Helpful Score: 3
This is a memoir about Frank and Lillian Gilbreth written by two of their older children. (They had twelve. How could you guess?) The Gilbreths were a rather prolific team in the business realm also. From 1910 to 1924 (when Frank Sr. died) they were highly respected efficiency experts in the United States and in Europe. Their major contribution in the areas of motion study and efficiency is still referenced today in all major textbooks on management. This book traces their life up to the time of Franks death. Frank, with his humorously dictatorial approach to parenthood, is the central figure. The family also becomes the test arena for many of his efficiency theorems and practices. Lillian, somewhat in the background, is the one who quietly keeps everything in control. This is a whimsical portrayal of life in the upper middle class at the turn of the century. It is an enjoyable book that should never go out of fashionor print.
Helpful Score: 3
Better than the new movie any day of the week and twice on Sunday! And if you read this you have to get the sequel Belles on Their Toes!
Great family classics!
Great family classics!
Helpful Score: 2
There is a reason that that only the special few have twelve kids. I was so impressed by Mr. Gilbreth in this memoir. He found so many amazing ways to teach his children will any time that was at his disposal. It was quite intimidating actually when I think of my attempts to teach my children. He really is a role model. His wife was amazing too to go along with all his schemes. This was a great read.
Helpful Score: 2
Definitely a wonderful book about a family that respects one another and learns responsibility. A fascinating and funny read.
Helpful Score: 2
No growing pains have ever been more hilarious than those suffered loudly by the riotous Gilbreth clan.... If you liked the movie - you'll love this book!
Helpful Score: 2
Cute novel about a great family and its ups and downs. I love the way the parents made this marriage work (and of course they made their kids work)! Inspiring and heartwarming.
Helpful Score: 2
This is a WONDERFUL book written by two children of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, a couple who developed efficiency and safety studies in the early 1900's. This brother and sister team describe the pitfalls of growing up in a family of 12 children, who are guinea pigs for their father's efficiency experiments. Adults and children both will appreciate the humor in the many childhood pranks, and in the embarrassing situations the teens have to deal with, due to old-fashioned parents and too many mischievous siblings.
I find this book just as funny and poignant now as I did when I first read it 50 years ago! If you like humor in a vintage setting, this is for you!
I find this book just as funny and poignant now as I did when I first read it 50 years ago! If you like humor in a vintage setting, this is for you!
Helpful Score: 1
Great story about a very large, busy family!
Helpful Score: 1
This is a delightful book. One you just have to read.
Helpful Score: 1
humorous, enjoyable classic
Helpful Score: 1
I love this book! I am 30, remember the b&w movie fondly, but have to rave about this book. I read it over ten years ago and remember loving each character, especially the quirky efficiency-expert father. Great, great book.
Helpful Score: 1
Very cute book. Story is nothing like the movie it's much better!
Helpful Score: 1
Great family read aloud.
Helpful Score: 1
This book is a really enjoyable book.
Helpful Score: 1
This is one of my favorite books. Don't let the cover fool you-- this is the original true story of the Gilbreaths, not at all like the new movie. It is a very funny and touching story. And don't miss the sequel, Belles on Their Toes.
Helpful Score: 1
This was a charming story about growing up in a family with twelve kids. It was very enjoyable... much better than the movie!
Helpful Score: 1
I laughed all the way through this book! Such a wonderful family of interesting characters.
My wife and I did this book as a read-aloud. It's a light funny enjoyable wholesome read.
It was very interesting to read the real story of this large family. It was full of funny stories and funny characters, all named Gilbreth. Well worth readying!
A funny family read. Some words and scenes were skipped over for our young listeners though.
Very funny!
true story
Funny stuff. I mean, Laugh Out Loud funny.
Back in the days when the "horseless carriage" was a novelty, there were twelve red-headed Gilbreth children, and they had more fun than a traveling circus. They lived in a great, big, wonderful house in the country, with all kinds of pets, and a large, gray Pierce-Arrow that Dad Gilbreth called "Foolish Carriage." Whenever Dad took the family for a ride, someone was sure to ask, "How do you feed all those kids?" And Dad would reply: "Well, you know they come cheaper by the dozen."
This is used in Sonlight Core 4
Filled with large family accidents, quirky incidents, and stories to keep you chuckling "Cheaper by the Dozen" is an excellent read. Taking you back through the years to a different era this is a good light read.
1949 memoir of life with the Gilbreths - efficiency expert Frank, his wife Lillian, and their twelve children. Wholesome and funny and an absolute classic.
"Cheaper by the Dozen" is a nice, humorous read.
funny. I also enjoyed getting a true glimpse of life during the first part of the 20th century.
Funny book! This a newer copy of the book with a picture of Steve Martin on the cover. I loved the movie with Lucille Ball and the book is great!
This book is a classic. If you're disappointed that the book and movie are different, be disappointed in the movie - the book came long before! I read it growing up and look forward to introducing it to my child in a few years.
Great book-I remember reading it years ago and it is still funny!!!!
Backcover: No growing pains have ever been more hilarious than those suffered loudly by the riotous Gilbreth clan. First, there are a dozen re-haired, freckle-faced kids to contend with. Then there's Dad, a famous efficiency expert, who believes a family can be run just like a factory. And there's Mother, his partner in everything except discipline. How they all survive such escapades as forgetting Frank Jr., at a roadside restaurant, or going on a first date with Dad in the backseat, or having their tonsils removed en masse, will keep you in stitches. You can be sure they're not only cheaper, they're funnier by the dozen.
Although the cover shows the movie version (which is nothing like the book!), this book is the original. It is hilarious! I highly recommend this book. It is set in the early 1900s, but written in almost as if the authors were sharing their story with you then and there. A real family book.
A famous efficiency expert tries to organize 12 children in one household.
This is not the Steve Martin movie version. This is the classic book of the Gilbreth family; mom, dad and their twelve children! Dad is an efficiency expert/engineer and often applies work principles at home with hilarious results. The book also has some very poignant moments as we watch the children grow up and the family deal with trials.
I read this book many years ago.
Really great, interesting book.
I enjoyed it so very much; it kept my interest throughout.
I LOVED it!
It has absolutely NOTHING similar with the movie of the same name from 2003 with Steve Martin. No similarity whatsoever.
A must read!
Really great, interesting book.
I enjoyed it so very much; it kept my interest throughout.
I LOVED it!
It has absolutely NOTHING similar with the movie of the same name from 2003 with Steve Martin. No similarity whatsoever.
A must read!
I did not like this book at all because it had nothing to do with the movie.
A wonderful classic about a bygone era - a biographical look back at the author's childhood.
This was okay book. Nothing that was going to stick with me forever.
This classic is more than entertaining, it's based on a real life family of 12 kids!
What do you get when you mix a blunt-talking, famous efficiency-expert father and a brilliant, compassionate psychologist mother with twelve rembunctious offspring of various sizes? The hilarious story of growing up Gilbreth has delighted generations of readers-and it remains as joyous and exuberant as ever.
My family is disappointed in the fact that the book is so very different than the movie. I was saddened to have my family member come to me and say that they found a profane word and have them mention that they were disappointed that the word j...ss was in their kids book. So, book is just ok, movie was much better! And the movie did not have any curse words, I dont think anyway.
New cover
