HOW TO GET PREGNANT

A comprehensive general guide to infertility and its treatment with the stress not on self-help--no matter what the title says--but on understanding. In simple (occasionally dry) language and via case studies, Silber--a urologist and expert on infertility--explains what ""normal"" is, why problems arise, and how to overcome them. He notes the importance of relieving anxiety, itself a major cause of fertility problems; clarifies each step of the reproductive process; and tells how timing of intercourse, position, and techniques affect chances of conception. Descriptions of diagnostic tests and non-drug and drug remedies are included; and the much rarer surgical remedies are covered as well. Throughout the approach is calm and commonsensical. When to seek help? ""When the couple becomes so anxious and so worried that their happiness is at stake. . . ."" At the end Dr. Silber takes up ""the outer limits of present fertility research""--experiments with artificial insemination, freezing and storage of sperm and embryos, test-tube babies and cloning--and discusses their possible uses in the future. Less treatment-oriented (though no more estimable) than the Decker-Loebl Why Can't We Have a Baby? (1978), this will help those with infertility problems to help the doctor help them.