The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World

A New York Times bestseller about how cats conquered the world and our hearts in this "deep and illuminating perspective on our favorite household companion"(Huffington Post).

House cats rule bedrooms and back alleys, deserted Antarctic islands, even cyberspace. And unlike dogs, cats offer humans no practical benefit. The truth is they are sadly incompetent mouse-catchers and now pose a threat to many ecosystems. Yet, we love them still.

In the "eminently readable and gently funny" (Library Journal, starred review) The Lion in the Living Room, Abigail Tucker travels through world history, natural science, and pop culture to meet breeders, activists, and scientists who’ve dedicated their lives to cats. She visits the labs where people sort through feline bones unearthed from the first human settlements, treks through the Floridian wilderness in search of house cats-turned-hunters on the loose, and hangs out with Lil Bub, one of the world’s biggest celebrities — who just happens to be a cat.

"Fascinating" (Richmond Times-Dispatch) and "lighthearted" (The Seattle Times), Tucker shows how these tiny felines have used their relationship with humans to become one of the most powerful animals on the planet. A "lively read that pounces back and forth between evolutionary science and popular culture" (The Baltimore Sun), The Lion in the Living Room suggests that we learn that the appropriate reaction to a house cat, it seems, might not be aww but awe.

"While the title of this book suggests a bit of a fluffy story, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it’s more of a story about evolution… This book explores how cats went from creatures we feared and conquered to animals that we cuddle and bring into our homes. It makes you think about what’s really going on inside your own cat’s head — because the house cat is still an animal built to kill." Erica Murphy, SEO Editor, The Cut (NYMag.com)

"Eminently readable and gently funny, Tucker's blend of pop science and social commentary will appeal to cat lovers as well as a broad general audience with an interest in natural history." Library Journal (Starred Review)

"With informative first-person excursions to different places and topics, Tucker reviews all aspects of our favorite pet as well as the spell it has cast on us." New York Times Book Review

"In The Lion in the Living Room, three things come together with exquisite, delightful effect: a natural history of cats, replete with ecological issues as well as contemporary cultural memes; evolutionary science as it pertains to the origins and consequences of our fascination with felines; and an unusually deft way with words by author Abigail Tucker. The net result is a deep and illuminating perspective on our favorite household companion… One hesitates to use the word genius, but Tucker’s book borders on that quality." Huffington Post

Abigail Tucker was the first ever staff writer for Smithsonian magazine, where she remains a contributor. She previously wrote for The Baltimore Sun. Her work has been featured in the Best American Science and Nature Writing series. The first word of both of her daughters was "cat." She is the author of The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World.