Stein, a devoted son to his aging parents, was initially unprepared to devote his life to fatherhood. "When my son first entered our lives", he writes, "I thought he would be a burden". With wry wit and disarming frankness, Stein describes how his complicated feelings about Tommy soon gave way to the overwhelming love and tenderness a father feels for his son -- and how he truly became a "dad".
Stein is unfailingly modest, self-effacing, and at times, sharply self-critical. But while he is hard on himself, he is also hard on other members of his generation, fellow Baby Boomers whose pursuit of self-gratification has all too often come at the expense of their children. Through his moving, often amusing narrative, he attempts to persuade his careerist contemporaries that being a parent is, by far, the world's greatest job