Answering the Call: the U. S. Army Nurse Corps, 1917-1919: A Commemorative Tribute to Milita... Book

Really enjoyed this book, she explains alot about why we r the way we r.
HH i so whitty , i love her compairsons & explainations. The book reminds me that we are animals, civilized animals and that is where our instincts come from. our main objective is to reproduce. and it all comes down to that, bigger house attracts more women, more money....altthough sex doesnt equal reproductions always in these days its still in our nature.
our eating habits are based on those of our ancestors and back when they needed and craved high fat foods b/c they were not as easy to come by-no 7_11's back then! really interesting to see why i feel the way i do sometimes, why we are attracted to each other why we are possesive and territorial, at times a little hard to read w/ all the facts but she mainly threw in funny explanations and poked fun at humans in general and herself.
i found the chapter about how mens and womens brains develop and process things differently really interesting. explains why we communicate so badly with one another. also very interested is lefty's and how they use different parts of the brain also

I highlighted like 1/2 of the book but here are some of my fav's.

"Men's nipples are about as useless as an eye on the bottom of a foot."

"Most members of the warm-blooded crowd need between 4 and 8 percent body fat on hand to support normal activity and reproduction. I am probably carrying 30 percent, because....i need to have a cookie and think about that."

"one reason i have so much body fat is that i'm female. a fit human male is about 15 percent fat, while a female, on whom offspring depend for nourishment, is 23 percent. I carry even more than that because...because cookies are too damned easy to capture"

"why fat and sugar? why don't i crave salad? my body is lagging behind the times. for the first few million years of hominid existence, salad was everywhere. you had to kick it out of the way just to get around. by contrast, energy-rich foods were either too seasonal or too fleet-footed for convenience. "


"humans, although naturally social animals, are nonetheless suspicious of strangers. Unless we're given a reason not to, most animals tend to view on e another first as competition, and only later as potential friends and mates."

"bonobos rarely encounter a conflict they can't resolve by copulating"

"based on shreds of date, my fevered brain concocted a detailed delusion of who this males was and how we would run into each others arms across the Town Landing parking lot, and build a white castle on a hilltop and make a living raising unicorns...."

"the hormone fluctuation , the dopamine, the serotonin- last only a year or two. Then you're suddenly looking across the breakfast table at a deeply flawed and aggravating...well, a human. and that's why we have oxytocin, which can be renewed daily. As i sit muttering about unanswered questions and unwashed dishes, my mate lays his warm forepaws on my shoulders and kissed my cheek. the oxytocin, always ready to serve, glows in my brain, and we stay bonded for another day."

"the human animal is turning into an animal that chooses wheather or not to fulfill its biological mandate."
"humans choosing not to breed is growing. if this cultural fashion were to catch on worldwide, wouldn't that be an innovative way for an animal to go extinct not for lack of habitat or food, but for lack of interest"


"Pap Loon, who took the day shift, sitting on two eggs beside a Maine Lake. Sitting. and sitting. And turning his head. and sitting. for twelve hours. If that were my job i'd kick the eggs into the water and drown myself within the first half hours.But the loon brain must have evolved to withstand a burden of tedium that would shatter a human skull. for all we can tell, incubating may be a loon's favorite activity, permitting all manner of mental gymnastics."

"humans are hardwired to fear foreigners...we fear the unfamiliar especially if she's scowling"

""naked mole rats bite first and ask questions later"

"we cling to beliefs that should be destroyed by facts. we leap before we look. we think ourselves into bad decisions"

"all human brains are vulnerable to addiction because our brains produce such terribly pleasing chemicals when we repeat certain behaviors: sex, eating, various drugs"
"Humans crave drugs" to deliver us from the tyranny of our frightfully busy brains?"

"All communication is a sign of failure. If everybody is leased with the situation, then there is no need for communications"
"Vocal communication became a smashing success in the animal kingdom because it cut down on biting"

"females broadcast more info about themselves and other humans than do males. Male communication more often concerns objects"

"Humans lie all day long. we do it so often it doesnt even require much effort: "i'm fine, thank." " i don't mind waiting." "what a cute baby." " Iraq has weapons of mass destruction."...in a human, the lies flow like water."
" females more often lie in the interest of maintaining social harmony and soothing others; males are more likely to dissemble in a way that brightens their own image."