Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.

One of the greatest finds was this book bought on a footpath in Mumbai from booksellers that those days stocked old and second hand books for extremely affordable prices. It is always a joy to read it and I have gone over it I don't know how often.

This is the real version though, and the recent film has little to do with the real life story that one finds here, penned by two of the dozen siblings. Or perhaps by a son and the mother. It is as much about love as about time management, the area of expertise of the parents of the children. They in fact defined it, and used it to bring up the children as well in many ways.

There is so much delight here, so much wonder. The child that could multiply when three, the skit the children put up to imitate their parents inspecting a factory, the sisters that negotiated between young romances and bratty brothers, the lighthouse they had for a vacation, learning typing and learning French and learning about stars, ...

And above all how there came to be a dozen children to begin with - six of each kind - which, for this couple, was only fitting. They made that decision the first thing after the wedding, and carried it out!