Zen Cat

by Paul Coughlin and Judith Adler

Book Overview

How often have we seen cats watching us with intense focus, playing obsessively with a toy, comforting us as they cannily assess our moods, lying calmly in a patch of sunlight? Cats exemplify the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0875969232
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Rodale Books
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 3.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.5" x 0.6" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

to support the effort to stay calm

There are quotations of wise words of the Dalai Lama and Buddha, of American authors like H.L. Mencken or Henry David Thoreau, but also of European writers like Montaigne, Voltaire, Sartre (France) or Goethe, Wittgenstein (Germany), of Italo Calvino, Leonardo da Vinci, Cesare Pavese (Italy). You can see in this tiny book CATS: resting in paper-bags, or others, making stripes on their fur coat, standing behind window shades. In the introduction the publishing author Judith Adler (a New York "communicator, marketing muse, business intuitive, and soul coach, she helps individuals and companies realize their dreams by creating success from the only place that lasts: the INSIDE OUT") - Judith Adler for example describes, how her cat followed "the graceful dance of light upon the walls" of her bedroom. This was a help to the author, finding her "own inner feline", that field of emotional resources, which is able to make a correspondence to the typical feline, ZEN-alike capability being "focused, present, sitting stiller than a statue, meditating". If "we act with cats, these qualities are reflected back in us". It is not needful, to search poetical-pious metaphorical words, like a friend of the author did, saying: "Cats are bridges between heaven and earth, ... furry little ambassadors from beyond." Those people, who don't believe in such things, may prefer to formulate with a certain sense of humor, talking about "CAT-ALYSTS": A cat is a cat-alyzer making transpositions of far-east wisdom. On one of these pages you can find a prayer-like T.S. Eliot-quotation: "Teach us to care and not to care. Teach us to sit still." It has been no problem to the trustworthy-stylish black-and-white-photographer Paul Coughlin (who also published - among other books - "Timeless New York: A Literary and Photographic Tribute") - no problem to combine these aphorisms with congenial pictures: One cat, sitting near Washington Square (the publishers are making thankful acknowledgments to the Washington Square Animal Hospital doctors Ann Lucas and Dr. Kristin Kuscher and so on) - one cat is sitting on the entrance-stair of a café. Next to it Judith Adler wrote: "Cats don't belong to people. They belong to places." Well, the place of this book is immutable on my writing-desk - in order to support my daily effort to stay calm, collected and composed.

calm, collected and composed ...

There are quotations of wise words of the Dalai Lama and Buddha, of american authors like H.L. Mencken or Henry David Thoreau, but also of european writers like Montaigne, Voltaire, Sartre (France) or Goethe, Wittgenstein (Germany), of Italo Calvino, Leonardo da Vinci, Cesare Pavese (Italy). You can see in this tiny book CATS: resting in paper-bags, or others, making stripes on their fur coat, standing behind window shades. In the introduction the publishing author Judith Adler (a New York "communicator, marketing muse, business intuitive, and soul coach, she helps individuals and companies realize their dreams by creating success from the only place that lasts: the INSIDE OUT") - Judith Adler for example describes, how her cat followed "the graceful dance of light upon the walls" of her bedroom. This was a help to the author, finding her "own inner feline", that field of emotional ressources, which is able to make a correspondance to the typical feline, ZEN-alike capability being "focused, present, sitting stiller than a statue, meditating". If "we act with cats, these qualities are reflected back in us". It is not needful, to search poetical-pious metaphorical words, like a friend of the author did, saying: "Cats are bridges between heaven and earth, ... furry little ambassadors from beyond." Those people, who don't believe in such things, may prefer to formulate with a certain sense of humour, talking about "CAT-ALYSTS": A cat is a cat-alyzer making transpositions of far-east wisdom. On one of these pages you can find a prayer-like T.S. Eliot-quotation: "Teach us to care and not to care. Teach us to sit still." It has been no problem to the trustworthy-stylish black-and-white-photographer Paul Coughlin (who also published - among other books - "Timeless New York: A Literary and Photographic Tribute") - no problem to combine these aphorisms with congenial pictures: One cat, sitting near Washington Square (the publishers are making thankful acknowledgments to the Washington Square Animal Hospital doctors Ann Lucas and Dr. Kristin Kuscher and so on) - one cat is sitting on the entrance-stair of a café. Next to it Judith Adler wrote: "Cats don't belong to people. They belong to places." Well, the place of this book is immutable on my writing-desk - in order to support my daily effort to stay calm, collected and composed

Meow in the Now

Not a cat book per se. It is Zen through example. Deceptively simple (of course).I laughed out loud several times in a Starbucks while reading it.The pairing of photos and aphorisms is wonderful, some of which I still have yet to truly appreciate, I think.

Wonderful Zen quotes and magnificent photographs

I am not a cat lover, I must admit from the outset...but the photos and text of ZEN CAT are superb...I found the text meaningful and profound (a rarity in pet books, you may be sure)and highly recommend this little book to (a)all cat lovers, (b)all zen enthusiasts, (c)all lovers of fine photography, and (d) anyone looking for a "nice little gift".Paul Coughlin is a really fine photographer, and Judith Adler writes clearly and with a deep sense of understanding of her subject...I BOUGHT THE BOOK FOR MYSELF, BUT AM BUYING MORE FOR GIGFS, You may decide to do the same after you read it.

PURRfectly charming book!

What a charming book! The photos and the quotes are perfect together, they truly capture the magic and mystery of cats... There are so many saccharine sweet cat books I'd almost given up finding something like this -- a creative, sophisticated, artistic expression of the grace of felines. What luck, just in time for the holidays! This book's helped me appreciate just how "Zen" my kitties really are... These photos are really spectacular, the photographer must have some real Zen patience to have gotten such great shots... every cat I've ever known just runs away when the camera comes out! And the quotes really make me ponder how much I've learned from the cats in my life. They really are great teachers, especially of patience. I'm surprised to keep finding so many layers in this little book, the quotes have such simple, yet profound meanings. I also REALLY loved the fact this book wasn't cutsey and silly, but showed the many facets of cats, from their dignity and grace to their joyfulness and fun. They are truly magnificent creatures and this graceful book really captures their beauty. I'm planning on giving it to all my cat-lover friends for the holidays, it'll be the "purrfect" gift. Darn, I wish my cat could read, she'd love it! This charming book is a must-have for every cat lover!