For all cat lovers, their behavior is both fascinating and frustrating.
We think we understand them, but we do not. We think we own them, but
they own us. We are like lovers who are constantly rebuffed and rejected
because their main characteristic is indifference. We struggle with, and
seek to break down, that indifference. Within the routine of places to
sleep and things to eat, their lives proceed in slow, stately
equanimity. So their languid self-possession becomes an emotional magnet
for our affection. We flatter ourselves that we do know how they think,
and even what motivates them. But the plain fact is that we have barely
a clue. This book offers a few sketchy suggestions for the rules which
govern their lives.