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lil_zaddy_mango's review against another edition
5.0
What a lovely book. Charming, witty, joyful, fun. It seems to capture the essence their father even as it describes a day or event for the whole family.
I couldn’t recommend it enough.
God help any future children I may have. They will rue the day I opened this book. The sentiment of this book will certainly stick with me.
I couldn’t recommend it enough.
God help any future children I may have. They will rue the day I opened this book. The sentiment of this book will certainly stick with me.
mpclemens's review against another edition
3.0
I'd picked this up from our library giveaway expecting an autobiographical account of the Gilbreth clan, but was instead pleasantly surprised to find it a reminiscent collection of stories featuring the late Frank Gilbreth, Senior. A light, quick read, although the taint of casual racism and stereotyping stands out far more now than at the time of the book's publishing. Warm and entertaining otherwise.
soniapage's review against another edition
4.0
I must say that I learned from this book because I had to keep looking things up! A lot of the terminology of the early 1900's was lost to me. I hadn't known how much influence Frank Gilbreth, Sr. and his wife Lilian had on factories worldwide in the areas of performance and production. Typewriting also. It's actually an interesting book although there is a problem with being politically correct in some areas that made me wince.
papidoc's review against another edition
5.0
Cheaper By The Dozen is a biographical account of experiences in the lives of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, and their 12 children. Frank and Lillian were two prominent time-and-motion scientists/consultants in the early days of the scientific management movement. Written by two of their children, this is an often humorous and occasionally instructive account of life with the 14 members of the Gilbreth family in the early days of the twentieth century. As efficiency experts, Frank and Lillian invented the "Therblig" (look at it backwards), units of human movement which they believed could be scientifically combined to make human movement in task accomplishment more efficient and less costly. The accounts of their intervention to make tonsillectomies more efficient, or to improve their bricklayer's efficiency, or many other such experiences are hilarious!
mbrandmaier's review against another edition
5.0
I read this a couple years ago. Lovely story, lovely family. The parents ran a very tight ship, but it was apparent they cared very much for their children.
rheren's review against another edition
4.0
This was pretty funny, but parts were painfully dated. I read some whole sentences that not only contained nothing that the kids could relate to, they contained nothing that even I had ever heard of. Occasionally you'd have whole paragraphs about gramaphone records of songs I'd never heard of and colloquial discussions of 1920s fashions and such that I couldn't even translate for the kids because the references were too dated for even me to understand. However, the overall story has many funny aspects to it, and the kids enjoyed some of the wackiness. It was enjoyable overall, but there are parts that haven't aged well.
srobertsp's review against another edition
5.0
This is at least my third read, likely my fourth, but my first in many years. It is still as delightful as always. The story and the illustrations of this edition were all familiar and still hilarious. Now I need to re-watch the original Clifton Webb movie version. And on to read Belles on Their Toes for the first time. And the Frank, Jr. bio of his parents too, Time Out for Happiness.
jedwardsusc's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Still charming, although some parts are harder to get through as an adult.