Not a totally scientific inquiry, more of a meditation on what the behavior of cats can teach us by comparing feline responses to an august line of philosophers. Gray suggests that we look to philosophy as a way to resolve our doubts, uncertainties, fears. Cats, by contrast, live in harmony with the world, only out of alignment when hungry or threatened. Gray asserts that a cat’s lack of self and ability to live in the moment is a strength that humans can only wish they had.

*ARC was provided by Farrar, Straus and Giroux through Netgalley.

This might've been on me for expecting more, but this was so much drier than I was expecting. It definitely read like a long academic essay, and not what I had in mind being vaguely interested in both philosophy and cats. If you're looking for something serious this fits that, but I can't see it being accessible to a lot of people.

If you are wanting a fresh look at philosophy, here's the go-to book. Unless you're a dog person.

This book puts felines in their proper philosophical position, delving into their metaphysical and epistemological qualities (which, to many degrees, are superior to humans). Oh to live life as a cat, Gray writes. The simple life. Sometimes the unexamined life is actually worth living. Or, perhaps, we examine it without noticing that we do, just as our whiskered friends do.

Even if you consider this book a little out there and see it as mere philosophical play, it is a great way to look at philosophers from a new standpoint, something that we should continue to do constantly. And who is to say that we should only measure our lives against other humans' lives? Is there anything ethically or morally wrong with comparing ourselves to another species? It probably won't induce you to bathing yourself or suddenly developing a craving for mice and small birds; in fact, it might lead you to appreciate the world in a better sense than you did before.

This book is best read with a tailed friend curled up on your lap. Just make sure you understand it is the friend who is in charge, not you.

The author was able to take such a hard to understand topic of philosophy and make it easy to understand by using cats. I found myself learning while enjoying reading about a topic that I normally would find extremely boring. I highly recommend this one!

If you're looking for a book regarding cats and all their glory, this isn't it. Nor does it help us learn how they think or feel. I'd say 85% of this book is philosophical discussions w/ a few cat stories thrown in for good measure so that the Feline could be used in the title. And if you love cats (like I do), you probably don't want to read the cruelties inflicted upon them by humans through the years. Luckily, it's not long and I suppose there are a few comparisons of how cats deal with life as opposed to the way humans live. I just wouldn't recommend this book.

In Feline Philosophy, John Gray turns his attention to cats―and what they reveal about humans' torturous relationship to the world and to themselves. The history of philosophy has been a predictably tragic or comical succession of palliatives for human disquiet. Thinkers from Spinoza to Berdyaev have pursued the perennial questions of how to be happy, how to be good, how to be loved, and how to live in a world of change and loss. But perhaps we can learn more from cats--the animal that has most captured our imagination--than from the great thinkers of the world.

Philosopher Gray discovers in cats a way of living that is unburdened by anxiety and self-consciousness, showing how they embody answers to the big questions of love and attachment, mortality, morality, and the Self: Montaigne's house cat, whose un-examined life may have been the one worth living; Meo, the Vietnam War survivor with an unshakable capacity for "fearless joy"; and Colette's Saha, the feline heroine of her subversive short story "The Cat", a parable about the pitfalls of human jealousy.

Exploring the nature of cats, and what we can learn from it, Gray offers a profound, thought-provoking meditation on the follies of human exceptionalism and our fundamentally vulnerable and lonely condition. He charts a path toward a life without illusions and delusions, revealing how we can endure both crisis and transformation, and adapt to a changed scene, as cats have always done. This is a fascinating, engrossing and intriguing book which is accessible and presents so much food for thought that I know I'll be thinking about it for a long time to come. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Farrar, Straus & Giroux for an ARC.

An ambitious (and definitely not cat-cute) deep dive into the philosophy and philosophers of things feline. This is a read to be conquered slowly and thoughtfully, but it delivers on many levels.

I was expecting a cat read, but really this is more of an overview of various historical philosophers and their theories on animals.

Cats are popular and cute, same as many books devoted to them. Thankfully, this is not the case. Not knowing the author, I expected some light anecdotes and notes on cats' behavior. Instead, I received a fascinating tour through the history of philosophy and I was left thinking about the meaning of life - both human and feline.

Despite the title, humans are in the center of this essay; nonetheless, it is one of the best books about cats' nature. I was not surprised that Gray is quoting two of my favorite feline books: "The Lion in the Living Room" and "The Tribe of Tiger: Cats and Their Culture". You can see that author has a deep knowledge and understanding of animals, even if I don’t agree with all his views.

It is a slow read, but very pleasant, with beautiful language and provocative insights. I recommend it to everyone who likes to think.

Thanks to the publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.

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 cats, but I've always had trouble getting into philosophy. I thought this book would be a good way to make sense of concepts that are so difficult for me. I was mostly right, although there are long passages where cats are not invoked at all, and those sections didn't hold my attention as well. The book is really about humans, not cats, but I was very interested in the numerous feline-related anecdotes that came from real life and from literature. The book is very serious, not fun and frivolous pop philosophy along the lines of Robert Fulghum. I learned about different schools of thought, from classical philosophy through modern thinkers. It would make a nice gift for the contemplative cat lover in your life.

This book was much more philosophy than cats. I was looking forward to the latter. The rare occasion cats were involved were as beginning and ending sentences that sandwiched a philosophical theme in chapter form.