Rate: 5/5
This book will take you on a journey of a team: 1 Cat, 2 Human Beings and a Family of Rodents. You'll feel like Dr. Dolittle, in terms of the animals talking, throughout their journey. I'm glad animals can't talk in real life or they would have a lot of negative things to say about us Humans (except the "weird ones"). The lesson behind this book is in learning the basic keys to success with a twist. Some of which I learned are:
- Learn to work with people who you don't get along with and steer them to get what you want
- Sometimes the "Leader" of the team can be the one that uses everyone to get what they want. Just know what you want out of people when you are working together on something. This can help you outsmart the leader.
- Some people may not want to accept change. Just continue to embrace it because sooner or later you'll be the one helping those people.
- We all have negative thoughts that stop us from going forward. I like to call them 'Internal Obstacles'. If you know what you want out of your goals and visualize results, you can shut any voice and accomplish those goals.
- Being overconfident in anything can lead you to negative results
- Tricking people you know and getting away with it can work in short term. But when you depend on those people later on, you'll fall flat on your face.
- Its ok if you feel like you don't know anything. If you tag along for the joy of it and keep learning, eventually you'll become the hero that saves everyone.
- When you are the leader of your team, your followers may not like you because of the risks you have to take. However, when one of your followers are down, the leader takes full responsibility in protecting, caring and helping the team.
The gist of this book is that a Cat teams with a family of rodents (who somehow learned how to talk and "think" like humans) and a kid in pursuit of scamming a town to get a lot of money. The Cat is the leader, the rodents are the followers and that one kid is just lost and tags along because of his skill of playing a flute. Then all of a sudden a girl tags along, not by coincidence, but more because of her "weirdness". Now if this doesn't make go want to buy this book and start reading, I don't know what will.
Heres some of the most memorable extracts from the beginning chapters in this book (don't want to give too much away):
- "Trouble with thinking was that, once you started, you went on doing it."
- "..he'd done what cats always did. He steered people."
- "It's hard to translate 'Sir' into Rat. The rat word for 'sir' isn't a word; it's sort of momentary crouch, indicating that, just at the moment, the crouching rat is prepared to accept that the other rat is the boss, but that he or she shouldn't get funny."
- "Not all the rats had got used to the idea of making fire, and some were getting out of the way"
- "Most rats couldn't read human. It was just too hard to make lines and squiggles turn into any sense. So Peaches had worked very hard on making a language that rats could read. She'd tried to draw a big rat made up of little rats. (Yeah...the rats took notes along their journey and made strategic maneuvers on paper on making rules on how things were to be done).
- "...Dangerous Beans had said, 'What is a rat?' and Hamnpork had replied, 'Teeth. Claws. Tail. Run. Hide. Eat. That's what a rat is.' Dangerous Beans had said, 'But now we can say "what is a rat?"' he said. 'And that means we're more than that.'
- "'...you were an apprentice to a wizard but you fell asleep and let the cauldron of bubbling green stuff boil over and he threathened to turn you into a-a-a--' 'Gerbil' said Maurice, helpfully. '..What's a gerbil? Did that cat just say 'gerbil'?'"
- "Maurice was more than a cat. He knew. He knew that the world was big and complex and involved a lot more than wondering if the next meal was going to be beetles or chicken legs."
- "'We Co-Operate or We Die.' Yes, that was the next Thought."
My Favorite Quote in this book:
"Death isn't so bad. Shall I tell you about Bone Rat? He waits for those who break and run, who hide, who falter. But if you stare into his eyes he'll give you a nod and pass right on"
In my opinion the moral of this story: Anything can be accomplished when a team sticks together like a family, even though they may have difficulties getting along.
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