Book Review of Cheaper by the Dozen
The autobiographical book Cheaper by the Dozen was written in 1949. Since then, it has been reprinted numerous times, most recently in 2003. The book, written by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, two of the twelve children of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, is about Frank Jr. and Ernestine's recollections of growing up, in the company of ten other siblings and two high-powered engineers as parents, in a huge house in Montclair, New Jersey, around the turn of the 20th century. Much of the humor within this book is because the father of this huge family, Frank, is a good-hearted man who loves his twelve children and their antics, but is also an engineer (as is his wife Lillian) by profession, and an "efficiency expert". Frank Sr. likes to believe problems and conflicts can be solved in a sort of mechanical way, and sometimes with just one quick solution for every problem (at least that is his theory). Many funny and ironic situations arise from this questionable premise. Still, as the authors of Cheaper by the Dozen recall, "Dad was happiest in a crowd, especially a crowd of kids" (p. 5). But since, as an engineer, Frank Sr. owns a scientific management company, he continually tries to apply his vari
I found Cheaper by the Dozen to be a very inspiring book, and always very honest and humorous. Cheaper by the Dozen conveys the message that family members who love one another, stick together, and have a sense of humor about things that happen in families, and in life, can make it through anything. Therefore, I highly recommend the book Cheaper by the Dozen as an excellent reading experience for everyone. Dr. Lillian Gilbreth seems the true hero of the Cheaper by the Dozen family. Frank Gilbreth Sr. died before any of his children had reached 20 years old. Lillian continued raising the children on her own, while working and lecturing full-time. Moreover, she managed to put them all through college. Lillian Gilbreth, amazingly, given both the time and the large number of children she had, also had a very distinguished career in her own right when few women had such careers, and even fewer were also mothers of such large families. Still, Lillian Gilbreth managed to be a loving and attentive mother to all of her children. Obviously, this book was set in far simpler times than today. For example, as the now grown up Gilbreth siblings first describe their father: "Dad was a tall man, with a large head, jowls, and a Herbert Hoover collar..." (p. 1). This tells us right away that the book takes place many decades ago, since Herbert Hoover was President in the 1920's. Even the conflicts and disagreements detailed within the book, which are always described truthfully and in detail, seem humorous, good-natured, and reasonable, espec
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Approximate Word count = 1057
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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