sarahunabridged's review
4.0
Ended up really enjoying this little book on philosophy and cats. Philosophy isn't a subject I have spent much time on in the past so I came into my reading with more of a blank slate. The connections Gray made to the minds of cats made the denser parts of this book's discussion on human philosophy more digestible. I'm eager to pick up some more books on the topic of philosophy now. Plus, I love cats so I knew I'd probably love this going in and I was right.
sophiemaher's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
buddy read with tom 😄
i’ve been meaning to get more into philosophy, but i find sometimes that it’s really dense and inaccessible. unfortunately some parts of this book were just that! id say around 50% was pretty hard to get through, and not reallyyyy related to cats or feline philosophy at all! these parts might have been more interesting if i went into it expecting to read about random philosophers with no mention of cats? also did not enjoy the overly long segment about the ways in which people have tortured and mistreated cats in the past - extremely unecessary??
BUT the other 50%, i really enjoyed. all the little snippets of stories of cats and their author/philosopher owners were so good. i love méo, saha, ming, and gattino! the personality! it’s hard not to project human anxieties onto cats.. this book has reframed my thinking and hopefully helps me avoid doing so in the future!
the good life is the life you already have 😊 Â
i’ve been meaning to get more into philosophy, but i find sometimes that it’s really dense and inaccessible. unfortunately some parts of this book were just that! id say around 50% was pretty hard to get through, and not reallyyyy related to cats or feline philosophy at all! these parts might have been more interesting if i went into it expecting to read about random philosophers with no mention of cats? also did not enjoy the overly long segment about the ways in which people have tortured and mistreated cats in the past - extremely unecessary??
BUT the other 50%, i really enjoyed. all the little snippets of stories of cats and their author/philosopher owners were so good. i love méo, saha, ming, and gattino! the personality! it’s hard not to project human anxieties onto cats.. this book has reframed my thinking and hopefully helps me avoid doing so in the future!
the good life is the life you already have 😊 Â
bibliotequeish's review
3.0
Cats do not need to examine their lives because they do not doubt that life is worth living.
I love my cats and thought this would be an interesting read, and while it was interesting enough, the cover is a little deceiving, I don't know if it talks very much about the meaning of life, definitely talks about the aloofness of cats, and how humans can be more like cats in their ability to live in the moment.
I also could have done without the multiple examples of cat torture!
Points for the cover though.
I love my cats and thought this would be an interesting read, and while it was interesting enough, the cover is a little deceiving, I don't know if it talks very much about the meaning of life, definitely talks about the aloofness of cats, and how humans can be more like cats in their ability to live in the moment.
I also could have done without the multiple examples of cat torture!
Points for the cover though.
7anooch's review against another edition
3.0
The premise is cute but otherwise it’s just random philosophizing with intersperses of ‘cats are great..