That rotund mama-cat has hyp-MO-tized me with its steely gaze!

"Must...buy...blogbook...must...buy..."

I was intially skeptical of "meerkats", but have to admit the cover is perfect.

I wonder if there's any subtext in appearance that most of the cats seem to be fighting each other (and the fact that the big one looks particularly grumpy). ;-)

I'm a-feared, pa.

Cats? But of _course_ cats - what else could possibly grace the cover of a book about weblogging? :-}

Congrats, Bb!

PERFECT!

I also thought this cover was perfect - fell in love with it at first sight!

Hey, Stavros? Why'd you assume the big cat was female?

Neither accusing nor faulting -- just genuinely curious.

I didn't, for whatever that's worth. I didn't automatically assign the kitties gender when I looked at the cover. Maybe I'm just weird.

The cover totally rocks, tho. Can't imagine a better one. (O'Reilly koan: why so many rodents on the covers of Python books?)

Hmm, interesting Dorothea. I automatically assumed the big, grumpy cat is male. Andrea's right though, this cover just screams "subtext." I also suspect that, although she isn't letting on, Andrea has already matched this grumpy cat with a leading blogging identity.

Hey, Stavros? Why'd you assume the big cat was female?

On first glance (and second) saw one cat and four kittens...now I am not a 'cat person' by any stretch of the imagination, but what little kitty lore I have at my mental disposal indicates that papa-cats are more of the absentee-father stripe than the doting-parent one. Thus and therefore, in a blinding flash of inadvertent gender bias, I came up with....mama-cat!

That's my story, and I'm a-stickin' to it.

Okay, I can dig that. I didn't assume a family relationship either, though now that I look again it seems fairly obvious. (Though the litters of kittens I've seen haven't been nearly so consistent with regard to markings.)

You're right about cat parenting, btw. Daddy cats go skee-daddling PDQ.

I'm going to buy this book just for the cover! That and of course, because of Shelley ;)

Rev, you good people. Very good people!

The cat is actually a variety known as flathead, and is a mother child grouping. Personally, though, when I first saw this, my first thought on seeing the Big Cat is "Hey, that reminds me of _____". I leave the filling of the blanks to all of your imaginations....

glad to see you guys took my suggestion. ;)

Of course, Gary. My mama told me never piss off a man who puts salt in his porridge.

Shelley Powers

Email: shelleyp@yasd.com
Shelley Powers is an independent consultant and writer, currently living in Boston, Ma. She's written articles and books on various web technologies, including the book Developing ASP Components for O'Reilly. Shelley has her own company, YASD (www.yasd.com), and can be reached at shelleyp@yasd.com.

Don't they read your weblog @ O'Reilly's?

Several of my editors do read my weblog, but they're not the one's who update the author's page.

I did update this, but for some reason they grabbed the old one.