18 Months Later: My Next Temporary Obsession

A while back I started reading The Well Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself by Hannah Holmes. I liked it so much I took my time with it and took copious notes. When I ran out of time on my checkout, I bought my own copy. Then other books came overdue and I got away from it. It's now the selection for my book club, which meets in a week, and I'm back into it full-bore.

More posts will be coming, but first a refresher on what has come before:

I'm Hooked
( . . . The honest explanation has seemed too impolite to share: Of course I'm fluent in child. I've spent my whole life around wild animals. . . . )

An Intersection of Biology and Politics
( . . . With socialized medicine and financial support for the poor, the Dutch culture ensures that the offspring of all parents get sufficient calories and sufficient protection from disease. Thus each individual comes closer to reaching his potential. . . . )

Reading Journal, The Well-Dressed Ape, Chapter 1 Quotes
(For those who remember my Born to Run Obsession, this actually came first: . . . Only a few animals enjoy membership in the distance-runners’ club. They are the horse, wolves (and domestic dogs), African hunting dogs, the hyena, the migrating wildebeest, and we Homo sapiens. . . . And when biologists compare humans to other distance runners, we travel at the front of the pack. . . . )

Reading Journal, The Well-Dressed Ape, Chapters 2-3 Quotes
( . . . And then there are some furs so fine we must turn the cheek and apply the lips. The human lips are jam-packed with sensors, and they are the only organ that can do justice to a flying squirrel. That creature simply disappears in human hands, too silken to leave any impression beyond warmth. . . . )

Reading Journal, The Well-Dressed Ape, Chapters 4-5 Quotes
( . . . In 1997, a sociologist measured the time it takes for a driver at a shopping mall to vacate a parking space. He found that a human takes seven seconds longer when another human is waiting for the space. And if the waiting human blasts his horn, the occupant will defend the temporary territory for an additional twelve seconds. . . . )

And a teaser of things to come from earlier today: Boys & Reading?
( . . . Young males learn termite fishing years later than females, because while the females are watching Mom, the males are jumping on logs and throwing leaves and biting one another's legs. . . . )