The Library Cat: The Observations of a Thinking Cat

by Alex Howard

Library Cat, the resident cat of the University of Edinburgh's Main Library, is not like other cats. He is a thinking cat. You can tell by the canny glint in his eye, his disdainful whiskers and his unrelenting interest in books and piles of paper.

This is the Library Cat's story. Join him as he adventures away from his favourite turquoise library chair and his preferred food (bacon rind) to go out into the big, bad world. Meet his cousins, Biblio Chat and Saaf Landan Tom; swoon during his brief encounter with the elusive Puddle Cat and hold your breath amidst his run-in with the terrifying Black Dog.

Part whimsy, part cat-borne philosophical novella, this is a tale about Library Cat's search for meaning in a confounding world. But it's about us Humans, too. Because with his black and white head bobbing a foot off the ground, Library Cat has seen Humans from a very different angle . . .

And he thinks we have it all wrong.

From the author of the bestselling The Ghost Cat (Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month August 2024). Library Cat was winner of The People's Book Prize 2017 (Beryl Bainbridge Award for Best First Time Author).

Audible Audio

Published July 31, 2025

About the author

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.