As with the best humor, the book is done with an absolutely straight face (well, except for the goofy portraits of the "artists" which beign each chapter). So straight, in fact, that I've seen at least two columnists who were taken in by it and reviewed it as a serious work.

The level of detail is amazing: not just in the cat photos (which are wonderful) but in footnotes ("Stace, P. Feline Kinetic Design as Installation ARt, 1999-2001 Journal of Applied Animal Aesthetics, Vol. VII, 2001), captions (a Santa-painted cat: "...she makes us painfully aware of the continuing unhealthy santaization of winter solstice symbolism with its stupefying illusion of male as dominant gift giver").

"Why Paint Cats" works on a lot of levels - as a skewering of art criticism, a gentle poke at cat lovers and Animal Rights activists, and best of all, as good, silly fun.

17 of 18 found the following review helpful:

Lovely Book!  Oct 10, 2002

I really enjoyed Why Paint Cats- the photography and visual presentation is amazing. All the cats look beautiful! I have bought it for several friends and it really does make a wonderful gift- the perfect coffee table book!

24 of 27 found the following review helpful:

Very funny book  May 31, 2003
By magellan
This is one of the most entertaining art books I've seen. The text is well-written enough to fool most people, and the only way I knew it was a spoof was I've read my share of art criticism and art history, even though I'm a biologist by training, and I think I can detect when someone is making fun of the whole business.

Having figured out the text was a joke, it was only a hop, skip, and a jump to figuring out the cat paintings were probably fake and probably done on a computer. I'm not positive about this, since they look so realistic, but it seems likely. Also, it seems unlikely that any cat would sit still long enough to have such elaborate paintings done.

Furthermore, if that wasn't enough, the author states that some of the paintings were by well-known artists that cost as much as $7000 each--not very likely. (Also I've never heard of any of these artists).

Whether they're real or fake, the cat paintings are truly spectacular and are entertaining just by themselves. I note that a veterinarian in a previous review of this book said he saw his first "painted cat" recently, and he said that the cat had tried to lick off the paint and had ulcers on its tongue. This could be a jest also, but I suppose someone could have been taken in by the book too and actually tried to do one.

Well, I hope most people realize the whole book is very likely an elaborate joke and don't try to paint anymore cats if it can be harmful to them, but the book as just a book of remarkable cat "paintings" is quite entertaining.

14 of 15 found the following review helpful:

Irresistably funny and very clever  Oct 03, 2002
By John Petherick
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This book is remarkable for the variety of reactions it elicits from people. I took it into the office last week and found that while some people couldn't stop laughing (as I did), others read it slowly, almost reverentially. A few even got mad that folks would paint their feline companions.
I think there's a big surprise factor in seeing the cats we're so familiar with suddenly transformed into something quite unexpected -- some are not even like cats any more, and it makes people react quite strongly.
Well worth a look, and a great read too. One of the funniest books I've read in while.

J Petherick CA

17 of 19 found the following review helpful:

I am vindicated!  Dec 29, 2002
By A. White "adynomoose"
As a person who has been painting her cats for years, I was delighted to see that this is widely accepted and practiced! My only complaint is the lack of information on safe dyes and paints for this use. I fear that some people might use toxic paints and dyes on their animals.

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