Cheaper by the Dozen

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 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 show more 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 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 show more 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 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 show more 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 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 show more 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

A 2007 re-read of an old, old favorite. (I read it last in high school.) I was very pleased to find I still enjoy it. Parts of it made me laugh out loud.
It's the unsentimental anecdotal story of the family of motion/efficiency experts Frank and Lillian Gilbreth---a family that eventually included 12 children. A light, happy read that almost makes you believe a family of fourteen is nothing to shudder at.

Yup, still as delightful as it was when I was a kid. Somehow I missed, back then, that Mother, too, was an engineer. And the bonus of re-reading it now is that I can go online and find out that the Time-Motion analyses were real, and even see some of the films and promotional pictures. My family values efficiency & economy to a very high degree, but we're pikers compared to Gilbreth. I would have loved to learn Morse code the way these kids did! Really too bad Dad died so young, but many men did back then. Anyway, yes, if you haven't treated yourself to this yet, it's about time you did. Oh, and I have no interest in a movie version.

I am probably going to be flayed alive by fans of this classic bit of kiddie lit, but I didn't love it. As a matter of fact, far from wondering what it would have been like to have grown up in their family, I was beyond grateful that I didn't. Usually I am all for daydreaming and inserting myself in the appealing, old-fashioned world but not in this instance. I do understand that writing this book was probably a labor of love on Gilbreth and Carey's parts. And I am quite certain that they would be horrified to know that I found their father, at least as depicted here, to be an unpleasant sort. The idea of running a family as a factory or business might seem quaint and entertaining from a distance but it struck me as distasteful. I was show more particularly interested in the assertion by the authors that he respected children and that's why so many children liked him. Then, completely without irony, they said that he would cut off their dinner conversation by declaring it "not of general interest" and go on to expound on whatever had fascinated or consumed him that day. Respectful? Wow. That's not my understanding of the word.

But the look at the times and the inner workings (even if unusual) of a large family was interesting. Mother Lil was really rather marginalized in this book but I suspect she takes center stage in the next book so perhaps the pair are intended to be seperate portraits of their parents in the milieu that the children knew them best: the family. It is also worth noting that there was only about one year in which all 12 children were at home since the age span between the first and the twelfth is great enough. And since Frank Sr. died when the youngest was merely two, his jovial response to people's wonder at so many children that they come cheaper by the dozen was really only true at the very tail end of his life. The book is almost episodic in nature, with the interesting bits recounted, leaving the narrative flow a bit choppy. And figuring out who all the children were? Don't count on it as they aren't described distinctly enough to differentiate amongst them. But this is a classic and people do love it so perhaps I was just in a terrible mood or completely missed the elusive something that draws readers to a book. The family antics were occasionally entertaining but I had a hard time getting past my dislike of the not quite so genial patriarch. Heresy, but I prefer the movie versions. show less