My job isn’t to revolutionize anything. My job is to give women a sense of relief, to acknowledge what they’re struggling with. -Cathy Guisewite

Like women around the globe, Cathy has been constantly puzzled by her romantic relationships. From Irving to Simon to Alex, the men in Cathy’s life have provided a never-ending source of confusion and amusement ever since the strip began in 1976. If men’s hair falls out, our weary heroine laments, it’s because there’s nothing in there for it to hold onto.

It’s no wonder, then, that cartoonist Cathy Guisewite’s Cathy collection should be called Understanding the Why Chromosome. In this hilarious book, Cathy outdoes herself in witty revelations about men, food, Mom, and career: Cathy’s four basic guilt groups. Cathy epitomizes the highs and lows felt by distaff women throughout the world. In Understanding the Why Chromosome, Cathy’s found a new challenge: a boyfriend who’s a decade younger than she. Fitness fanatic Alex, who’s sensitive and not particularly ambitious, introduces Cathy to an entirely new relationship angst, then introduces her to his hip, young mother. Cathy’s baffled by the age difference, but is just as stumped when he proposes. What’s wrong with our relationship the way it is now? she wails when Alex finally pops the question.

Throughout her trials and tribulations, Cathy’s friends keep her sane. There’s happily married Charlene, the office loudspeaker; exhausted Andrea, mother of Zenith and Gus; her well-meaning mom and dad; Cathy’s unrealistic boss, Mr. Pinkley; and bouncy little Electra, Cathy’s canine alter ego. Her frequent and frustrating shopping excursions also give rise to an enormous wave of female recognition Skip the clothes and just shove a Stairmaster through the curtain, Cathy deadpans.

Cathy Guisewite is an enormously talented cartoonist who has won numerous awards for her strip and animated television shows. Her countless fans trust Cathy to constantly express the right blend of humor and observation almost as if she had x-ray vision into the human condition.