel good - and about all your various odds of having deformed babies. I hated this book and fail to understand its popularity but I gave it 2 stars because it is accurate, I think.
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