A Reading Vocation
"I Must Read, Read, and Read. It is my Vocation." - Thomas Merton
This is where I chronicle my reading life. I also blog about writing at Lacey's Late-night Editing.
Book 49/100: The Prenatal Prescription by Peter W. Nathanielsz
This was the first book I read on the phenomenon of "prenatal programming," but there wasn't a whole lot here that was new to me.
While the idea that what happens in the womb has a profound impact on someone's later life was probably pretty revolutionary when this book was published about 10 years ago, it is less so now. Still, a lot of the information here is still good, and I appreciate that the tips given are research and evidence based rather than just commonly accepted wisdom -- even though, alas, a lot of it DOES boil down to commonly accepted wisdom. So while this is an accessible, fairly empowering read, I didn't feel as if there was a ton here that I didn't already know. Also, there were so many misprints, including sentences that just dropped off in the middle, that I thought Nathanielsz must have self-published his findings. Nope, it was published by HarperCollins -- before the recessing and mass editor layoffs -- so someone was majorly sleeping on the job when this one came through for quality control.
I suspect the more recent Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives, which has gotten a lot of attention, is probably a better book on this subject. But THAT book was not available at my yearly library booksale for a buck.
