The Unadulterated Cat

I've been in a funk the past few days. One of my contract jobs came to an abrupt end this week. It's one of those things that happen that have nothing to do with the job or the person doing it (thank god). A board somewhere off in the distance made an accounting decision.

So for the foreseeable future I work two fewer days a week. I'm VERY lucky that this isn't a crisis; MT is barely fazed by it. But it's put me in a spin because to me, those two days represent my ability to BUY ALL THE BOOKS. Not really, of course, but they did give me the mental freedom of being able to ask "do I really want this book?" rather than "can I afford this book?". This angst then makes me feel guilty because so many people have much bigger, legitimate show more problems. So, a funk.

Enter The Unadulterated Cat - a book I didn't even know existed before Tannat read and reviewed it, and I had it sitting on my coffee table freshly arrived in the post. Deep in my funk, firmly planted on my couch with a cat almost permanently attached to my lap, it was the book I could reach without upsetting anyone's status quo.

I'm awfully glad I did; it starts off slow, and I thought I'd gotten a clunker, even if it was written by Pratchett, a Grand Master of British dry wit. But then I got to the section on Illnesses and I laughed so hard Easter-cat (she who was trying to be one with the lap) turned around and chastised me. Of course, when Pratchett is describing the joys of pilling a cat, he was describing Easter-cat, so she might have been feeling a tad self-conscious.

From that point on, it was a giggle-fest, with me bookmarking several sections to make my husband read when he got home. The book not only made me forget my petty worries for a bit, but made me laugh to the point of tears. (Some of those footnotes...) That's what books are for, right? And this one did its job admirably. So, thank you to Tannat for bringing this book to me at the right time, even if you had no idea you were doing it. ;-) show less

The Unadulterated Cat is Pratchett's take on the domesticated (for lack of a better word) feline. In this book, he comprehensively covers what it is to be a Real Cat, and how that impacts the so-called 'pink blobs' (humans) around them. In many ways, he hits the nail directly on the head, capturing a "it's funny 'cause it's true" sort of aspect. While some of the across-the-pond-isms are lost, Pratchett manages to deliver a solid humorous book on one of nature's greatest fuzzballs.

Somewhere in the limitless possibilities of reality and consciousness there is a young man named Schrodinger in a box with a vial of radioactive material and a device which may - or may not - break the vial and immediately end the consciousness of the young man. He is both alive and dead, and is doubtless bleeding from the back of his heels, because somewhere in his future he had (purposeful shift in tense) proposed a thought experiment that begins with the extremely hazardous suggestion that an individual place a cat in a box.

And cats hold grudges, even if you haven't angered them yet.

In The Unadulterated Cat, Pratchett endeavors to define a Real cat (as opposed to those fluffy, squished-faced monstrosities that can apparently eat show more their food out of crystal dishes without tipping them over). Punctuated with telling cartoons by Gray Jolliffe, Pratchett provides a 150+ page description of those horrible beasts, and even provides some analysis as to why we (cats and their roommates) tolerate each other. I have long been under the impression that my own cats are just horribly uncatlike beasts, especially when forced to consider such adorable and friendly examples in literature and the Facebook photo albums of (childless) friends, but Pratchett has shown me otherwise. My cats are undeniably Real cats.

While I certainly enjoy Pratchett's writing style, I believe my partner enjoyed The Unadulterated Cat far more than I. But that's really to be expected, because my partner is the true cat lover in our household. After reading what my Real cats are truly capable of I think I'll stay loyal to my ridiculous cat-sized dog. show less

This is a quirky and irreverent look at our feline friends. Short, humorous and appropriately illustrated by Gray Joliffe it made me laugh. But then I'm British, owned by cats and love Terry Pratchett's work as he observes things so well ... so I am the ideal reader:)

I am not a cat person at all (I have a dog who likes cats...but not in a good way) but I found this book ridiculously funny. Of course, Terry Pratchett could probably write about something like suicide and still evoke a chuckle, but this little tome about the oddities of cats made me laugh out loud...in public. And the illustrations are just the right kind of special sauce to accompany it. One of my favourite Pratchett books.

I felt a reread was in order since we have some cats on a timeshare. Not sure where they live but pretty sure at least 3 different families are feeding them :lol .

Anyway not as good as i remember, its a bit dated in places. Its description of Cat Chess is still a favourite bit which the 6 or 7 cats in my vicinity tend to play a lot :) .

The Unadulterated Cat by Terry Pratchett is an amusing commentary on the behavior of cats and how the author feels that some cats are more real than others and gives a comprehensive guide on how to tell a real cat from an unreal one along with some hypothetical musings. This was a fun quick read and I especially enjoyed all of the references to Schrodinger's cat. I also thought it was hilarious that some of the "real" cats that the author seemed to be describing seemed very much like the cat Greebo from his Discworld series. This is a must read for cat lovers and you might even enjoy it even if you're not a cat person like me, but are still exposed to cats enough to be familiar with their behavior.