Cat Lover's Trivia: Weird and Wacky Facts About Our Furry Friends

by Mike Darton

Cat Lover’s Trivia is an irresistible potpourri of feline facts, embracing the essential, the trivial, the intriguing, and the extraordinary.

Schott’s Original Miscellany was a publishing phenomenon. It sired a host of sequels and parodies. But no matter how patiently and for how many years they waited, the potential feline readership was overlooked. Until now.

Cat Lover’s Trivia is how the original would have appeared had its creator been an obsessive cat owner. Or, indeed, a very curious cat. It parodies the randomness of entry and stylishness of design of the original, but is created entirely for cats and their obedient owners and admirers. The result is a fascinating outpouring of feline facts , including such gems Cat Lover’s Trivia is the perfect coffee table book to give as a gift for cat lovers or addition to your library’s satire section.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cats

96 pages, Hardcover

Published September 28, 2021

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cat Lover’s Trivia: Weird and Wacky Facts About Our Furry Friends by Mike Darton is a 2021 Chartwell Books publication.

This is a fun book of cat trivia with a format and style loosely based on Schott’s Original Miscellany. Cat lovers will love all the little tidbits of information, but so will history buffs, and trivia fans.

The book covers so many topics, but the format is quite random- which made the book fun in many ways, but switching gears so quickly was distracting, too, at times. Still, even for the most informed cat aficionado, there are facts here that will surprise and often delight cat lovers.

Big cats, small cats, show cats- from all countries, with all sorts of names and pronunciations! Cartoon cats, fables, and movies. Cat litter, cat carriers, cat food, cat breeds, classifications, emotions. The book has a few funny cat quotes, and lists the oldest cats, cats who had the most litters, and explains grooming habits, hybrids, cats that are extinct- Basically anything that has to do with cats, or anything named after a cat, with that uses the word 'cat'.

The book is, despite its unique approach, very straightforward, though, and has very little commentary.

Still the book is very fun to browse through. While it’s less than a hundred pages, that’s kind of deceiving. The book kept me entertained for a while, plus it is a book that one can refer back to, almost like a quirky cat encyclopedia.

I thought I knew a lot about cats, but it would seem I had a lot more to learn!

Overall, this is one of the most unique formats I’ve encountered in a trivia book. It's a little busy at times, and if you are a stickler for organization, this one might be a challenge for you, but it keeps things lively, and challenges the brain a little too.

3 stars

[Sue Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of fun feline facts...some esoteric, but mostly not. Deserves a place on any ailurophile's bookshelf. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Lyndsey Bookish Nature · Rating 4 out of 5]

~~~ I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ~~~

First and foremost: I. Love. Cats. This is a fun collection of facts and trivia about cats- what's not to like? I learned a lot actually from this book. It would be better maybe if some of the pages were more eye appealing and it had been organized somehow, instead of random. But, overall, I enjoyed this book. Cat Lover's Trivia is a fun coffee table style book- or perhaps for a vet's office to place in the waiting area. You and your fellow cat-loving friends and family will love this book!

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in the day charity shop shelves in the UK were stuffed with copies of Schott's Miscellany and all the thousands of offshoot volumes. I loved them, but they were hardly the kind of thing to leave on your shelves until the non-existent day you re-read them, and found them out of date. But the series lacked specific volumes concerning the other members of the household, and hence there were a "Sock's Feline Miscellany" and a "Spott's Canine" variant – both made by someone else, and both of which now retitled and brought to us afresh. That's as "afresh" as something containing 2006 cat ownership data could be...

The pair of volumes at hand certainly keep the aesthetic and ethics of the originals, in that they are quite densely typeset, serious forms of trivia book. Nothing is over a full side, if that, and the gallimaufry of content comes at you with no structure – the subjects changing twice a page on average in very random fashion. One spread here covers the different major languages' words for cat, the biology of their whiskers, and a paragraph on Puma footwear.

So yes, a few spurious connections to the subject here do dilute the format somewhat, but this was ever readable and enjoyable, and is still worth a look. Beyond that is debatable, as I say – it may well be the case that the entity most edified by this is the cat-lover's bathroom windowsill.

[HeatherAnne Norbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you know.... cats are awesome? This is a fun little book chock FULL of fun, feline facts, from historical to quirky. If you are a cat lover, you need this little tome. As a kid, I loved trivia books so much. I haven't read one though in years. I will admit that when I first opened this book, it felt a little dry since it jumped straight into fact upon fact. I would have liked to see a foreward or introduction by the author. However, the facts were varied and interesting. I enjoyed learning even more about my favorite animals.

[Teena in Toronto · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love cats (I have two) and that's why this book caught my eye. This book is a quick read and is full of very random trivia about cats. I found most of it interesting.

The book was original published in 2009 and some of the stats, like popular cat names, are from 2007. It would have been nice if they had updated these stats to current times rather than 14 year old information as it's probably no longer relevant. In addition, there are no sources for the stats so who knows if the information is true and how dated it is.

Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2021/09...

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read for Cat Lover’s! This book is something I could read a few facts, quotes or stories from at a time (and still have plenty left over!).. I loved reading a few and then sharing what I learned with my husband, another cat lover. This is a perfect book to leave out and get conversation going with company. This book would also make an excellent gift!

[Carol Custer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a cat lover and a trivia lover so I knew I would love this book (not to mention the adorable cover!) I expected it to be all about pet cats but no - it includes fascinating facts about ALL cats both domestic and wild.

I liked the way there seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to how the facts were placed on the page so it was a constant surprised what you would learn next.

This is a perfect gift for any cat lover!

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this would be a fun read and geared towards kids, but it is written more for adults in an Encyclopedia type format, which affected my enjoyment of it.

It includes a lot of random facts including how long cats sleep, purring, how they drink, Aesop's fables, the history of Felix the Cat and Garfield, and so much more. If "cat" is in the name, you will most likely see it mentioned in this book.

[Rachel Bodner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a gift from my secret Santa. Despite its title, it ended up being much more informative than I expected! Covers anatomy, geography, physics, etymology and origins of idioms, cultural practices, fiction, languages throughout the world, evolution, history, astronomy, statistics, the arts, botany, genetics, capitalism and businesses/ marketing, heraldry, folklore and more. A much more fascinating read than I had anticipated.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big cat lover so this was just a fun little read. This isn't the most engaging but it does have some interesting facts for those who do love cats. It would be a good Coffee table book to have sitting around for someone to briefly glance at and learn a couple cat facts.

I received an arc

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a perfect gift for any cat lover. It's filled with trivia, facts and lots of literature cats. The format is very random with no formal chapters. This makes the reading fun and interesting. It's the type of book you can read, lay down and come back too without missing a beat. A fun addition to any feline library. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Annarella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love cats and trivia and I had to read this book (after falling in love with the cover). It's an entertaining and fun read, random trivia that made me learn something new.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Emma book blogger Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the front cover the cat is cute. I think anyone that’s interested in cats will like this book.
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book.