On the surface, parenting seems pretty simple: a parent has to follow the path of his or her parents which produced such a wonderful gift to mankind as himself or herself. As soon as this path fails, they turn to the Internet or to the myriad shelves of books devoted to parenting in book shops. As soon as that fails, their hair turns prematurely silver or falls out, they go into mid-life crises and generally blame the lack of desired result on the corrosive influence of the other spouse. This newest addition to the literature presents something different -- smart parenting. It could have been called "thinking person's guide to parenting" as well because that is what it is. It is a book which lays out the essentials of this most perplexing, happy, sad and sometimes scary human endeavour.