Product Reviews

Author: Katherine Ellison

Publisher: Basic Books

What it's all about: Katherine Ellison aims to reverse the current belief that pregnancy and motherhood somehow addle your brain. She argues that motherhood actually changes your brain to make you smarter, especially in five key areas: perception, efficiency, resiliency, motivation and emotional intelligence.

Presentation: This is a moderately hefty hardback which makes you feel you need to set aside time to read it properly - not necessarily an easy prospect if you're a busy parent. It's a book to make you think rather than one for practical use.

Tone and target audience: The book is aimed at mothers and assumes you are intelligent and able to understand the arguments in it. It doesn't patronise, and contains a fair number of clearly explained scientific principles. I found the Americanisms irritating - not least the spelling of 'mommy' (is it just me?). There's also a distinct post-feminist tone.

Usability: This isn't a practical book but a thought-provoking one. It's not a dip in and out book but a read right through volume. The final chapter is a list of 'Ten tips to help you make the most of your mommy brain'. These are not particularly original, including advice such as 'socialise', 'multitask away' and 'don't underestimate the power of sleep'.

The good points: If you suffer from underconfidence in your ability to function at work or at home as a result of having had children, this book will certainly help you feel better about yourself. Ellison offers some compelling evidence (though nothing I'd describe as proof) that women's abilities in some areas can improve as a result of motherhood, and I was persuaded that it is a myth that our overall skills are reduced.

The bad points: I felt there were two main problems with this book. Firstly, 250 pages of hardback, written competently but not captivatingly, is a lot to wade through for something which I felt would actually have made a very interesting article rather than a whole book. Secondly, I was ultimately unconvinced by Ellison's argument that motherhood changes your brain in some fundamental way. Certainly practice - at anything - causes changes in the brain. And you get a lot of practice at things such as multitasking when you have children so, yes, you get better at some things. But whether there's anything more substantial going on is hard to say and she failed to convince. Comparison with fathers would have been really interesting as a control but, although fathers did get the occasional mention, they didn't get as much of a look in as I would have liked.

Best Feature: feel better about yourself Worst Feature: competently written but not captivating Verdict: It isn't a practical book but a thought provoking one

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