This book brings together hundreds of cat facts and trivia tidbits; for example, housecats typically blink twice a minute, and NCAA college football teams with "cat" nicknames--Lions, Tigers, Cougars--outnumber "dog" nicknames by more than two to one. Illustrations.

How do cats land on their feet? Discover how this question stumped brilliant minds and how its answer helped solve other seemingly impossible puzzles The question of how falling cats land on their feet has long intrigued humans. In this playful and eye-opening history, physicist and cat parent Gregory Gbur explores how attempts to understand the cat-righting reflex have provided crucial insights into puzzles in mathematics, geophysics, neuroscience, and human space exploration. The result is an engaging tumble through physics, physiology, photography, and robotics to uncover, through scientific debate, the secret of the acrobatic performance known as cat-turning, the cat flip, and the cat twist. Readers learn the solution but also discover that the finer details still inspire heated arguments. As with other cat behavior, the more we investigate, the more surprises we discover.

How to use physical reasoning to solve surprising paradoxes Ever wonder why cats land on their feet? Or what holds a spinning top upright? Or whether it is possible to feel the Earth's rotation in an airplane? Why Cats Land on Their Feet is a compendium of paradoxes and puzzles that readers can solve using their own physical intuition. And the surprising answers to virtually all of these astonishing paradoxes can be arrived at with no formal knowledge of physics. Mark Levi introduces each physical problem, sometimes gives a hint or two, and then fully explains the solution. Here readers can test their critical-thinking skills against a whole assortment of puzzles and paradoxes involving floating and diving, sailing and gliding, gymnastics, bike riding, outer space, throwing a ball from a moving car, centrifugal force, gyroscopic motion, and, of course, falling cats. Want to figure out how to open a wine bottle with a book? Or how to compute the square root of a number using a tennis shoe and a watch? Why Cats Land on Their Feet shows you how, and all that's required is a familiarity with basic high-school mathematics. This lively collection also features an appendix that explains all physical concepts used in the book, from Newton's laws to the fundamental theorem of calculus.

Uses a question-and-answer format to present a variety of information about cats.

Every little fact cat lovers could want to know about the mysterious creatures that live in their homes is contained in this collection. For example, cats use at least a hundred different sounds to communicate and can pronounce thirteen vowel sounds and seven or eight consonant sounds; housecats typically blink twice a minute; and in ancient Egypt, the penalty for killing a cat was death!

This isn’t just another cat care book! It’s a virtual owner’s manual packed with little-known and entertaining facts presented by two acclaimed experts--all in answer to more than 200 unique questions about the fabulous feline. Broken down into categories, including "Behavior,” "Bodies,” and "Emotions,” it covers everything that cat lovers need to know: Why do cats purr? Do they get embarrassed? Are all white cats deaf? Can a litter have more than one father? Do cats have favorite colors of food? And, finally, there’s an answer to the pressing query that all feline fans have asked for years: Why do cats seek out the one person in the room who doesn’t like them? Although the tone is lighthearted, the information is valuable...and absolutely scientifically accurate.