Erin Barrett and Jack Mingo - Cats Don't Always Land on Their Feet ...

review for the radio scilly bookshow by Ro Bennett, recorded 6th Nov 2012. Cats Don't Always Land on Their Feet: Hundreds of Fascinating Facts from the Cat World (Total Riveting Utterly Entertaining Trivia Series) This is the product description: Cat lovers are a breed unto themselves, and their devotion to their pets is evident in the number of cat books that are published and sold every year. This book stands out from the crowd by bringing together in a fascinating and sometimes unbelievable way every little fact cat lovers could want to know about the mysterious animals that live in their homes. Over 500 cat facts are organised into fun topics. And this is from the back of the book: This Purr-fect Trivia Book is the Cat’s Meow Whether you believe that curiosity killed the cat, have trust in nine lives, or have been accused of being a ‘scaredy-cat’, you know that there is a tremendous amount of love and legend surrounding our feline friends and those who love them. With Cats Don’t Always Land on Their Feet’, well known trivia experts Erin Barrett and Jack Mingo let the cat out of the bag with more than 500 litter-known facts from the wild world of kooky kittens. For instance: Did you know, not every culture believes that black cats are bad luck. In fact, in Japan and England, it’s considered good luck to have a black cat cross your path. I thought this a bizarre statement until I realised the book is written by Americans. Apparently, In North America, it's considered bad luck if a black cat crosses your path and good luck if a white cat crosses your path. The book is divided into eighteen chapters which have interesting titles. Here are some of them: Cats Through History; Ailurophiles - (spelled ail but pronounced aisle - Eyelurophile) these are people who love cats - Winston Churchill would refuse to eat until his cat Jock was also at the table; Ailurophobes - these are people with an abnormal fear or loathing of cats - Napoleon was deathly afraid of cats and Dwight Eisenhower hated them and ordered his staff to shoot any found on his grounds; Catty Words; Notables and Top Cats - a group of Matterhorn climbers in the Swiss Alps were surprised in 1950 to find a four month-old kitten following along behind them. The feline managed to successfully reach the summit, the height of which is 14,691 feet; Life in a Cat House; Felines, nothing more than Felines and the final example: Good Advice: Did you know this? When you move straight at some cats, they perceive this as a threat, as they would in the wild if a larger animal were moving toward them. Walking directly at one another is how cats tell each other that they mean business and are trying to attack. Better to sit a short distance away and call the cat to you to avoid confusion. If you must approach a cat, sidle up sideways. This is how they approach other cats in a friendly or inquisitive way, and they will interpret your movements similarly. So crammed full ofd interesting and informative trivia. The book was first printed in June 2002 but there are absolutely no reviews, which is most unusual. I even looked on the USA Amazon website without success, since the authors are American. Erin Barrett and Jack Mingo have written articles for many major periodicals including the New York Times, the Washington Post and Reader’s Digest. They live in the San Francisco Bay area and have a cat which they refer to as ‘the omnipotent Sommy’. Finally, a word from the authors: If you love cats, you’ll love this book. If you hate cats or are simply indifferent to them, you’ll still love this book. And if you’re allergic, our publisher guarantees that not a speck of cat has been added to the paper or the ink herein. No other publisher has dared to make this claim, which in all honesty, makes us wonder what they are hiding. I enjoyed browsing through it. It would make a good Christmas present for cat lovers.