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Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain | 
| Author: Sue Gerhardt
Publisher: Routledge
Category: Book
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £6.99
You Save: £3.00 (30%)
New (38) Used (13) from £5.93
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 1121
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 232
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 1583918175
Dewey Decimal Number: 155.422
EAN: 9781583918173
ASIN: 1583918175
Publication Date: June 24, 2004
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Opinion dressed up as science October 21, 2008
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
Sue Gerhardt's style of argument can be summed up as follows. Some of the people with problem A also have B. One possible explanation for B is C. C might be linked to experiences in early years. Therefore problem A is caused by not being loved enough as a baby. This is used to explain every problem from asthma to unemployment.
Starting with the simple and uncontroversial point that babies who are cared for tend to do better than babies who are not, Sue Gerhardt's obsession with her view of how mothers should behave towards babies distorts everything from then on. She only quotes bits of scientific studies that she can use to support her ideas, ignoring contradictory evidence even if it is in the same studies she quotes. She hardly ever considers any alternative explanation than her own and even on the rare occasions she does raise a doubt, she dismisses it simply because it doesn't fit with her view of the world.
Some scientific studies quoted in the book have only the most tenuous connection to the paragraphs preceding them and seem only to have been included to pad out the references page and create the impression that this book has some basis in science. Her `case studies' sound more like excerpts from trashy novels than scientific studies. I think Sue Gerhardt's approach to proper research is typified by the fact that she feels qualified to make judgements about the families of the killers of James Bulger based on what she had read in the newspapers.
Most people I know who have started this book haven't even been able to finish it because they have been so appalled by the sweeping generalisations, stereotyped views and idiotic conclusions. If you want to read a book about child rearing, read one based on evidence rather than this collection of opinions written by a women who doesn't even appear to understand the science she is quoting.
 Why love matters is a conversation starter March 10, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Taking the book with me on the bus or at the Waitrose checkout or at the barbers shop or Sussex University its title attracts attention. In the brief encounters which follow I enjoy speaking to parents whose infants obviously enjoy what's going on with the adults. I'm able to affirm that the love care and attention they give the child in those early years do make a difference and will set her up for life. To older people, and I am elderly, I speak of the 'forgiving space' that Sue Gerhart gives me in which to understand my chequered life. As Kierkegaard said 'Life must be lived foward, but it can only be understood backwards.'
An eye opener January 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm expecting my first baby in Feb-2008. I was looking for books about babies psychology, it's true that there are many things you know by instinct but many others are part of medical research, also important to consider.
I read the reviews of this book and that made me buy it immediately!. I loved it since the beginning, although it gives lots of technical info in the first chapters,I found it important as well, to understand in depth the rest of the book.
It's a great eye opener for all parents, parents to be, teachers and everyone in general, interested to understand babies and human behaviour... to improve our lives and the lifes of our loved ones.
100% recommended.
Rock solid scientific evidence and easy-to-folllow advice December 20, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book is great. It presents many scientific data without being boring or worse incomprehensible for lay-people and it gives plenty of good advice. I myself have a four month old son and I have greatly profited from the book. Many parents who come to visit my wife and me find my son sociable, smiling and happy. In my opinion this book is a must for parents and people who work in nurseries and in general with newborns and small children.
 Little bit too technical September 4, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I thought this book was good but I found it difficult to read because of all the references to brain chemistry. It is interesting to know how your behaviour towards your baby affects their development, and how it occurs in the brain, but I found there was too much focus on this and not enough focus on how to love your baby in the right way. A lot of people have said it should be a recommended book for all new parents, but I think the 'average' parent would struggle to understand most of the terminology in the book. However, I do feel more knowledgeable now I have read it and will never leave my baby to cry for prolonged periods due to what the book has told me, and now I love my baby as much as I can during the day and I do feel she benefits from it, she is a really happy baby. Perhaps a watered down version of this book should be available to new parents.
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