Rating: 
Summary: Very Informative book!
Review: I would recomend this book for anyone with a first time pregnancy. I thought it was very informative and helpful in a lot of situations. You are not going to call you Doctor at a every little pain or disturbance, you just open the book and read it and in most cases it's very soothing. I don't know about other people that thought it was a disturbing book, or with too much information. there is never TOO MUCH information. I think it's helpful to know MORE that you are suppose too.
Rating:
Summary: Informative Book
Review: I liked this book - it was informative and provided lots of information in a month by month format (which I found most useful). I don't get the "it's too scary" comments - isn't knowledge power? Don't you want to know about things that can go wrong, and be able to potentially recongnize a problem earlier? I find the more I know, the better I feel. "It's too scary" complaints look almost childish! Grow up, ladies! I remember reading the diet section, but I don't recall that it left a lasting impression on me. If you can't follow their particular diet, don't! The book is not supposed to provide you with a day-to-day menue, it just gives you basic guidelines of what kinds of things you should be eating. Too many times, women think that pregnancy is their ticket to eat ice cream by the gallons, and the book emphasizes that healthy eating is important in pregnancy, as well as healthy weight gain. So, don't take everything that's in this book literally, but remember that it does contain useful tips.
Rating: 
Summary: Rather misleading...
Review: I found that even though this book is well organized and is easy to read, it does not provide risks, side affects, and natural alternatives for many medical procedures presented. It encourages kind of a wait and see attitude in terms of preparing for labor and birth instead of really providing the information in a factual way so that women and think about and make the best informed decisions regarding procedures and meds. I found that to be somewhat irresponsible.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is misleading
Review: I found much of the information in this book to be misleading or wrong. If you're really wanting to do what is best for you and for your baby, read another book. I suggest skipping this book all together.
Rating: 
Summary: Good resource book to have on hand!
Review: This is a great book to look things up in when you have a question. However, I would NOT suggest reading this book cover-to-cover. This book is quite in-depth, which is exactly what can make it scary for a mom-to-be or new mom. If your pregnancy is fairly uneventful and/or your child is fairly healthy, there is plenty here that will terrify you: no sense reading all the details about stillbirth, or gestational diabetes, or deformities if those things aren't a pressing concern in your situation. Again, though, if you did need to know about those things, this book covers it. Great to have in the house for times of need- just think of it as an encyclopedia or reference book, rather than a sit-down-and-read-it book.
Rating:
Summary: Better books are out there :)
Review: I agree with the other reviewers that this book should be called "What to worry about when you're expecting". It's great to have a guidebook that answers all your questions about what's going on, but I found that it worried me more than I should have. This is my first pregnancy, I'm now 18 weeks. Nobody has a perfect pregnancy, but the worst thing you want to do is go "hhhmmm, I wonder why I'm having these symptoms" and then look up to read that it could be nothing or it could be some horrible complication that you might need to go to the ER over. Pregnant women are like sponges soaking up information, at least all first time mothers that I talked to are.
Furthermore, the maternity clothing advice was awful!!! Let me give you an example: it says your husbands wardrobe is your best friend "take an oversized t-shirt and put a belt around the bottom of your belly for an interesting effect" Ok ladies, I don't know about you, but I'm trying my damdest not to be frumpville. One word for you: EBAY. They have really cute maternity clothes for really cheap. Even Amazon has cute maternity clothes if you can afford it.
The other thing I have to talk about is this godawful "best odds diet". Nobody who has had morning sickness (as I did) can even imagine sticking to a diet this regimental. My doctor told me to eat whatever went down and stayed down. I'm trusting my doctor, not some book author. You do your best, and that's all you can do. But you don't want a guilt trip from a book.
I shelved this book. There's much better ones out there. Even the pregnancy book that my doctor gave me from the hospital was better than this.
Rating:
Summary: Handy and useful book
Review: This is a great book if you're interested in what's happening with your baby each month along the way. It contains good information on your body's changes and is reassuring if you're wondering if something is normal or not. I found myself picking it up almost every day. A few other books I would recommend that you look at while you're shopping: The Pregancy Book by Sears and Gentle Baby Care by Pantley.
Rating:
Summary: Absolute, outdated garbage
Review: They issued a new edition with the same old outdated information. Save your money - these authors aren't selling you this "book" to give you good information: they are selling it to make themselves money because they know it's a popular book. If you care about your pregnancy even one inch and are PROUD to be pregnant, then get another book like "Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn" (most recent edition) by Penny Simkin, Ann Keppler and Janet Whalley. PCN will give you a fuller picture, be respectful of your intelligence, and assume that you want to be informed about what is happening, instead of the constant whining that accompanies WTEWYE. "The Pregnancy Book" by Sears is also a good read. There's a reason that this book is in every thrift store and recycle bin - it's garbage!
Rating:
Summary: A decent and basic pregnancy guide
Review: My OB gave me this book at my first prenatal visit and I probably leafed through it almost everyday of my pregnancy. Although I agree with many of the other reviewers that the book is fairly basic and deals primarily with the physical and medical aspects of pregnancy, I found the information contained in it to be quite accurate. In fact it helped me not to stress out about certain symptoms that I experienced and aided me in asking specific questions during my routine OB visits. Also, the format of the book makes it really easy to locate answers to specific questions. Still, this is a very basic, outline-type book and most women will benefit from reading another pregnancy book that moves beyond mere medical facts and what-if situations in addition to this one (this is where it comes in handy to develop a pregnancy and childbirth philosophy of your own along with your doctor/midwife and then read up accordingly). I also recommend that you look elsewhere for a more detailed pregnancy nutrition guide, as I found this one to be a bit confusing and uninformative. All in all, if you are looking for a general pregnancy guideline or starting point, this is the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: If what you're expecting is to complain. . . .
Review: This book was really a list of pregnant women complaining about their symptoms, or the ones their friend had and they didn't. There are a lot of complaints about the way the body changes (Yes, you are going to lose your waist and, yes, you are going to gain weight). These things are obvious and not worth the plethora of pages dedicated to selfish complaining. I purchased the book, brought it home, and returned it two hours later. There wasn't anything informative or helpful. I would recommend to anyone who wants real information to purchase The Pregnancy Book: A Month by Month Guide by William M. Sears and Martha Sears (who are a pediatrician and a nurse, respectively).
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