While it starts out with an utterly horrifying anecdote, this look at the unintended consequences of son preference in traditional families running up against the capabilities of modern medicine is still quite informative. One quibble: the author continually plays up how the preference for a son rises substantially after the birth of one or more daughters as somehow exclusive to the societies being studied. On reflection, I can't think of any family who would state they'd rather have more of one sort of child than another. Then again, I'm not sure just how far a western family would go to guarantee the outcome.