Lacks credibility
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After a promising start the book loses its way and is overcome with more and more rambling & waffling.
It cites a number of "facts" which are totally incorrect. OK, the author is a cat lover rather than a cat expert, but he should check his facts before committing them to print. Some of them are so far off track that I would seriously question whether the author really has as much experience of cats as he claims.
Some of the anecdotes are also a little hard to believe, for instance the author claims that his 5 cats follow him whenever he leaves the house to go anywhere. Some cats do have a tendancy to do this, but all 5 cats following him every time he goes out without fail is a bit hard to believe.
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A thorough and delicate analysis of the feline psyche
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"The nine emotional lives of cats" is one of the best books, if not absolutely the best, that I've ever read about cats' psyche and behaviour. The author recognizes and lists nine basic emotions in cats (hence the title) and proceeds to analyzing each one of them deeply, reporting both previous studies and his personal observations of his own five cats. Throughout all the book, the language is clear and simple, the anecdotes funny and extremely revealing. The author shows a very delicate and sensitive attitude towards cats: he not only studies them, he strives to understand them, often suggesting various reasons behind feline behaviours. It really makes you think. Cats are depicted as the extremely emotionally complex creatures they actually are, though often we humans, being "social animals", are at a loss at comprehending them. I personally own three cats, and reading this book has provided me both with answers and with new curiosities to investigate and think upon, which is precisely what I think a really good book should do.
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hard to put down
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In my opinion this book matches the success of his previous book 'Dogs never lie about love'. Mason provides a charming and sometimes humerous insight into the world of domestic cats based on hs own experience, while managing to refrain from anthropomorphism. Definitely worth a read.
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