<p>Precaution is the first novel written by American author James Fenimore Cooper. It was written in imitation of contemporary English domestic novels like those of Jane Austen and Amelia Opie.</p><p>In the customary practice of the day Cooper was reading aloud to his wife one evening from a current English novel, but found the story dull. Throwing it aside, he declared, "I could write a better book than that myself."</p>