The Caveman's Pregnancy Companion: A Survival Guide for Expectant Fathers

by David Port, John Ralston, Gideon Kendall (Illustrator)

A three-trimester evolutionary crash course to guide the prehistoric papa-to-be through the prenatal, preparental wilderness. Every man should read it!

What’s a clueless caveman about to become DAD to do?  After all, it’s tough carrying a child for nine months—for him as well as for her. He’s just not sure how to behave. But help is on hand, in the form of a reassuring (and hysterically funny) course for the totally perplexed. Along with a large dose of humor, it provides the father-to-be with all the know-how he needs to become a well-prepared, well-heeled partner who’s really ready to stand upright and embrace his new responsibilities…rather than cowering from them. Every cave-student will find out how to support his mate through this emotional time, cope with his own feelings, deal with baby-related projects, and perform admirably during labor and delivery. So whether it’s catering to his exhausted companion’s needs by preparing a nutritional and tasty meal or engaging in a snuggle session when she craves a little cuddling, with the help of this book a guy will become the proud Cro-Magnon caregiver he longs to be!

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2006

Reviews

[Scott Christ]

DNF. I’m not sure and can’t remember if it’s meant as a cover-to-cover style book though.

My son was born March 31st. I would say that one who was gifted this book or is thinking of gifting needs to watch a Tim Allen stand up show or two. If they think that’s funny, give them this book.

If they’re not in the mood for repeating “we’re making fun of you and we think that’s funny” humor, please avoid gifting this book.

I’ll be honest, I chucked a few times. More often though, I felt that it wasn’t quite the guide for me. Maybe if I picked it up again or heard a better review, I would appreciate it more. It did occasionally ease my anxiety from laughing at the silliness.

[Erica]

This is the most bare bones book I’ve seen/read for men guiding them through pregnancy. The language is very dull and at time insulting. My husband was offended to no end so I felt inclined to read it and I understand what upset him. One of the redeeming sections is the recipes, especially for men that don’t do much cooking (unlike my husband).

Otherwise, this book would be better for the guys that don’t do much to begin with or who are not usually involved in any household activities. The information is still there but there are better books for the men on this subject. Plus, this book is almost 20 years old now.

[Megan]

Not only was this an amazing book for my husband while I was pregnant but I found myself referncing it more than my expecting books. It is laid out in chronological order and tells you what types of things to expect while also being funny. It has been our go to baby shower gift since my pregnancy.

[Dave Oram]

This book has some useful information, but feels designed for a younger audience than myself. Maybe better suited for a teen to early 20's something.

It did have some useful information though, it was just presented a little too caveman-like at times.

[Dustan Holland]

This was a great book to prepare me for what to expect during the pregnancy. I referred to it many times during the 9 months. Recommended for new dads.

[Earl Pike]

Fun but meh. Got a few pages in and put it down and never picked it back up.

[Robert Mood]

Got this book at a used bookstore because a) I'm an expectant father and b) seemed kind of funny? The question mark is the most accurate description of the book. I assumed the caveman/cro-magnon jokes were just kind of a jokey intro. This is not the case. Seriously. Every. Single. Paragraph. (Or, MOST paragraphs, because I started tallying how many paragraphs did or did not include a lame caveman reference instead of paying attention to the substance, which in and of itself says a lot about the "substance"). I can only imagine that this thing was written around the same time that some network TV knucklehead decided it would be a good idea to green light a sit com based on a Geico mascot (heck, the gecko would probably have more insight). I stopped reading soon after the table comparing fatherhood to pledging a fraternity (they had fraternities in caveman days...well, actually that may make sense). Soon after I found "The Expectant Father" and realized that I should avoid "funny" fatherhood books. If anybody sees this, go find a copy of the Expectant Father. Unless you are a frat boy caveman. Then, by all means. Continue.

[Joey Lechuga]

Perhaps it's unfair of me to rate this book so poorly when it claims to be a guide for cavemen. I was excited when I found this book because I consider myself a caveman, by which I mean someone who believes that our instincts, anatomy, physiology, brain chemistry and basic social organization has changed very little in the past 15,ooo years. But this is not a book for my kind of caveman. This is a book for the functionally illiterate man-child. Does that demographic exist on Goodreads? I haven't searched the groups. Anyway, it's worth a read if you don't plan on reading another pregnancy book and you don't mind being insulted every other paragraph. The chapter on cooking healthy meals (including recipes) is solid, and there are good ideas for virgin cocktails.

[Mike]

I actually stopped reading this after about 50 pages or so. While the book does do a good job of identifying the difficulties that expectant fathers may face, it tries too hard to present coping methods in a humorous fashion and ends up insulting your intelligence...as if you were actually a caveman living in prehistoric times. Although the book manages to convey a few valuable tidbits, I found that they were few and far between; overshadowed by a myriad of silly annotations. Do yourself a favor and read something else. I would suggest anything by DadLabs.

[Matt]

First of all, don't read this from end to end. That's dumb. It's meant to help expectant fathers get through different phases. I've read every word, but no more than 5-10 pages at a time.

It's witty, has interesting ideas, and really helps to wrap your head around what's happening with your lady. Need massage help? Done. Don't know what to cook for your wife that's both healthy and delicious? Check.

Is it the next must read for fathers? No. Was it a waste of time? Absolutely not.

[Jason]

It was okay. It had some nice tips for first time dad's to be, but hard to say since I'm still not a dad. Seemed to have a lot of filler that really did not need to be said and the whole caveman thing that was a running joke throughout the book got old really quick. All and all, for someone like me who knows nothing about what to expect, I think it is a good book to read, but not the best.

[Todd]

This was OK,
There's some useful information, although the cave man analogies got old.
Also I thought having about 15 pages of recipes, for breakfasts, dinners and drinks was a bit excessive.
My pregnant wife is picky enough about her food right now that I make exactly what she asks for at the time. If I picked some recipe from this (or any other book), I'm sure it wouldn't be right for her.

[Dustin]

I got this one because it looked like it might use some humor to lighten the monotony of such a textbook subject, that and it had extras like recipes and massage instruction... Looked cool.
I wish I hadn't paid for it. Rather than funny, the whole thing relentlessly insults fathers to be. It's more offensive than helpful. It's actually quite sexist against males in general.

[Mouse]

These kind of books kill me! This is pretty much written for Biff from Back to the Future...or maybe Conan the Barbarian!?
It's a fun approach to the subject, but where it tries to be humorous it mostly just comes off as insulting and it gets old real quick.
It's actually got an area for Cave Notes at the back of it...hahaha.

[Sandy]

I bought this book for my husband when I was pregnant with our third son in 2007. It is a hilarious book to help fathers-to-be cope with their wife's delicate condition.
I love the way it describes the size of the baby in each month of pregnancy compared to other objects.

[Tyler McAdams]

Great guide on what to expect during your wife's pregnancy. It's filled with humor and speaks the language of guys, all while relaying extremely useful information. I highly recommend this for expectant fathers.

[Shane]

This book provided some good information about that whole pregnancy thing, and the "Caveman" angle was well-done.
There were a few sections that didn't seem very useful and were there just for filler (such as a recipe for making your own salad dressing. Who actually does that?).

[Josie]

Picked this one up for the hubster, not me. But I flipped through it and I think it'll be helpful for him.

[Becca Seitz]

ABSOLUTELY hilarious!

[Justin]

This book was utterly terrible. After a few chapters of the constant insults (against the reader) and the puns that got old in a few pages... I had to put this one down.

[Adam]

A bit condescending to men, but full of useful information.

[Jeffrey Prows]

Yeah this is a good brief crash course of what to expect as a guy.

And a whole bunch of recipes, I guess, if you don't know how to cook.