This is a short book with a 130-page introduction that takes up almost 40% of the written material. It has brief chapters covering fetal through late adolescent growth and development. It could best be described as an overview of an incredibly vast amount of material, but not in enough detail to qualify as a practical text or a comprehensive reference.
I find it to be interesting reading but mostly covering material available in other sources and lacking any originality in its style of presentation. It does contain valuable material for medical students who are rotating through general pediatrics, adolescent medicine, or developmental pediatrics, although not as a required primary text.
I find the chapter on fetal development sufficiently convincing that we are dealing with indispensable humanity and not disposable amorphous tissue. In the chapter on the newborn it is fascinating to discover what an intelligent infant, with memory and preferences,