Wow.

I like to read. And I'm not big on fiction (I've tried.). I tend to pick up books on economics, history, politics, culture and in this case parenting (my third parenting book). I guess the review that it was 'the Freakonomics of parenting' is what caught my attention. I love Freakonomics and whole-heartedly believe in it. I appreciate that often the most obvious answer is the correct one.

Nurture Shock is insane. Insane. And it is actively changing the way I parent before I am even finished the book. I've read parenting magazines and articles that have offered up loads of great advice. And often, I have applied it to mommyhood, but never has it pierced me so deeply that I didn't need it to be consciously implemented. This book is unreal. How unreal? I pulled out a high-lighter. BUT.... I didn't have to, I remember every word I read. Maybe because it (true to freakonomic fashion) is so obvious. Maybe because to parent the way the book suggests is actually easier than the parenting style society suggests?

I can see this book, 20 years from now, on my book shelf. It is tattered and the pages have been highlighted, dog-eared & photocopied. I will have lent this book to friends, quoted it to no extent and stormed PTA meetings with it, siting the thousands of studies it refers to.