A vivid, well-rounded treat for anyone interested in cats.
Not just another cat book, this enthusiastic study traces the evolution of the domesticated house cat from the African wildcat and explores the scientific questions it raises.
An evolutionary biologist who specializes in how lizards adapt to their environments, Losos shows how cats have evolved both by natural selection and by artificial selection done by humans interested in breed development. The author taught classes to Harvard undergraduates on the science of cats, considering issues of ecology, evolution, and genetics, and that pedagogical experience informs this book. Though Losos delves deeply into evolutionary diversification, genetics, DNA research, ancient history, and archaeology, he steers clear of academic jargon and describes complex evolutionary changes in simple language. In order to explain selective breeding, he chronicles his visit to the Cat Fanciers' Association's International Cat Show (“the World Series of cats”), where the sheer variety of cats provides ample evidence of "the power of selection to rapidly alter the anatomy and behavior of a species." We meet feline geneticist Leslie Lyons, who helped create the first "map" of the feline genome, which can identify the genes underlying some cat diseases. We follow the Cat Tracker project, which examines the home ranges of pet, feral, and wild cats worldwide. Losos also takes us inside the contentious indoor versus outdoor debate: Conservation organizations advocate keeping cats indoors, but cats' natural tendency is to explore the outdoors. The author leavens the scientific information with personal anecdotes of living with his own house cats. In the final chapter, Losos speculates about the future of cats. Will genetic engineering produce a saber-toothed house cat, or will we be able to create a truly allergen-free cat? Beautifully drawn illustrations by Tuss, sprinkled throughout the text, help readers picture various landmarks on the evolutionary timeline as well as some of the most aesthetically pleasing cultivated breeds.
A vivid, well-rounded treat for anyone interested in cats.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781984878700
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A charming, thoughtful pleasure for any animal lover.
A celebration of animal companions, mammalian, reptilian, avian, and otherwise.
The Ulysses S. Cat of NPR commentator Simon’s title was a “chunky orange Scottish Fold with endearing floppy ears and a broad, flat face that looked…as if he had been running full steam after a mouse when a door opened and…splat!” He may not have been the most photogenic of critters, but he was a steadfast companion to Simon’s mother and stepfather as the latter suffered illness and death. Other creatures populate Simon’s pages: a betta named Salman Fishdie, a grasshopper named Hoppy, many dogs and cats. Simon ranges widely to collect his stories; among the most affecting is a portrait of the people of Sarajevo under siege by Serbian forces, punctuated by an impatient colleague’s saying to Simon, “I do not want to get shot while doing a fucking pet story.” A good point, that, but Simon is emboldened and moved by the Sarajevans’ and U.N. soldiers’ care for pets displaced from their homes. “In making room for animals at the lowest times of their lives,” he writes, “Sarajevo showed the world real humanitarian aid.” In a somewhat lighter turn, Simon voices the hope that the afterlife will involve meeting again with all the animals and people we have loved, with no hard distinction drawn between birds, dogs, cats, turtles, and other beloved animal companions and other members of one’s family, biological and elective. While recognizing that animals make us better humans, holding unconditional love but eschewing grudges, Simon also decries the misuse of animals, particularly in laboratory settings where other modeling methods can be used that do not visit pain and death on such creatures as chimpanzees and white rats. Writes Simon, meaningfully, “Someday, I’m pretty sure we’ll look back on our use of animals in this way as something brutal.” Amen.
A charming, thoughtful pleasure for any animal lover.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781324117186
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
PERSPECTIVES
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