Customer Reviews

Cat Breeds of the World (Illustrated Encyclopedias)

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You know those handy little field guides to birds, insects, flowers, and so forth, by Peterson, by the Smithsonian, and by National Geographic? Well, this is the same sort of thing, only the subject is cats! There are a couple of hundred color photos, some large, and many small. They illustrate not just every breed, but most color and pattern variants of every breed. There are short descriptions of each breed and checklists of the pros and cons of each breed. You can use it to quickly nail down the identity of any cat, similarly to identifying a bird from a field guide. Due to the superb layout and organization, it's a lot quicker than using some bird field guides. More importantly, you can pick out a cat that you might like to own by very quickly comparing the looks and characteristics of many different cats.

The only drawback to this book is that it was written in England and the named and accepted breeds are different there. A careful reading of the text will tell you what the differences are, but there are some gaps in their knowledge of American breeds and norms.

Barron's Encyclopedia of Cat Breeds has much more detailed and precise descriptive text. The Ultimate Guide to Cats has much more beautiful cat photography. Neither one can match the ease and speed with which you can compare the looks and characteristics of different cats and neither one has as comprehensive a set of photos of the different colors and patterns as Cat Breeds of the World.