The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World (A Gift for Cat Lovers)

Of the many, many, many books on cats I have read as well as the vets I"ve had as friends; The Lion in the Living Room is five stars+. Seriously. A thoroughly readable, informative eye to eye book on CATS. Things I never knew before, no pictures - just complete chapters on how and where and why; and so well researched, they truly make the rest seem not basically what you need to know or do. Some animal behavior experts (mostly revenue driven) not only judge your home but insist you "catanize" it to make your cats (s) happier. This involves top dollar toys, trees, cat flaps, you moving your furniture( sort of feline shui) and other immediate extreme measures to keep the cat happy. Cats are happy and quiet and those with behavioral problems are usually something the owner and a smart vet can figure out. All one really needs to do is let the cat know you love them (adore them, worship them, cannot live without them) and keep them well-fed, no fleas, a great vet and lots of empty boxes. Abigail Tucker knows this because she is a cat owner and a very good science writer. To be honest my opinion (and I freely admit it) is that we have all become saps overdoing the care of our cats. Their lure is in how aloof they can be. Petco, Petsmart. Look at the prices. Seriously. The markup is absurd and the reason is that WE will ooh and aah as proxies for our cats and pay the price. This is to replace catnip, crinkled paper balls and a place to perch. Tucker knows this because cats are NOT dogs. Or ferrets. Or parakeets. They essentially have gone in a straight line from saber-tooth to the one sitting on your bed. They have not changed as much as gotten smaller. And they have stayed small enough to be wonderful pets. Do they act as therapists? They probably help you act as your own therapist. They say nothing and let you tell all your woes and you feel better.If you love cats, Abigail Tucker has written an essential cat book. If you are a cat lover and really want insight into the Internet's favorite pet; don't buy another cat book without having this one first. My tables are stacked with picture books of cats I have shelves of "serious" cat guides, advice and teary tomes about cats. (So much space could have been saved.) If you have a lion in the living room- you will never tame it, but you will understand why we gotta' have them ( Suggestion: have a few, they are small).It's not rocket science (too much math) But oh, it is wonderful natural science and Tucker pounces oon and gets it. (She also has an orange cat - immediately simpatica!)

Abigail Tucker’s first book looks like it’s just about feline pets, but in reality it concerns history, natural history, genetics, epidemiology, sociology, invasive species biology, extinctions, and euthanasia. In fact, it’s the best book I’ve ever read on cats. I learned how cats became domesticated—they domesticated humans rather than vice versa. I also learned that all domesticated cats came from one species, Felis silvestris lybica, the African wildcat, often called the African forest cat. With house cats now outnumbering dogs in American families and in the wild, Tucker tells us why this is so, but still wonders why people love cats so much when, unlike dogs, they don’t really do anything useful, like hunt for us, or act as guards, rescue people or track them down, detect tumors or cancers, and in the past, turned spits for roasting over fires. And except for occasionally catching mice and rats, cats sleep fifteen to twenty hours a day. So why do we love them so much? Tucker loves to make sweeping statements like “Cats, though, are self-contained. They don’t need people to complete them.” I don’t know how many cats Tucker has lived with—she only mentions two family cats, both long-lived—but from her photo, I’m about twice her age and have lived with dozens of them. Many of them didn’t have the aloofness and independence she ascribes to all domesticated felines. Roswell, for example, who my wife and I have lived with for sixteen years is very much not self-contained. She runs around like crazy, entertains us, and makes us laugh. She does, indeed, need us to complete her. Or at least it looks that way to us. House cats have a wide range of personalities from extreme independence to being pests that always demand attention. Don’t get me wrong, despite her occasional generalizations, Abigail Tucker has written an excellent, informative, and incisive book that I recommend highly.

Well-researched, entertaining, and well-written, too. I would recommend this book to cat-lovers of all stripes and geographies.

Tucker packs a punch. So well written I was riveted. I have enjoyed shocking my friends with the nuggets in this book. That cuddly furball whose poop I scoop has a phenomenal history of--ahem--global death and destruction. Lying at this feline's feet are the carcasses of untold extinct species--more than we can blame on climate change or any of the most wicked schemes of human industry and greed. Who knew? Entire governmental agencies mandated to preserve wildlife from imminent obliteration are voting to ban house cats. Yup. House cats. 100 million of them worldwide, scheming to make a mockery of our puny nuclear bombs. I would like to talk more about this book but I have to go back to my Amazon shopping cart and pay for cat food, cat condos, cat toys, and remedies for toxoplasmosis. Here Kitty Kitty!

Good book, funny 😊Seul regret, ne pas trouver cela en français mais souvent il faut prendre la version anglaise car peu de traduction disponible.

As a cat lover, I am biased but I suspect most buyers of this book are also cat lovers. Abigail Tucker has written a fascinating and often funny account of the history of the domestic house cat - how they wandered from the wilds into our homes and ultimately our hearts. One of the big surprises for me, is that unlike other domesticated animals, there is really little evidence that they "do" anything for us - even their much vaunted mousing skills are overrated. (Hope this isn't a spoiler!) Nevertheless, cats have brought lots of joy to so many people (myself included). Only wish there were some pictures, especially of the author's own Cheetoh.

Well written.