cover image Diary of a Baby

Diary of a Baby

Daniel N. Stern. Basic Books, $18.95 (165pp) ISBN 978-0-465-01642-6

Of particular interest to new parents will be this imagined ``diary'' in which Stern ( The First Relationship ), father of five and psychiatry professor at Cornell University Medical Center, traces the development of baby Joey from infancy to about four years of age. In prose that characterizes Joey's responses to his world (for instance, the use of ``I'' is reserved until Joey is four and a half months), Stern illuminates the development of volition, memory and a sense of self as they take place in five overlapping ``worlds of experience.'' The brief diary entries are expanded in descriptive sections in which Stern interprets an infant's reaction to sensory and emotional experiences; in these direct, informative accounts the baby is referred to as ``she.'' An inventive and highly accessible approach to an endlessly absorbing subject. 25,000 first printing; $25,000 ad/promo . (Sept.)