Books for New Dads: Fathering for Cavemen, Ball Players and Army Guys

Today's dads are pretty savvy when it comes to kid "handling and maintenance." Over the last two decades, fathers have gotten much more involved in caring for their children, mastering duties that once were strictly mom's territory.

Yet for some reason, when it comes to teaching men about fathering a new baby, we still feel the need to appeal to blatant male stereotypes. Over the last few years, books for new fathers have whetted men's appetites with titles like Ian Davis' My Boys Can Swim: The Official Guy's Guide to Pregnancy or Scott Mactavish's The New Dad's Survival Guide: Man-to-Man Advice for First-Time Fathers. While the former is praised as a successful blend of humor and great information, the latter details new fatherhood like a military operation with "mission orders" and "critical survival tips." Mactavish refers to unhappy babies as "howling beasts" and compares a new mother's swollen breasts to "supersize toys."

It isn't that these books aren't packed with good information on pregnancy and new babies - they are. It's that some of them rely on base male humor and stereotypes to get guys to read them.

This year's small crop of new dad books is no exception. Quarterback Dad, by Bobby Mercer with Alison Schonwald, M.D. (Adams Media, 2008), is touted as "the first book to provide practical pregnancy and newborn advice using a language all men can understand - football talk." (Chapters include small tip segments titled "Fumble" and "Touchdown.")