A new book from the bestselling author of 'Who Would Have Thought It!', 'Someone on the Internet is Wrong,' and 'The Brain is Material.'

Newborn kittens can crawl, killer whales can swim, and baby elephants can walk. A human baby is born unadapted and requires enormous resources during the first year of life.
Raising a healthy and happy person—and at the same time maintaining a career, well-being, and peace of mind—is a colossal amount of work, despite advances in medicine and rising living standards. As a result, many decide not to have children at all: everything is complicated, and there are already almost 8 billion of us on the planet.
Science journalist, science popularizer, and young mother Asya Kazantseva would have been very surprised if someone had told her five years ago that she would want a child so early. This book, her fourth, is special: in it, the author, as always, professionally and engagingly, talks about recent research in the fields of embryology, neonatology, and in vitro fertilization; about the real and mythical risks for mother and fetus; and about the possibilities and limitations of modern medicine. But that's not all. It's also a personal story about the most important decision in life and the beginning of a great love.

Illustrations by Marina Starakanami.