Hey, brokeplex, I just wanted to let you know I finished the first "Man-Kzin Wars" book and really liked it. I didn't understand all the science, of course, but that's not a real obstacle to enjoying the stories. The kzinti are fascinating, as are the ways the humans overcome their disadvantages when facing off with them.
The only thing I wonder about is how similar they are physically to humans. What do their hands look like? Are they like cat claws, or are they more like human hands with retractable claws? It seems more likely they could better achieve all those technological advances with the latter. The authors of the stories seemed to largely leave it up to the reader to fill in the blanks.