Product Description

There are no seeing-eye cats, guard cats, or sled cats-and for very good reason. Cats-as cat "owners" know-are intractably independent, defying all rules about how and why animals become domesticated. Now, in The Character of Cats, acclaimed author and scientist Stephen Budiansky combines breakthrough scientific research, fascinating lore, and his own infectious fondness for all things feline to elucidate the mysteries of these amazing creatures.

Simultaneously adaptive and perverse, affectionate and suspicious, dependent and aloof, cats are the least tamed and yet the most successful domestic species. Drawing on new research into cat genetics, brain chemistry, evolution, social behavior, and interaction with humans and fellow felines, Budiansky has written the first scientifically based popular book to explore exactly how and why cats are unique. Wide ranging, lively, and engaging, The Character of Cats also covers the full spectrum of feline fact and lore, from history to superstition, from hunting patterns to religious imagery, and from sexual behavior to preferred colors.

Cats are not pets but fellow travelers, one foot in the parlor, one in the wild, and we impose our fantasies and expectations on them at our peril. This smart, wonderfully readable book finally gives cats their due.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1033053 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-03
• Released on: 2002-05-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 227 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this enjoyable, enlightening book, Atlantic Monthly correspondent and lay animal expert Budiansky (The Truth About Dogs) explores the mysterious nature of the house cat, that least tamed and most successful of domestic species. With a narrative voice equally adept at conveying the whimsy of weird cat behaviors and the science behind them, Budiansky leads readers from a consideration of the cat's ancestors (unlike other domesticated animals, who've diverged from their wild counterparts, house cats are not a biologically distinct species from, say, African wildcats) through an investigation of feline society (cats are social animals when young and solitary when adult) and on to a discussion of what various laboratory experiments and observations have taught us about cats (there's a critical window in kittens' early lives in which they're most open to bonding with people). Budiansky offers a rudimentary cat personality test and a few extremely helpful pages on cat training, but his goal is study even celebration rather than advice. Nearly every unique cat behavior gets explained via evolutionary strategies. Why do cats always seem to head for the one person in the room who doesn't like them? Probably because the cat thinks they really do: people who don't like cats tend to avoid looking at them, and cats interpret averted eyes as unthreatening, even inviting. Cat owners are the obvious audience here (75% of them note that their cats chose them), but readers interested in the adaptive relationships between the human world and the animal one should also find plenty to purr about.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Stephen Budiansky, author of six highly acclaimed books about animals, nature, and science, is a correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly.

Customer Reviews

Interesting book but needs to be "groomed"
It is my impression that Stephen Budiansky has approached this book from more of a scientific view than anything else. His history of cats and their origins is very interesting, and apparently well-researched. But his thoughts regarding cats' sociability toward humans seem to be negating or downplaying the actual personalities of cats -- giving what I think is too much emphasis on their seemingly back-to-the-wild-which-they-never-really-left traits.

What I have experienced with my (and other) cats downplays and/or negates some of his theories. Sometimes I think it's our pets who have civilized us -- not the other way around.. But that's another story.

That being said -- I think a few things should be revised -- after all, this book is 5 years old -- that is 36 years old, in Cat Years.

First of all -- the issue of "Trap Neuter and Return" of Feral Cats (cats who are the product of abandoned pets) SHOULD be addressed. Has Mr. Budiansky ever experienced or witnessed what Feral Caretakers go thru to ensure that their colony will not only stop reproducing, but will remain a healthy and well-cared for part of the community in which they live? More people need to know about this-- maybe it will even help educate those who would otherwise discard their pets (an irresponsible and sad practice).

I also feel that his remark on Animal Communicators was not well researched -- dismissing them by saying that as a cat owner, you do not want to "know what your cat really thinks of you" is disrespectful and is doing a disservice to those people who CAN genuinely communicate with non-human beings. Animal Communicators, such as Penelope Smith, and others-- have helped solve behavioral and health issues that plague so many animals and bewilder so many of these animals' caretakers - by communicating with the animals and creating a bridge of understanding between the animal and its "owner" (caretaker). Perhaps Animal Communication is not scientific enough to warrant a positive comment in his book, but there is something to it and it should not be the subject of (very unscientific) ridicule.

A Sense of Humor to Match a Cat's!
Truly enjoyable book. Having had dogs all my life and coming recently to an appreciation (and embarrassingly vocal and story-laden devotion to these little animals) it was nice to read a book that didn't become sloppily ga-ga about the critters - there are enough of us out here already quick to share the "oh-let-me-tell-you-about-the-cutest-thing-my-little-pookie-did-today"cocktail stories. Honestly! A lot of us are as bad as the new parents who simply MUST share their delight in the details about the bodily functions and cute sounds that their first baby made this week! (Yes, I'm guilty of that sin as well.)

Delightfully droll and informative, this book's opening chapter is titled "Cats Plot to Take Over the World -- And Succeed" (which we ALL know is an accurate description of their TRUE intentions!) and winds up with helpful and understanding suggestions for addressing persistently annoying behaviors which owners somehow manage to overlook - at least in the first blush of ownership. Compassionate and wise, the author carefully explains the instinctual nature of cat behavior and its expression in some of the less attractive, but ultimately natural, behavior that cats so graciously share with us.

Quite recommended!

cat psychology
Really interesting discussion of why cats behave the way they do and why they are different from other domesticated animals. Even if you can't buy into all of it, it does make you think!