I think the only reason the "parenting book" industry can exist is because there isn't a single right way to do it. And people who are looking for some semblance of certainty can find a book to back up any preexisting intuition they have, and feel justified. Therefore, I say save your money and just go with your intuition, since I believe that's what most parents are doing anyway. There are, of course, trade-offs to every single choice you make along the way. (You might rightly ask me for a book that covers this meta-analysis, which I'm not aware of one such and would probably be a bestseller too...)