Thoreau and the Aquatic Cats of Concord

Recently discovered in a manuscript “written” by Henry David Thoreau’s cat Min, these 50 fictitious feline quotations range in topic from the mundane to the profound. Organized by subjects such as adventure, joy, contact, and contemplation, these quotes discuss cats getting their legs caught in animal traps, hunting, playing, philosophizing, and instructing humans. Offering another perspective on actual events mentioned in Thoreau’s copious journals—whose quotations are included here with their corresponding cat counterparts—this is essentially a love story between the misanthropic man of letters and the singular individual shown in Thoreau's writings to have been the true love of his life: his cat Min.