THE MARRIAGE PREMISE

The anthropologist/co-author of Open Marriage sentimentalizes about the institution under the guise of discovering the reasons people still choose marriage at a time when society willingly accepts other arrangements. (In marriage, platitudinously--""We come to know all sorts of things about each other, and try to adjust our lives so that all the pieces of our day-to-day existence fit together."") People choose marriage because they like to belong, because they don't want to be lonely, because a warm body in the bed is better than an extra pillow, became they like the old-fashioned conventions. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.