More books, different topic. This time about babies...

I've put the business books on hold the last few months, and instead, dove into the stack of used baby books we've collected from friends.

Baby books (meaning books about childbirth and caring for newborns) range greatly in quality. I suggest you flip through some of them before purchasing; or even better, ask your friends with small children if they have any you can borrow.

Of the birthing and newborn books we have, the following stand out as useful:

• [Baby 411, Third Edition: Clear Answers & Smart Advice for Your Baby's First Year](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/188939226X? ie=UTF8&tag=eriksmarttcom&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=188939226X) -- A great reference. Easy to look stuff up; easy to read little sections at a time. The advice is rather redundant though, so you'll get bored if you try reading cover-to-cover (which doesn't seem to be what it was written for.) I know a few people with this book, and all have rated it highly.

• The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance -- It's sort of a joke, but it's the only book on caring for a baby that I've come across that seems to be written specifically for guys (and geeky guys at that.) An easy read, and very approachable. It was a nice way to get up-to-speed on a variety of topics -- making it easier to then research things I wanted to know more details about.

• The Baby Sleep Solution: A Proven Program to Teach Your Baby to Sleep Twelve Hours a Night -- Our little one is still too young to start sleep training, but this book came highly recommended. There's some controversy around this book, but it's interesting to hear this perspective.

In addition to these, we have a small collection of baby sign language books that I'm looking forward to digging through. We're still a bit early for signing, but I'm fascinated by the idea that infants can learn to communicate through signing before they are able to talk.