Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. (1911–2001)

In my first management course in graduate school I learned about scientific management and motion study. This wasn’t my first introduction to Frank Gilbreth, Sr., and Lillian Moller Gilbreth, though. I had already met them as the parents of a dozen children through the memoir written by two of their children and the movie based on the book. It’s been long enough since I’ve read the book that it was a fresh experience for me. The brother and sister who co-authored the book tell stories show more from their childhood episodically rather than chronologically. They write of parents and siblings with genuine affection. Many of the stories are laugh-out-loud funny. I had a happy childhood myself, and yet I found myself wishing I could have been among the Gilbreth dozen. show less

Cheaper by the Dozen is probably one of the books I've had the most fun reading. This is the story of Frank Gilbreth, his wife, and their twelve children around the turn of the 20th century. It's an account, written by two of the twelve children, of the many interesting and humorous events that they witnessed growing up in such a large family. Family life is made even more enjoyable by their extremely unique father who was a pioneer of motion-study, and who did such things as covering the show more walls of their home with lessons about astronomy, Morse code, etc.

In real life, Frank Gilbreth was the foremost expert in the country on motion study and its effects. Transferring this knowledge to his home life, Frank attempted to raise his twelve children according to his own unique set of rules and regulations. The result was sometimes catastrophic, sometimes brilliant, and always funny. These twelve lively kids make the book fun to read and I loved the variety of stories that made their lives memorable. Every child is so unique and by the end of the book, I really felt that I was part of the family.

I've probably read this book a half dozen times over the past fifty years. It's serious, funny, and sad in some places. I found this charming story to be captivating, motivational, heartwarming, and humorous. There are so many hilarious anecdotes I was constantly in laughter and tears. The book is full of humorous events including family trips in the car which always caused people to stare, family council meetings, and one of the most memorable, a visit from a woman representing birth control who had no idea how large the family was. I highly recommend this wonderful story about an interesting real-life family. show less

A yellowed paperback copy of this book made its way from my Mom's shelves to mine back when I was a teen and on a serious classics kick but I hadn't picked it up before now. Discussing the book with her this weekend, I learned that she'd bought it for school and didn't like it much. My opinion didn't vary from hers. Two of the elder of the Gilbreth siblings write this memoir of their years growing up in a family of twelve children in the early 1900s, but the primary focus of the memoir is show more their father. With strong opinions and a large personality, you can tell from the tone of the text that these children adore the memory of their father but as an outside observer, he comes across as a bit of jerk. A motion study engineer (essentially he consulted as an efficiency expert for mostly factories, reducing the number of motions workers needed to make for a job), I'll give him credit for making his wife an equal partner in his professional life. But his views on child-rearing were a bit bizarre and while they were effective, he'd give some modern helicopter parents a run for their money. With far fewer anecdotes of the hijinks the children got up to in such a large family, the narrative wasn't quite what I expected. The writing is also a product of its time with several moments of casual racism. My biggest takeaway was the boggling fact that the Gilbreths had twelve children in seventeen years (with no multiple births) and that Frank Gilbreth senior passed away when the youngest was two years old. I'd be far more fascinated to read a tale of Lillian Gilbreth single parenting all those children. Not recommended. show less

The parents of Frank and Ernestine make an interesting couple. She is a psychologist and he is a motion study engineer. Together, they work to make processes more efficient for various business and by default, their twelve children are efficiency aficionados. Why twelve children? As Mr. Gilbreth explains, they were "cheaper by the dozen." It's a running joke in the family. Be forewarned, the family has a lot of running jokes.
An example of making a process more efficient: Mr. Gilbreth show more evaluated surgeons during operations to make their procedures go smoother.
While the bulk of Gilbreth's story is humorous, it must be said that at the time of writing no one thought it politically or socially incorrect to call a Native American a "red indian."
I don't want to give too much away, but the birth control scene was hysterical. I couldn't help but laugh out loud more than once. And I don't think it is a spoiler alert to say that I loved the ending. Mother Gilbreth steps fearlessly into her husband's shoes and carries on the family business. Brilliant. show less