You don’t have to be a mother or even a woman to be fascinated by the science and physiology that Garbes writes about.” — NPR’s Fresh Air
“This is the book I wish had been available during my pregnancy and my baby’s first weeks of life. Angela Garbes’ voice is reassuring and relatable, and her curiosity is infectious, and her sense of humor is just what people in the trenches of early parenthood need.” — Emily Gould, of Emily Books and author of Friendship and The Heart Says Whatever
“In spite of how long women have been giving birth, there is a lot of misinformation out there about pregnancy and motherhood. Angela Garbes seeks to get it straight in Like a Mother. She not only corrects misinformation but offers advice and support.” — Bustle
“Garbes examines preconceived ideas about pregnancy and the history of women’s health from a critical standpoint, revealing the prejudices and politics so ingrained in our culture that they still affect the care (or lack thereof) pregnant women receive today. Like a Mother is a compelling read.” — The Stranger
“The science is sublime. I especially appreciated, oddly, learning how much we still don’t know about the high-stakes path to parenthood. But what got me was Garbes’ regard for mothers as people in their own right, rather than the hosts or self-sacrificing caregivers they’re conditioned to be.” — Seattle Times
“Garbes unpacks reams of pregnancy advice, often absurd in its conflicting demands. Like a Mother gave me a toolkit for approaching a hoped-for future.” — Claire Fallon, Huffington Post
“Like a Mother illustrates scientific fact with frankness and intimate detail.” — New York
“An empowering resource…Garbes shares up-to-date, well-substantiated information about women’s physical and mental health, aiming to help readers reduce their anxiety and make truly informed choices.” — Publishers Weekly
“Like a Mother is the evidence-based, open-minded book that U.S. pregnancy culture needs…a true feminist accomplishment that puts trust and agency back with women and parents.” — Rewire.News
The science is sublime. I especially appreciated, oddly, learning how much we still don’t know about the high-stakes path to parenthood. But what got me was Garbes’ regard for mothers as people in their own right, rather than the hosts or self-sacrificing caregivers they’re conditioned to be.
Like a Mother illustrates scientific fact with frankness and intimate detail.
You don’t have to be a mother or even a woman to be fascinated by the science and physiology that Garbes writes about.
Garbes examines preconceived ideas about pregnancy and the history of women’s health from a critical standpoint, revealing the prejudices and politics so ingrained in our culture that they still affect the care (or lack thereof) pregnant women receive today. Like a Mother is a compelling read.
Like a Mother is the evidence-based, open-minded book that U.S. pregnancy culture needs…a true feminist accomplishment that puts trust and agency back with women and parents.
Garbes unpacks reams of pregnancy advice, often absurd in its conflicting demands. Like a Mother gave me a toolkit for approaching a hoped-for future.
In spite of how long women have been giving birth, there is a lot of misinformation out there about pregnancy and motherhood. Angela Garbes seeks to get it straight in Like a Mother. She not only corrects misinformation but offers advice and support.”
This is the book I wish had been available during my pregnancy and my baby’s first weeks of life. Angela Garbes’ voice is reassuring and relatable, and her curiosity is infectious, and her sense of humor is just what people in the trenches of early parenthood need.
Garbes examines preconceived ideas about pregnancy and the history of women’s health from a critical standpoint, revealing the prejudices and politics so ingrained in our culture that they still affect the care (or lack thereof) pregnant women receive today. Like a Mother is a compelling read.
You don’t have to be a mother or even a woman to be fascinated by the science and physiology that Garbes writes about.
Like a Mother illustrates scientific fact with frankness and intimate detail.
Angela Garbes maps the strange void at the heart of American parenting-the ways we simultaneously deify, infantilize, and erase mothers-and then pours herself into that void with indefatigable curiosity and resounding compassion. Like a Mother is a deeply-researched history of human reproduction; it is a jewel-bright memoir; it is hard science beautifully translated; it is funny; it is intersectional; it will crack you open and fill you with awe. Required reading for mothers, and double-required for everyone else.
04/16/2018
Spurred by frustration as a first-time mother receiving an overwhelming amount of advice from doctors, books, and the internet that was “definitive yet contradictory” and “inextricably tied to the language of morality,” Garbes has created an empowering resource “rooted in emerging science and real-life stories.” In each chapter, she shares up-to-date, well-substantiated information about women’s physical and mental health, aiming to help readers reduce their anxiety and make truly informed choices. Garbes is at her strongest in chapters that address the biology of pregnancy and lactation in detail, bringing a geeky sense of wonder to the composition and functionality of breast milk, the structure of the placenta, and the care of the pelvic floor. In other chapters, she approaches the complex topic of risk with introspection rather than judgement, discussing the fraught question of whether to use psychiatric medicines during pregnancy. Finally, Garbes makes space to talk intimately about her most distressing experiences as a mother, such as the grief of miscarriage and the terror of losing control when labor does not go to plan. Throughout this thoughtful book, she speaks to her readers as peers, providing affirmation that their experiences are important and that they are not alone. (May)
You don’t have to be a mother or even a woman to be fascinated by the science and physiology that Garbes writes about.
The pregnancy book that every smart, feminist woman has been waiting for has finally arrived! Garbes’ natural curiosity and enthusiasm is infectious and never sacrificed as she navigates the culture of pregnancy and once-taboo subjects like miscarriage, placentas, and the pelvic floor with humor and delight. Garbes insists, rightly and beautifully, that women deserve more: more information, more compassion, more autonomy as well as more support. I read Like a Mother in one sitting, and read half of it out loud to my husband. I finished the book filled with hope and gratitude, convinced this book is both necessary and long overdue.
An extension of Garbes’s viral article about breastfeeding, Like a Mother illustrates scientific fact with frankness and intimate detail.
“Like a Mother is a compelling read, informative without ever becoming tedious, occasionally humorous, and poetic without ever being flowery. It’s intended for mothers, sure, but it can also be enjoyed by anyone interested in understanding the culture, science, adversities, and triumphs of becoming a mother.
