Cat’s Cradle is regarded as one of Vonnegut’s best installments in his wild collection of novels. At the center of the novel is the investigative journalism around a mysterious and world ending substance Ice-Nine. Ice-Nine alters the chemical balance of H2O and instantly crystallizes. This crystal is unbreakable and cannot be melted. If it touches an ocean every single thing that ocean touches freezes over. To understand hell freezing over our protagonist explores the Hoenikker’s family’s involvement in this and stumbles upon a far away island whose ideals are much different than ours. Throughout the novel the protagonist tackles the looming extinction if this chemical is ever released and explains his newfound religion. The way Vonnegut plays with the ultimate extinction of the human race and how religious belief guides our actions is what makes this one of his best novels. Through the use of this new religion that essentially pokes fun at the world’s favorite ones he picks apart how our beliefs cloud our existence. He highlights how it can be something we dedicate our entire lives to, inform all of our decisions and use to justify our actions. With the end of the world looming all of this comes into a painful focus that will have you thinking for days to come like any good book should.