The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats: A Journey Into the Feline Heart [Hardcover]

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 2002

In the hugely popular New York Times bestseller, Dogs Never Lie About Love, provocative psychoanalyst Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson brilliantly navigated the inner landscape of “man’s best friend.” Now he delves deep into the secretive, playful world of cats, revealing emotions, debunking myths, and honoring the feline’s evolution from solitary jungle creature to human companion.

Drawing from literature, history, animal behavioral research, and the wonderful true stories of cat experts and cat lovers around the world, Jeffrey Masson vividly explores the delights and mysteries of the feline heart. But at the core of this remarkable book are Masson’s candid, often amusing observations of his own five cats. Their mischievousness, aloofness, and affection provide a way to examine emotions from contentment to jealousy, from anger to love.

Consider the question: Are cats selfish? While human egocentricity is defined by how little a person cares about others, the cat’s narcissism is not like that at all. Cats may appear self-centered, but they watch us all the time, taking us in. They see us; they notice us–a far cry from vanity.

Cats are curious, a trait that rarely kills them. On the contrary, it gives them the chance to assess, in their own idiosyncratic way, whether we are worthy of their attention. Cats are happy to be themselves. What they think of us is a different question entirely. “We need cats to need us,” notes Masson, “It unnerves us that they do not. However, if they do not need us, they nonetheless seem to love us.”

The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats will captivate readers with its surprises and insights, offering a new perspective on the deep connection shared by humans and their feline friends. This is the book that Masson’s many fans and cat lovers everywhere have been waiting for.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Non-cat people frequently describe cats as selfish, unfriendly, and frustratingly independent, while a true cat lover can see these same traits and wax poetic. The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats is truly an ode to the wonderful and mysterious behavior of our furry friends--even when the behavior at hand is narcissism or jealousy. Author Jeffery Moussaieff Masson (Dogs Never Lie About Love) explores the lives of his five cats as they relate to his family, each other, and the world around them, filled as it is with such interesting creatures as butterflies, automobiles, and visiting humans.

Each chapter is devoted to a study of a particular emotion, ranging from love to playfulness to anger. While there are interesting tidbits of animal science, such as "cats look away or blink when feeling friendly," the majority of the book revolves around the author's observations of his own pets. When he suggests answers for mysterious behavior like the grooming that instantly turns into a bloodthirsty brawl, he is never absolute, but merely offers one among many possible explanations. Kind and thoughtful, Masson's entertaining tales and wise musings will be appreciated by any cat fancier. --Jill Lightner

From Publishers Weekly

Prevailing wisdom holds that cats are aloof, smug, quintessentially distant-especially when compared to dogs-but Masson, in his latest exploration of feelings in the animal world, argues otherwise: "cats," he says, "are almost pure emotion." He establishes nine basics (narcissism, love, contentment, attachment, jealousy, fear, anger, curiosity and playfulness) and, in nine casual and sometimes digressive chapters, suggests when and why cats feel each of them and how we humans might better understand our pets as a result. In the tradition of his bestselling Dogs Never Lie About Love, Masson's exploration is a warm fuzzy to the feline world: in observing the antics of his five cats (Miki, Moko, Yossie, Megalamandira and Minnalouche), Masson's tone never fails to convey his wonder for "these perfect beings who briefly and softly grace my life." He draws desultorily on history, scientific research and correspondence with cat experts and owners, but most of his book is dedicated to a highly subjective study of his beloved five, who live with him in a New Zealand paradise. Though Masson strains to establish evidence for cats' sophisticated emotional landscape (and in doing so exposes himself to accusations of anthropomorphism), cats are still mysterious creatures, and even a former psychoanalyst such as he must occasionally admit (though with a certain kind of glee) that he cannot entirely figure them out. One thing's for sure: because cats, unlike humans and dogs, have never been pack animals, much of what comes naturally to us-guilt, apology, even rage-is absent in cats. In the end, this appealing book seems as much a portrait of Masson as it is of his enchanting cats.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (October 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345448820
• ISBN-13: 978-0345448828
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,306,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Masson has had at least four lives: first as a boy raised to become a "spiritual leader" (see his denunciation of such a life in My Father's Guru). While in the middle of his disillusion, he became a professor of Sanskrit at the University of Toronto. At the same time he trained to become a Freudian analyst. Upon graduation he became Projects Director of the Freud Archives, and was scheduled to move into Freud's house in London when fate intervened: Masson found documents which seemed to show that Freud was right in believing that many women had been sexually abused as children, and that he was wrong to give up this belief, perhaps impelled by societal displeasure at his discoveries. Saying this publicly turned Masson into a psychoanalytic pariah, and he gave up both his professorship and his analytic career to delve into the far more fascinating world of animal emotions. Two of his books, WHEN ELEPHANTS WEEP and DOGS NEVER LIE ABOUT LOVE, were New York Times best-sellers. He became vegetarian as a result of his research, and later, when he looked into the feelings of farm animals, he became even stricter, and no longer eats or uses any animal product (vegan). Harpercollins published his most recent book: THE DOG WHO COULDN'T STOP LOVING: HOW DOGS HAVE CAPTURED OUR HEARTS FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. He lives on a beach in New Zealand with his two sons, Ilan and Manu, and his German wife, Leila, a pediatrician who works with children on the autistic spectrum (using the bio-medical approach), Benjy, a golden lab, and three cats. They often travel to the States, Europe, and Australia. He is now fascinated in the "us/them" phenomenon, between humans but also between humans and animals.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So-so, September 25, 2003

By 

Wombat (IL, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats: A Journey Into the Feline Heart (Hardcover)

The plus side.... I found it an engaging read, and it did make me study my three cats more than I normally do. I like his assessments that there are more to cats then what we see on a surface view, and I agreed with most of the emotions listed and how they manifest themselves. The writing style was well done, and I liked the contemplative style of his prose.

The negative side... The author does not seem to realize that most of us do not live in rural beaches and rain forests, and for the vast majority of cats out there, the environment outside is hostile to small domestic animals. I am a volunteer in a cat shelter, and have been the unfortunate witness to many a bad situation caused by owners wanting their cats to be able to run free. I found it surprising that someone who was so anti-declawing (which I applaud) could be so naive as to the perils outside. Cats and toddlers alike may yearn to run into the street, but it doesn't mean those who are responsible for them should allow them to do so. I suppose it is not surprising; after all, it came from an author who was willing to give away a cat who had gotten somewhat cranky in middle age, as well as one who seems nonchalant at the end that his wandering cats were no longer spending their nights at home. But for someone who is truly concerned about their cat's welfare, the casual attitude was a bit hard to swallow. I am hoping that his current cats do not end up getting squished by a car like he admits the rest of them had in California.

Buy the book? No. But it might be worth checking out at the library.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time, November 1, 2004

By 

Amy Henry (Nipomo, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats: A Journey Into the Feline Heart (Hardcover)

Unfortunately, I did purchase this book as a guide to understanding my cat better. I guess I should have realized it would only help understand the author's cats better. Purely anecdotal accounts, no real expertise or science to his assertions. That may sound like no big deal, but realistically, every cat owner has a cute little story about their cat and an opinion about what they are thinking. So I was hoping this would go beyond his cute little cat stories. Frankly, by the third section, everything he said was running together, as there were no real main points presented. Also, I found it tiring to hear him talk about himself so much. Even his cats don't get full focus in this book, it's mostly him and his swims and walks on the beach. I wanted some depth and got a shallow swim with this one.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This guy knows little about cats, December 31, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats: A Journey Into the Feline Heart (Hardcover)

I have been a multiple cat owner all of my life and was hoping this would be an inciteful read given the author's previous popular works - what a disappointment. His assessment of cats personalities is elementary, and loaded with generalizations. Cats personalities vary widely and you cannot write a book based on spending 1 year with kittens, particularly the exotic breeds that he has. He states the obvious as if it was a revelation (i.e. cats ancestors are naturally solitary hunters which he states over and over again as rationale for his opinions) - DUH!! He rambles quite a bit in each chapter and sometimes contradicts opinion from one chapter to the next. Some stuff was out an out wrong (i.e. "All cats immediately warm up to humans but not to their own species" - say WHAT?). About the only thing I liked were his opinions on declawing, and agreement that cats would prefer to be free to roam. But thats just not possible for many these days - and to say that cats who cannot are not truly happy is an ego stroke to the author (who lives in New Zealand where his cats can roam - I doubt he moved there for his cats sake).