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For those who want the medical evidence to support home birth:

Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth

Paperback, $13.45 at bn.com

This is the book you buy to research the medical evidence. No pictures, no poems, no nonsense. Well worth every penny.

Henci Goer's devotion to the study of medical research on childbirth is impressive. Her previous book, Obstetric Myths Versus Research Realities, has become a reference guide for a growing number of midwives and doctors. This book is designed for the family to be and presents sound information on common obstetric interventions and whether or not they are supported by research. If you're looking for a book that offers research-based information on various childbirth topics, this might very well be the finest one around. Several women have reported using the information in this book to convince skeptical husbands and family members that birthing at home was a safe and viable option.

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For those seeking a closer connection to their bodies during pregnancy and birth:

Active Birth, Revised Edition: The New Approach to Giving Birth Naturally

Paperback, $13.45 at bn.com

There are many books on birth and various birthing methods out there but few of them are focused as intently on what the average mama can do to alter the course of her own labor and not just how to "cope with it". If you're looking for tips on breathing, birth positions, yoga and massage that can be used throughout the childbearing year, this might be your book. It offers about as empowered a perspective as any "mainstream" book does and it's full of practical suggestions for families who aren't yet confident about how birth really works. The only complaints I've seen about this book have to do with the pictures, but if outdated nude hospital birth photos don't bother you, I think you'll be very happy with this book.

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For those who want to explore the primitive side of birth through art:

Birthing From Within: An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Preparation

Paperback, $13.96 at bn.com

This is a different sort of birth book. It's full of art drawn by participants in the author's "Birthing from Within" workshops over the years. The old saw "a picture is worth a thousand words" is an apt way to sum up this book's approach to birth education. By getting in touch with our own source of birth art, the authors hope that we will uncover the emotional work of birth before labor begins.

One of the finest birth primers around, if you're looking for a book that talks more about birth than about the protocols surrounding birth.

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For those who want a consumer's guide to childbirth:

Mothering Magazine's Having a Baby, Naturally: The Mothering Magazine Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth

Paperback, $17.95 at bn.com

Peggy O'Mara has outdone herself with this "everything you wanted to know about natural pregnancy and birth but were afraid to ask" tome. Everything from the safety of epidurals to lotus birthing with a decided preference for home birth with a midwife as the safest option going. This book is more like a "crunchy pregnancy for dummies" book than the other options on our list making it a neat alternative to the "What to Expect" series of mini-medical manuals.

Mothering magazine has been the leading industry journal for women who consider mothering their children to be their valid career choice for nearly 30 years now. It is the "only independently owned family living magazine in the world" and continues to champion the rights of mothers (and fathers) and their children through their high-quality publications.

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For those convincing reluctant partners to consider birthing at home:

Birth Your Way

Sheila Kitzinger has been an outspoken childbirth advocate for decades now and her books have always been ground-breaking works that challenge the status quo at the time. This time she focuses on birthing at home (or, if home is unsuitable, a free-standing birth center) by first addressing all the reasons why normal births should take place at home and going from there. If your partner, friend, parent, sibling, co-worker, etc. is arguing with you about the safety of homebirth, this is the book you need to have laying around, highlighted with page corners folded on the parts that touch you the deepest.

Where Henci Goer can get caught up in the research and the logical reasons to avoid hospital birthing, Sheila Kitzinger is like a loving grandmother hitting the high points and gently directing you towards a homebirth because it "just makes good sense". If you need hard numbers and peer-reviewed journal studies to make your case for home birth to a seriously reluctant intellectual-type, go with Henci Goer. If your family is all thrilled that you'll be birthing at home and don't need any convincing in that area at all, you might prefer Elizabeth Davis. But, if you're on the fence and just need a warm but firm push towards home birthing, Sheila's book is the one for you.

Farmer and the Obstetrician

Paperback, $22.50 at bn.com

Michel Odent's insights into the parallels between industrialized childbirth and industrialized farming are not to be missed. This book will alter your diet and your birth in one sitting. As an radical Obstetrician, Dr. Odent has worked tirelessly to reform hospital policies and change the face of birth. With this book he explores the larger issues of living in modern society and how childbirth concerns are merely one part of the larger problem we face. If you eat or birth, you'll get something out of this book.

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Paperback, $24.95 at bn.com

Dr. Robbie Davis-Floyd, renowned cultural anthropologist, has produced another book on childbirth. This one explores birth in sixteen different cultures and contrasts the difference between cultures where women are seen as the source of authoritative knowledge on birth and cultures where machines and "birth experts" are seen as the source of authoritative knowledge on birth. Yet another book that explores the deeper issues surrounding birth, not just the traditional "what should I expect?" question and answer book.

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Reclaiming the Spirituality of Birth: Healing for Mothers and Babies

Paperback, $14.95 at bn.com