hw 40

"Hey - thanks for writing The Surprising History Of How We Are Born-BIRTH. Your core argument of how and why we are born the way we are made me rethink what I already know about pregnancy & birth."

But the author, surprised to be talking to someone who instead of sharing their own birth story actually rephrased the main idea of the text s/he spent months giving birth to asks, "Really, which parts were most effective or important for you?" When you answer, "Well, in the last third of the book you focused on the way women of different cultures handle their postpartum birth, which added another angle to the first 2/3rds of the book . But let me be more specific." And then you listed the top 3 ideas/pieces of evidence/insights/questions from that final third of the book (and somehow even listed page number references).
1. Birth always reflects the culture in which it happens. (250)
2. Modern medicine has made great advances in the area of child birth but has not erased the fears of birth completely.(253)
3. Bonding with the baby is important for the mother and baby from the very beginning of the process and post birth because it improves their relationship ,etc (229)

At this point, realizing that s/he's having a unique conversation with a serious reader of her/his book, the author asks - "But what could I have done to make this a better book - that would more effectively fulfill its mission?" You answer, "Well, let's be clear - your text sought to provide, historical analysis from the perspective of a journalist and mother for the book-reading-public to better understand pregnancy & birth in our culture. Given that aim, and your book, the best advice I would give for a 2nd edition of the text would be, to focus less on the sensational history cases of birth and add more personal stories from real women and their experiences. But I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I appreciate the immense amount of labor you dedicated to this important issue and particularly for making me think about how history has influenced the way women of different cultures and time periods have chosen to give birth & that every women should be allowed to make her own decisions on how to give birth because every women’s desires of what the birth process should be like is different. In fact, I'm likely to think about and evaluate how I would want my own birth experience to happen differently as a result of your book." The author replies, "Thanks! Talking to you gives me hope about our future as a society!"