Customer Reviews

The Cats of Lamu

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My teenage daughter received THE CATS OF LAMU as a gift. She is usually found locked in her room, with music blaring at a deafening level and her ear glued to the phone. However, I began to notice a difference in her behavior; she became glued to a coffee table book, with an image of a beautiful cat on cover and back. The music was turned off and beleive it or not, we began to find her reading throughout the house, with and without her ear glued to the phone. At one piont when she was off at school, I picked up THE CATS OF LAMU to find out wnat kind of medicine or magic, it might contain. I'm not into cats, I'm into dogs, we have two pitbulls. Back to the point, sure the cats are beautiful and are found only on LAMU, but what I find in this book, is a mesmerizing adventure -- a fascinating yet relaxing journey. I couldn't put it down, 'til I read and viewed it through to the end. Jack Couffer should get rich, working for the tourist board of Lamu, but I hope he will wait until I've had a chance to follow in his footsteps and commune with the Cats of Lamu.

I don't care for cats in the least (mostly because I am allergic) but I really liked this book. The pictures and descriptions of Lamu are delightful. Lamu is a magical place, a must-see on the coast of Eastern Africa, and the author brings it to us in great detail. His theory that the cats of Lamu are descendents of a lost breed of cat from ancient Egypt is quite interesting. This is a wonderful book for cat lovers and/or Africanists.

Jack Couffer tells a remarkably unlikely story of WWII research into the use of bats to carry small incendiary devices into Japanese cities in "Bat Bomb: World War II's Other Secret Weapon".

A charming book whose prose is as delightful as its beautiful photos

One look at this cover and I was sold. I don't have any feelings one way or the other about cats, but I was engrossed by these charming, independent, exotic, beautiful animals of Africa. There should be more books like this, which by focusing on one aspect of an interesting far away land, in this case, the beautiful, medeival island of Lamu, give one the vicarious experience of living there. I wish my neighborhood was as interesting as the environs of Jack Couffer's LAMU. I wish my neighbors were as sympathetic and engaging as Mr. Couffer's CATS. One can easily buy into Couffer's theory, linking the cats worshipped by the ancient Egyptians to these island cats. These cats are world treasures.

The author discovered what those of us with more than a few cats have always known--cats CAN exist happily in large colonies. The observations were intelligent and interesting, and the photos were luscious! I thoroughly enjoyed both the text and the illustrations.

The only nit I would pick is the authors own wild theories concerning the origin and and age of his "breed". Had he ever attended a cat show, he would have known that these cats closely resemble an already existing breed called the "Oriental Shorthair", which is a non-pointed variety of Siamese. The ancestors of these cats probably came from southeast asia! As it has been fairly established that the cat worshiped by the ancient Egyptions was probably either the Abyssinian or the Egyption Mau, I suspect these cats appeared with thier Asian trading partners.

He also made some minor mistakes concerning feline genetics that could have been avoided by picking up a basic genetic book, but in the area of behavior he was generally right on. I also found it interesting that he was brave enough to propose a generally politically incorrect view in these modern times (at least in the US)--that it might be OK for a semi-domestic animal to be born, live, breed, and die according to rules of Mother Nature; not neutered out of existence "for thier own good", according to the rules of men.

Cats are always fascinating creatures. I don't think I could live without one, although I have endured such a company loss for some time now. The idea that the ancient Egyptians cats are still here, secluded in an island, sounds good for a Hollywood story or a romantic novel. However, Jack Couffer documents it as a possibility in our real world. His images are very good, some of them shot like for a newspaper, others with a deep human touch. Moreover, his account comes from a man who witnessed how feral cats and humans interact like in no other place on Earth in the Lamu Archipelago, off the coasts of Africa. Perfect for cat's and animal lovers, and for anyone who likes nature photography.