Purrfect book for cat lover in your life

The title of Matthew Inman’s new collection of web cartoons says it all: Why My Cat is More Impressive Than Your Baby.

That’s the premise in full. So, if you find that statement unfunny or even offensive, this is not the book for you.

Baby lovers, you’ve been warned.

It’s not that Inman — he of theoatmeal.com — finds cats to be unfailingly fun or enchanting. In fact, he tells his readers early on that cats are “a confusing ball of violence and tenderness” who would feast on our flesh if given the chance.

It’s just that he finds them far more predictable.

A baby may grow into a child or adult that resents its parents; cats, in Inman’s reasoning, are born resenting you, so you know where you stand right from the start.

Befriending a cat, he writes, is like “befriending a hurricane … It’ll be violent. It’ll be devastating, but in the eye of the storm, in that calm, serene centre, it’ll be beautiful.”

Then the cat will go back to being violent again.

This is why several cartoons show various cats in mid-leap, on the verge of delivering a body-slam to an unsuspecting victim.

I detect a touch of Ralph Steadman’s scratchy influence in Inman’s cartooning style, which could be why his babies aren’t cute. There’s something monstrous about them, which Inman uses to good effect when comparing the merits of felines over newborns.

Cats get the same treatment. If you’re expecting something along the lines of Garfield, Sylvester or Heathcliff, you’ll be disappointed.

Think Bill the Cat from Bloom County.

This book likely won’t change your mind about cats or babies. I find it extremely funny and even thought-provoking, but I am biased: In my household, I have three rescue cats, two rescue dogs and zero babies. I’m the ideal target audience for a collection such as this.

Will you like it? Even without reading Inman’s latest, you know where you stand.