What do you think?
Rate this book
How My Cat Made Me a Better Man
Jeremy Feig was at rock bottom - broke, alone, and living in a shoebox-sized apartment. At the same time, his cat was perfectly content. What was her secret? She couldn't say it out loud, but it was clear she had all the answers to living a good life. How My Cat Made Me a Better Man is a hilarious self-help book for guys that gals like, too, based on the lessons of an edgy cat named Shelly. It's packed with useful advice on topics like relationships, dealing with stress, and even grooming habits. If you feel like your life is spinning out of control, this book will help you set things right - and keep you laughing along the way. Winner of the Kops-Fetherling International Books Awards legacy humor award and finalist for Book of the Year Award, How My Cat Made Me a Better Man is a "darling" of cat bloggers, recipient of a Readers' Favorite 5-star review, and "highly recommended" by MidWest Book Review. Delightfully illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings by famed Russian artist, Zhenya Yanovich.
156 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2016
5 people are currently reading
980 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy Feig
1 book15 followersJeremy Feig grew up in slightly upstate New York, then headed west soon after after college. He established himself in Los Angeles, where he worked low-level film/TV production jobs, as an assistant kindergarten teacher, and as a background extra before stumbling into a career in digital marketing.
Jeremy's debut book is How My Cat Made Me a Better Man, a humorous self-help book for guys. He’s written and directed many comedic short films and cartoons including Lady and the Ostrich, which was featured at VisionFest and the Indie Spirit Film Festival. His screenplays have been semi-finalists in the Page International Screenwriting Awards and quarterfinalists in the Cynosure Screenwriting Awards.
When he's not writing or working on other creative projects, Jeremy likes competing in midnight scavenger hunts and taking long walks. He enjoys spending quality time with his wife, young daughter, and large cat.
Jeremy's debut book is How My Cat Made Me a Better Man, a humorous self-help book for guys. He’s written and directed many comedic short films and cartoons including Lady and the Ostrich, which was featured at VisionFest and the Indie Spirit Film Festival. His screenplays have been semi-finalists in the Page International Screenwriting Awards and quarterfinalists in the Cynosure Screenwriting Awards.
When he's not writing or working on other creative projects, Jeremy likes competing in midnight scavenger hunts and taking long walks. He enjoys spending quality time with his wife, young daughter, and large cat.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 23, 2019
This is an amusing book. It's not very long, about 100 pages in print, but filled with comparisons of how the attitude of the author's cat can be applied to his own real life situations and philosophy. Things like owning your looks, whatever they are; taking control of what you can and learning to live with the things you can't. The only thing I think he gets wrong is on the subject of perfume. The cat makes herself not stink by washing! She doesn't splash on aftershave! Do you know how many women hate perfume on a man?
In places he seems to be forcing things to fit, but overall it's a very good source of advice about life and how to be a good person as well as a happy one. Many of the stories about his little cat, Shelley, made me laugh and appreciate how co-operative my own cats are!
I might question some of his advice about relationships, but overall I would say it's a good guidebook for how to get along in life with whatever hand you've been dealt. It's targeted at male readers, but most of it could apply to anyone. And of course the comparisons to the attitude of most cats provides much food for thought!
In places he seems to be forcing things to fit, but overall it's a very good source of advice about life and how to be a good person as well as a happy one. Many of the stories about his little cat, Shelley, made me laugh and appreciate how co-operative my own cats are!
I might question some of his advice about relationships, but overall I would say it's a good guidebook for how to get along in life with whatever hand you've been dealt. It's targeted at male readers, but most of it could apply to anyone. And of course the comparisons to the attitude of most cats provides much food for thought!
July 1, 2023
Cute and funny little book I read, where the author gives life advice with examples from his cat, Shelly. From his book: "Man VS. Cat: Signs You Might Be Overweight
Lack of Energy:
Man: Too much effort to get off the couch.
Cat: Too much effort to get on the couch.
Favorite sound:
Man: Ice cream truck.
Cat: Electric can opener.
Body Fat:
Man: Losing sight of everything below the belly button.
Cat: Can't lick below where her neck used to be.
Unexpected Side Effect:
Man: Growing resemblance to John Goodman
Cat: Can use own blubber as a pillow."
-From "How My Cat Made Me A Better Man", by Jeremy Feig.
This book was too cute! Lol. 😃 This was a Goodreads First Reads in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to Goodreads, MSI Press, LLC and author Jeremy Feig, for the opportunity to read this book.
Lack of Energy:
Man: Too much effort to get off the couch.
Cat: Too much effort to get on the couch.
Favorite sound:
Man: Ice cream truck.
Cat: Electric can opener.
Body Fat:
Man: Losing sight of everything below the belly button.
Cat: Can't lick below where her neck used to be.
Unexpected Side Effect:
Man: Growing resemblance to John Goodman
Cat: Can use own blubber as a pillow."
-From "How My Cat Made Me A Better Man", by Jeremy Feig.
This book was too cute! Lol. 😃 This was a Goodreads First Reads in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to Goodreads, MSI Press, LLC and author Jeremy Feig, for the opportunity to read this book.
November 1, 2017
I think, perhaps, I was expecting too much. This is a semi-humorous collection of anecdotes and advice from the point of view of a man who owns a cat. The advice is pretty wishy-washy: it's totally okay to do that unless it's not. It's okay to be alone but don't do it too much. Be mindful of grooming but don't go overboard. Be yourself unless you're a terrible person. Stand your ground but not all the time. That kind of stuff. And the jokes are the same ones cat owners have been making for eons. It's kind of cute, but honestly it probably would have gotten a wider and more appreciative audience as a blog post garnished generously with memes.
June 7, 2018
Easy read - Full of lots of good nuggets for life. Full of humor.
August 2, 2016
Princess Fuzzypants here:
The author is a very lucky man to have met and been adopted by Shelly. If not, he might have lived a shallow, lonely, uneventful life. I did enjoy his biography of Shelly and her impact on him and I am impressed that he gave credit where it was due.
As a cat, I cannot understand why he would call females "chicks" but other than a few questionable comments, he did a very fine job in explaining what human males can be without the instruction of a wise cat. If the male is open and willing to be taught, his life will impurrve in so many ways, from his interaction with other humans to his career and his ambitions. It is a self help book written by somepawdy who was helped. A lot.
I do hope that human males (females too) will read this book and take away the lessons. It will help put life into purrspective. We felines understand certain things instinctively but are more than happy to share them with the humans of our choice. In fact, if mew need help at all, find a cat mewse. It is a smart move.
I give this book five purrs and two paws up
The author is a very lucky man to have met and been adopted by Shelly. If not, he might have lived a shallow, lonely, uneventful life. I did enjoy his biography of Shelly and her impact on him and I am impressed that he gave credit where it was due.
As a cat, I cannot understand why he would call females "chicks" but other than a few questionable comments, he did a very fine job in explaining what human males can be without the instruction of a wise cat. If the male is open and willing to be taught, his life will impurrve in so many ways, from his interaction with other humans to his career and his ambitions. It is a self help book written by somepawdy who was helped. A lot.
I do hope that human males (females too) will read this book and take away the lessons. It will help put life into purrspective. We felines understand certain things instinctively but are more than happy to share them with the humans of our choice. In fact, if mew need help at all, find a cat mewse. It is a smart move.
I give this book five purrs and two paws up
November 2, 2016
Quick, humorous, well written read containing good common sense advice. Suitable to both men and women. Though probably best suited to twenty somethings who have yet to figure it out. 3.5 stars.... but rounded up for the nice personal note the author included with the GoodReads win (thank you!). Would be interested in reading more books from this author (though preferably non self-help, as I'm old enough to think I've got it (mostly) figured out (or just too set in my ways to be changing! :P)).
November 9, 2017
This book was sitting next to me when I was too lazy to get up off the couch and get the other book I was reading. The title fit my reading theme for the month (double letters). And it involves cats.
It did not make me a better man. I suppose it did help me get in touch with my masculine side somewhat, since I am also a bachelor, as it were. The cat stories were nice. The lessons were time-honored with a "bro" spin. Not much else to say that is interesting.
It did not make me a better man. I suppose it did help me get in touch with my masculine side somewhat, since I am also a bachelor, as it were. The cat stories were nice. The lessons were time-honored with a "bro" spin. Not much else to say that is interesting.
January 12, 2018
I am a cat lover, so I am a little biased about cat books. This one is excellent. The author has a very creative way of correlating cat behavior to the human experience with life, and drawing parallels. It was very interesting, humorous, and full of some very good life lessons. Very enjoyable!!!
March 5, 2017
I love books about cats. It's one of those subjects that I find fascinating. It's almost an instantaneous buy/one-click when I see one that I want to read. When I heard that How My Cat Made Me a Better Man was about a guy that owns a black cat, I was even more intrigued. I have a black cat named Sir Pig, and he is my world. He's just like my child. Therefore, black cats are my favorite cat breed, and I thought I would find the book enjoyable. However, I found this book incredibly disappointing. I didn't care for it at all.
I'm not even sure where to start on why this book fell flat for me. I was hoping that How My Cat Made Me a Better Man would feature a lot of heartwarming stories about Shelly, the author's cat. Unfortunately what actually happened was maybe a paragraph or two talking about Shelly, and the rest of the chapter was him giving advice, and rambling about things. Rinse and repeat for one-hundred and fifty six pages, and that's the book. Also, I thought some of the advice that the author gave, and the things that he said, were terribly sexist. There were a few times while reading where I had to stop, and double check because I couldn't believe that he said what he did.
There are two reasons why I'm giving How My Cat Made Me a Better Man two stars instead of one. The first reason is that although the stories about Shelly were short, I did like a couple of them.I especially loved the one where the author bought her a seven dollar cat toy, but she played with the wrapper instead. As a cat owner, I can definitely identify with that. The other thing I liked about the book was that in the end, the author had a section about the importance of adoption. As an animal advocate, I agree that adopting from an animal shelter is so important, especially for cats. There are thousands of cats that get euthanized in shelters each year, because it's hard for them to find homes.
For the most part, I didn't care for How My Cat Made Me a Better Man. It didn't meet the high expectations I had set for it. Even though I didn't like most of it, I can't say that I completely hated it. I did enjoy one or two of the stories about Shelly, and the author's love for animal shelters. I'm not sure that I would recommend spending money on it. The description was slightly misleading. If you do want to read it, I recommend checking it out from the library.
I'm not even sure where to start on why this book fell flat for me. I was hoping that How My Cat Made Me a Better Man would feature a lot of heartwarming stories about Shelly, the author's cat. Unfortunately what actually happened was maybe a paragraph or two talking about Shelly, and the rest of the chapter was him giving advice, and rambling about things. Rinse and repeat for one-hundred and fifty six pages, and that's the book. Also, I thought some of the advice that the author gave, and the things that he said, were terribly sexist. There were a few times while reading where I had to stop, and double check because I couldn't believe that he said what he did.
There are two reasons why I'm giving How My Cat Made Me a Better Man two stars instead of one. The first reason is that although the stories about Shelly were short, I did like a couple of them.I especially loved the one where the author bought her a seven dollar cat toy, but she played with the wrapper instead. As a cat owner, I can definitely identify with that. The other thing I liked about the book was that in the end, the author had a section about the importance of adoption. As an animal advocate, I agree that adopting from an animal shelter is so important, especially for cats. There are thousands of cats that get euthanized in shelters each year, because it's hard for them to find homes.
For the most part, I didn't care for How My Cat Made Me a Better Man. It didn't meet the high expectations I had set for it. Even though I didn't like most of it, I can't say that I completely hated it. I did enjoy one or two of the stories about Shelly, and the author's love for animal shelters. I'm not sure that I would recommend spending money on it. The description was slightly misleading. If you do want to read it, I recommend checking it out from the library.
June 25, 2016
I like cats (I've got two) so that's what attracted me to this book, even though I'm not a man ... I figured the same principles could apply to everyone.
Shelly is the author's cat. And through Shelly, he learned about and describes lessons in:
* Control
* Grooming
* Fear
* Relationships
* Persistence
* Health
* Stress
* Career
* Sharing
The chapters begin with a cat tale and a lesson. Then there are tips. For example in the Control section, the tips include not being a doormat, confidence, picking your battles, self-discipline, compromise and acceptance, Some chapters have quizzes, "WWCD" (What Would Cats Do?), comparisons (for example, as living with a woman vs living a cat), etc.
I liked the messages in the book and it was cute to use Shelly as a learning tool. I enjoyed the writing style as it was funny and easy to read ... I did get tired of his use of "chick", though. Seriously, Dude?
With all the self-help books out there, this was an interesting twist.
Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2016/06...
Shelly is the author's cat. And through Shelly, he learned about and describes lessons in:
* Control
* Grooming
* Fear
* Relationships
* Persistence
* Health
* Stress
* Career
* Sharing
The chapters begin with a cat tale and a lesson. Then there are tips. For example in the Control section, the tips include not being a doormat, confidence, picking your battles, self-discipline, compromise and acceptance, Some chapters have quizzes, "WWCD" (What Would Cats Do?), comparisons (for example, as living with a woman vs living a cat), etc.
I liked the messages in the book and it was cute to use Shelly as a learning tool. I enjoyed the writing style as it was funny and easy to read ... I did get tired of his use of "chick", though. Seriously, Dude?
With all the self-help books out there, this was an interesting twist.
Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2016/06...
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews