Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong--and What You Really Need to Know

· The ParentData Series Book 1 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Emily Oster and Jonathan Todd Ross
4.7
18 reviews
Audiobook
9 hr 58 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook

“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.

Ratings and reviews

4.7
18 reviews
Cheyenne Brown
July 13, 2024
I do not recommend buying this book, it's not helpful. The author deceptively uses her credentials and experience with data analysis to appear trustworthy. The information she shares appears "medically informed," but she is extremely biased against home birth, a natural mindset, and those who choose to avoid things like shots and antibiotics (never addressing their proven risks, stated on the boxes). She convieniently, almost exclusively, presents data that backs up her worldview, when other data is available, and makes unthoughtful conclusions about things she doesn't know. The only thing I learned was about toxoplasmosis and how one might be able to enjoy undercooked meats with peace of mind. Otherwise, it was a waste of my time.
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About the author

Emily Oster is a professor of economics at Brown University and the author of Expecting Better, Cribsheet, and The Family Firm. She writes the newsletter ParentData and her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Bloomberg. She has two children.

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