The best pregnancy book
This book is a terrific resource. I didn't find the author's tone condescending at all. His advice is based on facts and science, and he reminds his readers that miscarriages do happen, but there is pretty much nothing you can do about them, and there is also very little you can do to harm a healthy pregnancy. So, take it easy, take care of yourself, and don't worry too much.

Calming Influence
It seems like when you are pregnant, everyone is telling you what you should and shouldn't do. A lot of the advice you get seems strange and irrational. This book is wonderful because it is written by an actual MD (a surprising number of pregnancy books are written by women who think they know everything), and he tells you where a lot of the concerns, advice, and old wives tales originated from, and whether or not you really need to be concerned about it or not. I honestly felt calmer about my pregnancy, knowing I wasn't "ruining" my baby already. This isn't a book about what is happening during each phase of your pregnancy, or what to expect while you are pregnant. This is a book strictly about can you eat fish, can you drink coffee, can you travel, should you stay away from your dog for 9 months, do you really have to drink 11 glasses of water a day, do you have to stay out of the sun, can you eat sushi, etc. I think this is a nice book for the beginning of your pregnancy, but I didn't really look at it much at the end. It is a nice "extra" book to have, but if I was only getting one pregnancy book, this wouldn't be it. This is a great second book to have on pregnancy.

Accurate, research-based book
I couldn't recommend this book more to any pregnant woman. It does a great job of presenting evidence-based advice without the wives tales that persist in so many other popular pregnancy books.

Very informative
This is a great book on pregnancy. It looks at the relevant research on things such as alcohol, tobacco use, cosmetics, diet etc. and synthesizes the scientific results for the lay reader. People find the results to be "unbelievable" mostly because questioning obstetrics dogma and popular public perceptions is hard! highly recommend this book. Also to address the charge that the author often comes across as patronizing I think that his tone may occasionally be misinterpreted. Yes, I can point to a couple of instances where he might be a bit patronizing but mostly, I think his tone is one of exasperation. I think this book is a reaction to books like "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and the widespread disregard of scientific, evidence-based medicine in the obstetrics community. If you would like more information about these topics, I recommend Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First by Marsden Wagner and Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block.

Great evidence based book on pregnancy
I was overjoyed to find a pregnancy book that cited research as this one does. I've used this book myself and given it as a gift. I am a nurse practioner and have done a lot of work in evidence based medicine and quality improvement. Much of what happens in OB (and health care in general) is based on liability (legitimately in our legal environment) not on scientific evidence. I very much appreciated the authors approach to presenting information. This text is still very medical and might not be appreciated by those who are very anti-medical establishment. On the flip side it is also not a good choice for the person who feels most reassured by absolute confidence in their own care provider. I rated this 4 stars because this book was published in 2004 and could use a new edition.