I picked this book on a whim while on vacation at the beach--I'd been having a tough time getting through entire books once the school year had ended (I teach college)--this book was a delightful antidote to all that-- The author's sense of humor and attention to telling detail in her evocation of family life in the early part of this century was interesting, entertaining and informative--The characters (from the famous scientist Pavlov to her father's maiden sisters who lived with the family and carved out careers when women did not do that)were people one would like to have met-I loved getting a picture of how Cambridge, Boston and Harvard were then as well as how a large, lively, eccentric and intellectual bunch of people lived their lives-- The drawings were fun, too!--A good old fashioned memoir which shines a positive light on its subject(s)!