Alan Frank Guttmacher (1898–1974)

I read this a long ago. I remember feeling reassured. The only thing I actually remember from the book had to do with a discussion of "maternal impressions"---whether an expecting mother's thoughts or experiences could affect her unborn baby. Dr. Guttmacher shares a conversation between two colleagues in which one of them relates:

"...When seven months pregnant, [a friend] went to the zoo and as she stood before the bear's cage the huge animal growled and made a lunge at her with his paw. She fainted, and two months later her baby was born with bare feet." [pp. 72-73]

This edition is "newly revised' according to the title page. The verso explains that the copyright dates are 1956 and 1962 and that it is "an authorized reprint of a hardcover edition published by The Viking Press, Inc."… (meer)