3.59 avg rating — 385 ratings

"Babies can be a joy. Babies can be hard work. And now, babies can be a 50-in-1 science project kit.

"Experimenting With Babies: 50 Science Projects You Can Perform on Your Kid" teaches parents how to recreate famous published studies on cognitive, motor, social and behavioral development — using their own children as the research subjects.

Mom and Dad can begin experimenting from day one (several of the experiments can be performed with babies less than 24 hours old), and they can continue to test hypotheses well into their child's toddler years.

Each project includes concise instructions on how to conduct the experiment at home using ordinary toys and household items as props; a hypothesis (predicted outcome) based on existing research; a synopsis of the landmark study on which the experiment is based; an easy-to-understand explanation of the experiment's significance, helping illuminate for parents some amazing, and sometimes surprising, principles of infant and early child development; and suggestions on how parents can incorporate these principles into their interactions with their child.

"Experimenting With Babies" will amuse and entertain parents — and the rest of the family. With the book's help, they'll experience the thrill of scientific research from the comfort of their own living-room laboratories and find out what happens when the empirical meets the adorable.

Visit ExperimentingWithBabies.com for more about the book, including a list of experiments, plus new research, interactive features, and more."

3.83 avg rating — 3,656 ratings

"Because "babies, unlike other appliances, lack instruction manuals," pediatrician Louis Borgenicht, M.D., and his son Joe Borgenicht, D.A.D., decided to write one themselves. This book, filled with helpful schematics and diagrams, gives detailed instructions on how to care for a baby as if it were a high-tech gadget.

The authors manage to sustain the baby-as-gadget metaphors throughout the book without it ever becoming grating, and they also manage to slip in some practical tips."

4.53 avg rating — 446 ratings

"This 16-page board book by David and Kelly Sopp features hilarious illustrations of "do's" and "don'ts" for common new-parent tasks, such as testing baby's bottle and checking baby's diaper.

By the way, if you're looking for non-book baby-shower gifts, the Sopps run Wry Baby, which sells quirky baby clothes, accessories, and toys."

3.49 avg rating — 147 ratings

"This funny paperback, part of the best-selling "Worst-Case Scenario" series, helps parents cope with just about any emergency life can throw their way, including:

• how to build a makeshift crib

• how to deal with a screaming baby on an airplane

• how to control a stroller in snow and ice
"

3.86 avg rating — 245 ratings

"This book is a great gift for any new dad who's not familiar with the finer points of baby-raising: diapers, swaddles, car seats, and nursing pads.

It's chock full of illustrations — some useful, some just funny — that show dads, step by step, how to care for their little one.

Written by Shawn Bean, executive editor of both Parenting and Babytalk magazines, it's part of the Show Me How series, which also includes the book "Show Mom How.""

3.63 avg rating — 460 ratings

""The next time I am invited to a baby shower, LET'S PANIC ABOUT BABIES! is what I'm getting the mom-to-be. Then I'm going to sit in the corner and read it, and it will be the first time in history that someone has had a howling good time at a baby shower. I love this book unconditionally. Brilliant, funny, fabulous. Every pregnant human being should have a copy."

— Mary Roach, New York Times bestselling author of STIFF, BONK, SPOOK, and PACKING FOR MARS"

3.18 avg rating — 17 ratings

"We live in an age in which one's baby is thought of as a reflection of oneself ... and if you happen to be a highly competitive person, then you'll want to raise a highly competitive baby.

Author Dale Hrabi presents this satirical guide for ultra-competitive parents with sky-high ambitions for their children.

You'll love the funny illustrations, charts, and other graphics that offer tongue-in-cheek advice on how to ensure your progency rise above the crowd. For instance, he recommends choosing a beguiling name for your baby from sources that "less ambitious parents generally overlook," such as the names of registered U.S. yachts, Ralph Lauren paint colors, or popular IKEA products."

3.86 avg rating — 478 ratings

"James Lileks, a columnist for the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis, has assembled print advertisements, photographs, and newspaper columns from the 1940s and 1950s that offer dubious child-rearing advice.

You may find Lilek's sarcastic commentary unnecessary, given the outrageous nature of the source material, but you're sure to get plenty of laughs nonetheless."

4.27 avg rating — 102 ratings

"This is a humorous board book from illustrator Lisa Brown's "Baby Be of Use" series, which also includes titles such as "Baby, Get Me Some Lovin'," "Baby, Make Me Breakfast," and "Baby, Do My Banking."

Obviously, though "Baby, Mix Me a Drink" is designed in the style of a baby book, it's really intended for parents, who'll get a kick out of the colorful illustrations and wry text.

(Brown, by the way, is the wife of Daniel Handler, better known as Lemony Snicket, of "A Series of Unfortunate Events." But she's clearly not riding any coattails. Her work is hilarious in its own right.)"

3.86 avg rating — 1,815 ratings

"Robin O'Bryant, a stay-at-home mom and creator of the popular Robin's Chicks motherhood blog, delivers the same type of humor in this book as on the blog.

"With the humor of Bombeck and the warmth of a best girlfriend, Robin O'Bryant gives every mom permission to not be perfect. The chapter on road-tripping with three tiny children and a flu-stricken husband was one of the funniest things I've ever read. Pour yourself some 'mommy juice' and enjoy meeting Robin and her 'chicks.'" — Celia Rivenbark, New York Times best-selling author of "You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl.""

4.10 avg rating — 2,299 ratings

"Lise Eliot, Ph.D., a neuroscientist, writes about baby's developing brains from the perspective of both a mother in awe and a scientist who's well acquainted with the complexities of the mind.

This book, targeted toward parents with an interest in science, explains how your baby's brain develops in the womb, and how it continues to develop during your child's first few years. She offers tips, backed up by cutting-edge research, on how to help stimulate your baby's brain development, and insights into what's actually going on in that cute little head."

4.03 avg rating — 26,589 ratings

"In this provocative book, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman use social-science research to back up their argument that much of the conventional wisdom about how parents and society ought to nurture children is not just wrong and ineffective but, in some cases, actually harmful.

The book takes on topics such as language development (and why popular strategies don't work), racial sensitivity (and why popular methods of racial integration don't work), self esteem (and why constant praise doesn't help), and intelligence (and why "gifted" programs' evaluation methods don't work)."

3.84 avg rating — 230 ratings

"Roberta M. Golinkoff, director of the Infant Language Project at the University of Delaware, with developmental psychologist Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, explains how infants acquire language, and what parents can do to help make language acquisition easier for their babies.

The book presents a mix of hard science and research analysis, for those who are interested in the ins and outs of child development, as well as some very practical "try this at home" exercises, for those who want to see how all of this applies to their own child."

4.06 avg rating — 1,158 ratings

"This book by Dr. Jill Stamm, co-founder of New Directions Institute for Infant Brain Development in Phoenix, Ariz., focuses on babies' intellectual development.

Stamm writes with an interesting personal angle: She had one baby who was born extremely prematurely — doctors even suggested that she would never walk or talk — and another baby who was not born prematurely. She describes how she used an ABC (attention, bonding, communication) approach to encourage the development of each child and help them flourish, and she offers practical suggestions to parents about how they, too, can help nurture their child's development."

3.89 avg rating — 309 ratings

"Cognitive scientist Paul Bloom argues in "Descartes' Baby" that what makes us uniquely human is our innate dualism: the recognition that there exist both material and immaterial things. (The titular Descartes, a famous French philosopher, is known for his belief that the brain is physical but the mind is non-physical.)

Bloom presents developmental research that supports his thesis, and then touches on how dualism contributes to our understanding of, and attraction to, subjects such as art, morality, philosophy, and humor."

3.83 avg rating — 41 ratings

"Paige Wolf is a green-living advocate and a mother of two who found herself struggling to be an eco-conscious parent. Sifting through conflicting headlines and determining what separates "realistically green parent" from "crazy green parent" can be a daunting task, so Wolf took it upon herself to save other parents the trouble.

"Spit That Out" also includes real-life stories from moms who are trying to be green but not lose their minds (or drain their bank accounts) in the process. The general theme: Do what you can, but don't feel guilty about not doing what you can't."