Nick the Cat

This book was recommended to me when we lost our beloved cat suddenly and unexpectedly. It is a very well written story of a theologian and church historian who is also a cat lover. She is adopted by a very unusual stray cat, the title Nick. She details her family's life with this cat until his death. The anecdotes of Nick's life are hilarious and his behavior is definitely un-cat-like. She intersperses episodes in their life with Nick with observations on life and our tendency to anthropomorphize our animal friends. She makes the case that animals are not just a pre-programmed bundle of instincts but have unique "personalities." Her sociological and theological insights are useful and thought provoking. All in all, an enjoyable read and a source of valuable insight.

Nick the Cat is like nothing you have ever read. It is about a stray cat and what happens to the woman, a retired Harvard and Candler prof and Oxford Scholar and a completely companionable woman, who encounters and tries to understand this strange cat. For every cat lover and everyone who examines their life from its spiritual side.