The Cats of Lamu

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: A charming book whose prose is as delightful as its beautiful photos

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Cat-tivating
Review: I don't care for cats in the least (mostly because I am allergic) but I really liked this book. The pictures and descriptions of Lamu are delightful. Lamu is a magical place, a must-see on the coast of Eastern Africa, and the author brings it to us in great detail. His theory that the cats of Lamu are descendents of a lost breed of cat from ancient Egypt is quite interesting. This is a wonderful book for cat lovers and/or Africanists.

Jack Couffer tells a remarkably unlikely story of WWII research into the use of bats to carry small incendiary devices into Japanese cities in "Bat Bomb: World War II's Other Secret Weapon".

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Cat-tivating
Review: I don't care for cats in the least (mostly because I am allergic) but I really liked this book. The pictures and descriptions of Lamu are delightful. Lamu is a magical place, a must-see on the coast of Eastern Africa, and the author brings it to us in great detail. His theory that the cats of Lamu are descendents of a lost breed of cat from ancient Egypt is quite interesting. This is a wonderful book for cat lovers and/or Africanists.

Jack Couffer tells a remarkably unlikely story of WWII research into the use of bats to carry small incendiary devices into Japanese cities in "Bat Bomb: World War II's Other Secret Weapon".

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating observation of a natural cat colony
Review: The author discovered what those of us with more than a few cats have always known--cats CAN exist happily in large colonies. The observations were intelligent and interesting, and the photos were luscious! I thoroughly enjoyed both the text and the illustrations.

The only nit I would pick is the authors own wild theories concerning the origin and and age of his "breed". Had he ever attended a cat show, he would have known that these cats closely resemble an already existing breed called the "Oriental Shorthair", which is a non-pointed variety of Siamese. The ancestors of these cats probably came from southeast asia! As it has been fairly established that the cat worshiped by the ancient Egyptions was probably either the Abyssinian or the Egyption Mau, I suspect these cats appeared with thier Asian trading partners.

He also made some minor mistakes concerning feline genetics that could have been avoided by picking up a basic genetic book, but in the area of behavior he was generally right on. I also found it interesting that he was brave enough to propose a generally politically incorrect view in these modern times (at least in the US)--that it might be OK for a semi-domestic animal to be born, live, breed, and die according to rules of Mother Nature; not neutered out of existence "for thier own good", according to the rules of men.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating observation of a natural cat colony
Review: The author discovered what those of us with more than a few cats have always known--cats CAN exist happily in large colonies. The observations were intelligent and interesting, and the photos were luscious! I thoroughly enjoyed both the text and the illustrations.

The only nit I would pick is the authors own wild theories concerning the origin and and age of his "breed". Had he ever attended a cat show, he would have known that these cats closely resemble an already existing breed called the "Oriental Shorthair", which is a non-pointed variety of Siamese. The ancestors of these cats probably came from southeast asia! As it has been fairly established that the cat worshiped by the ancient Egyptions was probably either the Abyssinian or the Egyption Mau, I suspect these cats appeared with thier Asian trading partners.

He also made some minor mistakes concerning feline genetics that could have been avoided by picking up a basic genetic book, but in the area of behavior he was generally right on. I also found it interesting that he was brave enough to propose a generally politically incorrect view in these modern times (at least in the US)--that it might be OK for a semi-domestic animal to be born, live, breed, and die according to rules of Mother Nature; not neutered out of existence "for thier own good", according to the rules of men.