Sundquist’s investigation into his dating failures is a way of applying the “realms of rational linear analysis” that he is most at ease with to the bewildering arena of his love life, where girls continually reject him and things go wrong owing to misunderstandings or sheer bad luck (3). He hopes that, following the investigation, he will be able to “draw a conclusion about the reason why no one ever wanted to be my girlfriend,” and to learn, once and for all, whether he can do anything about his predicament (4). Still, from the outset, Sundquist seems aware that his quest is futile, as a graph on Page 3 shows that high success in science and math does not translate to the equivalent with girls. The subsequent graphs in the book also show that girls are the erratic element that contrasts with the predictable phenomena that Sundquist measures them against. Thus, while he is busy making graphs and hypotheses, Sundquist simultaneously admits that he cannot find the reasons for his lack of success with women in graphs.

Arguably, Sundquist’s need for certainty and control following the uncontrollable “life-altering negative situation” (20) of a leg amputation becomes unhelpful in the emotionally turbulent realm of romantic love.