Fascinating information about cats! Overall enjoyed but did find myself a little bored at times just because the writing was dry and could have used some humor.

An incredibly fascinating read. And so weirdly ironic to read while a cat walks across the pages and brings you strings and demands love and or food.

While obviously a cat lover, the author does not appear to take sides, but delivers the facts of the science she explores.

WARNING: To anyone who is triggered by descriptions of cruelty and violence towards animals, you may have a difficult time with this book. The happenings are never elaborated on, but they are mentioned as necessary to tell the story in a factual way.

You will learn a lot about our furry companions and our obsession with them. I don’t think it will turn anyone into a cat lover, but anyone who has a cat I think will gain valuable insight into their behaviour.

I do think it takes a special type of human to truly coexist harmoniously with cats. Reading this helped me to understand why some people just don’t like them. But they are undeniably fascinating creatures and this book explains much of the magnetism they exude.

A nice quick read for the cat lover. Very interesting stuff that I've inserted into many conversations since.

3.5 stars!

This was definitely an interesting read. I knew a lot of what the author talked about already, but it was still nice to get a more in-depth look at some topics that I was already kind of familiar with. I also was interested in tracing the development of the house cat from its ancestors and wild cats in the past. The last chapter discussing the popularity of cat memes and cat videos online was also something that I hadn't really considered before, and I found it a very thoughtful read as it tried to explain possibly why cats are so popular online.

I felt at times that this book was a little cat-negative, though I know that cats are responsible for killing off a lot of natural animals in different environments, but there just was a sense that the book felt negative in those parts. I don't think it was supposed to, since the author apparently loves cats, and I guess there's not really a way to put a positive spin on that topic, but still, it seemed a little negative for me and pulled down my rating of the book.

In general though, I really enjoyed reading a book about cats! Cats are one of my favorite subjects, and this was a way for me to get more involved in my obsession — though based on some of the people the author met in this book, I have a ways to go until I'm a true cat lady!

You'd expect a book about cats to be more fluffy, but mass eradication is what you get. This book as pretty factual but has no stance; one minute it's gushing about cats and the next it butchers them with words. As of three weeks ago, I know that when writing anything, you need to take a stance and stop being a POV pendulum.

I remember reading a story about how a lighthouse keeper's cat caused the extinction of an entire species of a bird just by herself in Australia. The book keeps talking about Australia hating cats and uses tons of examples that are weirder than this. However, it doesn't really support the cat-hating, which makes me a little confused about its stance on the topic.

It's mostly anti-cats. The book says they're useless, mean, uninvested in having a relationship with their owners, disease spreading, ruthless, and hostile animals. But they make cute meme-templates so... They're good.

It's so weird that the author is a cat owner.

I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review

As someone who volunteers with cat rescue organizations, I knew some of the things that Abigail Tucker discusses within the book, but I learned so much more. I think Tucker does a good job discussing the "pro" and "anti" cat sentiments and is really trying to drive home the message that cats are just like any other creature on Earth. They are not embodiments of evil forces but nor are they made of rainbows and sundaes.

From the beginning, Tucker has made it clear that she's interested in tracing how the cat evolved/co-evolved with us and that is what she does. She traces the history of the cat-human relationship and tries her best to stay away from landmines like cat breeding, sterilization, outdoor cat colonies, etc. I have my own opinions on those topics and would have liked to read hers, especially in light of all the research that she did, but I understand that it was not her intent to write a book exploring those topics.

If you are interested in reading about human-cat relationship, I'd give this book a go.

Fascinating, and beautifully written. What a pleasure to find so frequently delightful sentences like this one--"The very phase, 'I Can Haz Cheeseburger,' is, at heart, a carnivorous battle cry."

Recommended reading for cat-lovers, cat owners (excuse me, those who are owned by a cat), and the cat-curious. Very interesting backstory on the house cat as we know it, and fun insights to its future.

I picked up this book because I have recently merged my solo feline with my husband’s solo feline, and it has been an uneasy process at best, so I was hoping to gain some insights. What I have learned is that the partnership between humans and cats is highly unlikely, as cats are naturally disinclined to hang out with any other animals, including humans, and have thrived for hundreds of years even when we have done our best to get rid of them. In fact, in trying to discover what mistakes my husband and I made while integrating our pets, I learned that even owning a cat, keeping this apex predator trapped inside our house, deprived of its natural instincts to hunt and bask in independence, while being constantly subjected to sensory irritants (not to mention company), is the peak of selfish cruelty. Cats have been solitary beasts since they evolved on the planet, and with the exception of their size, their bodies, instincts and manners have hardly changed in all that time. For some reason humans became fascinated with them and decided we needed to shack up with them, but it is not a particularly suitable match. This book contains tons of information about cats and our relationship with them. Were my questions answered? Unfortunately, some of them were, but the fact is that I have been a cat owner for nearly 50 years, and that’s not about to change.