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I am loving this book!

Whereas gorillas, horses, and animals of many other species always form harems, among human beings polygyny and polyandry seem to be optional opportunistic exceptions; monogamy is the rule. Human beings almost never have to be cajoled into pairing. Instead we do this naturally. We flirt. We feel infatuation. We fall in love. We marry. And the vast majority of us marry only one person at a time.

...widespread permissibility of harem building, it can be explained by a simple principle of nature: polygyny has tremendous genetic payoffs for men.

But fidelity is not central to this scientific definitions either. They add, "By 'essentially exclusive' we imply that occasional covert matings outside the pair bond (ie, 'cheating') do not negate the existence of monogamy.

Hence monogamy does not imply fidelity. The Oxford English Dictionary defines monogamy as "the condition, the rule or custom of being married to only one person at a time." This does not suggest that partners are sexually faithful to one another.

partners in the attachment stage of love trigger the production of endorphins in each other, giving each the sense of safety, stability, tranquility.

...once you see your sweetheart regularly the passion typically lasts two to three years.

Lovers who see each other irregularly, because f some barrier like and ocean or a wedding ring from another person, can sometimes sustain that smitten feeling for several years.

Alas, infatuation fades. As Emerson put it, "Love is the strongest in pursuit, friendship in possession."

No wonder lovers can stay awake all night talking and caressing. No wonder they become so absentminded, so giddy, so optimistic, so gregarious, so full of life. Naturally occurring amphetamines have pooled in the emotional centers of their brains; they are high on natural "speed."

W.H. Auden likened sexual craving to "an intolerable neural itch." H.L. Mencken described it differently, saying, "To be in love is merely to be in a state of perceptual anesthesia."

Last, as a rule we are drawn to people like ourselves. Likes tend to marry likes...what anthropologists call positive assortive mating.

No wonder people fall for an individual who is married, a foreigner, or someone separated from them by an obstacle that appears almost insurmountable. Yet generally there must also be some slight possibility of fulfillment before one's first stirrings of infatuation escalate into an obsession.

Apparently during a critical period in childhood, most individuals lose forever all sexual desire for those they see regularly. Mystery is critical to romantic love.

Then, once infatuation flowers, the scent of your sweetheart becomes and aphrodisiac, a continuing stimulant to the love affair.

95 percent of Tennov's female informants and 91 percent of her male subjects REJECTED the statement "The best thing about love is sex."

"Falling in Love" The first dramatic aspect of this condition is its inception, the moment when another person begins to take on "special meaning."

I would like to think that courtship starts when 'he" or "she" makes a marvelous joke about a unlikable politician, an astute comment about the world economy, or a tantalizing remark about a recent play or sports event--something humorous, intelligent. But infatuation may begin with the slight tilt of a head, a gaze, a gentle touch, a tender syllable...or a whispered tune during a swaying dance.

31- When friends are hooked up to electroencephalographs, which measure brain activity, the resulting tracings show that even brain waves get "in sync" when two people have a harmonious conversation.

28- Human skin is like a field of grass, each blade a nerve ending so sensitive that the slightest graze can etch into the brain a memory of the moment.

27 - No wonder many women wear high-heeled shoes. This bizarre Western custom, invented by Catherine de Medici in the 1500s, unnaturally arches the back, tilts the buttocks, and thrusts the chest out into a female come-hither pose. The clomping noise of their spiky heels helps draw attention too.

I'm long past due for a reread and I feel it's necessary

Only about 50 pages left! I don't want to stop reading for the night, but I must!

I can't know what's coming. I only know how to make myself feel ready for it.