A The first 1000 days of life, starting with conception, are a critical time for laying down the foundations for future development.Mark Hanson and Lucy Green delve into the science of how the interplay of biological, experiential, sociological, cultural, environmental, and other influence the foundation for development and learning. Through these influences neural pathways are created in the brain; in addition, these influences can determine which genes are turned on or off, The authors provocations stimulate discussion and thinking about the role of parenting and how the quality of caregiving by parents, family, and other caregivers can have a profound impact on the emotional development. Attuned, engaged, and attentive interactions with newborns and throughout the first 1000 days supports the development of emotional regulation and can lead to the feelings of safety and trust. Rather than telling parents how to parent, there is a need for a 'village' approach to raising children.

Based on the premise that the first 1000 days of life (pregnancy and roughly the first two years) fundamentally define a large part of human development, this is interesting reading. Many different aspects of humanity are considered, from personality to lifelong health, and facets such as generational trauma, personal choice, and societal strictures, are considered. That said, I couldn't quite grasp a cohesive thread to this. It seemed to jump between topics and life stages with a logic I didn't understand. Also, there was a noticeable recurring theme of fat-shaming and food-shaming. It seemed to embrace very old, normie, black-and-white ideas that label things as "healthy" and 'unhealthy". It takes a certain amount of judgmentalism, if not outright hubris, to accuse a centenarian of being unhealthy because they say they enjoy butter and cream! The premise of the book is certainly worth considering, but this one didn't quite come together for me.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

From a developmental standpoint, this book is filled with important information on how we process our world as a child. It helped my brain click together various learnings from several branches of psychology. I thoroughly enjoyed it, learned a lot, and look forward to recommending and discussing it!

My thanks to NetGalley and Cambridge University Press for access to a digital ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. It was written clearly and gave lots of valuable information. I'd definitely recommend.