What to Expect when You’re Expecting is the nation’s premier pregnancy primer. As a first time dad – imagine that! – I found this resource very helpful in understanding what my wife was going through, and what I could do to help out. She read the book religiously, of course. I would pick it up from time to time, skip through for the interesting articles, and eventually found myself engrossed. I imagine I read most of the book by the time the baby came.

The book is organized by month, and included issues that relate to much more than the biology of pregnancy (though there’s plenty of that also). Nutrition, medicine, sex, expectations, dangers … it’s all inside. It’s true that babies don’t come with an instruction manual, but this come as close as you can get. Even better, it presents advice without being dogmatic – there are really a lot of options out there, once you know the basics. Best part: at the end comes a great reward. Nothing beats prepwork for full enjoyment.