Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats Overview
Some pairings are just meant to be: peanut butter and chocolate, yin and yang, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. So it was only a matter of time before the stars in the universe lined up and suggested the collaboration between
New York Times best selling author Bradley Trevor Greive and award-winning photographer Rachael Hale.
Teaming up on their first collaborative effort, Greive and Hale explain once and for all Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats. Now, before all you cat lovers find your fur standing on end, Greive is quick to stress that he is simply "prodog, not anticat. The purpose of this book is not to criticize cats or their owners, but to champion the many exceptional virtues unique to dogs."
What are these unique attributes that make canine companions superior to their feline fiends? (Oops, we meant friends.) Consider the following:
Put simply:
* Dogs are social. Cats are sociopaths.
* Dogs match up to people. People must match up to cats.
* Dogs teach us patience. Cats test our patience.
* Dogs give and give. Cats are the gift that keeps on grifting.
The bottom line is this: Dogs want love. Cats want fish.
Although Greive admits that there is something to be said for "soft, warm, and sleepy" (a.k.a. cats) as captured in Hale's cuddly feline photographs, he concludes that dogs would be the only ones with character enough to admit this fact, thereby once again positioning themselves as the superior pet, confidant, admirer, and friend.
Customer Reviews
Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats by Bradley Trevor Greive is a tongue in cheek look at why dogs have become "Man's Best Friend." When it came down to claiming the title, dogs had some stiff competition from all sorts of animals and Greive explains why many didn't make the cut, including cats, who he claims, "were gonged off the stage in the preliminary rounds due to lack of interest (on their part)." He includes the full bracket to the championship and according to Grieve, it came down to the dog and the lemur. Grieve does concede that cats do have some good qualities, but in the end, according to him, they fall short of dogs.
The photographs in Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats were taken by Rachael Hale and they're simply gorgeous, like the one on the cover. They are mostly of dogs, but do include cats and a few other animals. I kept stopping while I was reading to show them to Carl.
I love the fact that Grieve includes a list of questions that you should ask yourself before you buy a dog and encourages getting your pet from an animal shelter.
There's not a lot of text in Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats, but I still enjoyed it. It's a book I'll pick up over and over to look at the beautiful animals. This book would make a great gift because animal lovers will enjoy the humorous text and the photographs. My only complaint is that part of the text is in the back of the book under notes (they're comments, not footnotes) and it got tiresome flipping to the back to read them.
Posts
