Author Archives: smellincoffee

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About smellincoffee

Citizen, librarian, reader with a boundless wonder for the world and a curiosity about all the beings inside it.

Handprints on Hubble

Posted on July 18, 2022 by smellincoffee

Handprints on Hubble(c) 2019 Kathryn D. Sullivan304 pages Handprints on Hubble is a unique astronaut memoir, in part because Dr. Sullivan is a scientist first and an astronaut second. Longing to explore, she began her academic life in oceanography before realizing … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The Apollo Murders

Posted on July 15, 2022 by smellincoffee

The Apollo Murders(c) 2021 Chris Hadfield 480 pages It’s 1973, and the Apollo program is nearly at its end. One more mission is planned — but it won’t be the mission executed. Instead, the all-military crew of Apollo 18 will … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

The Burning Blue

Posted on July 14, 2022 by smellincoffee

The Burning Blue: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA’s Challenger Disaster(c) 2021 Kevin Cook288 pages So fickle is the human mind that even Apollo could not keep the public terribly excited for very long after the first moon … Continue reading →

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Hail, Columbia!

Posted on July 13, 2022 by smellincoffee

In reading Bringing Columbia Home, the author referred to several videos — a surviving bit of cockpit footage, eleven minutes prior to the disaster, as well as a tribute video created during the recovery period. “There’s heavy grief in our … Continue reading →

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Bringing Columbia Home

Posted on July 13, 2022 by smellincoffee

Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Shuttle and Her Crew(c) 2018 Michael Leinbach and Johnthan Ward400 pages On February 1st, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated in the skies above Texas and Louisiana, some sixteen minutes from … Continue reading →

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Midyear Book Freakout

Posted on July 11, 2022 by smellincoffee

Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag 2022 Yoinked from Cyberkitten Best book you’ve read so far in 2022 How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, Donald Robertson Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2022Crusader, Ben Kane. It followed Richard the Lionheart … Continue reading →

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Space Camp 2022

Posted on July 9, 2022 by smellincoffee

Last year, in observance of the anniversary of Apollo 11’s successful lunar landing on July 20, 1969, I planned for a week of space-exploration reading. I may have gotten a little carried away and kept reading astronaut books until the … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 4 Comments

Of Darwin, dinosaurs, and Denisovians

Posted on July 6, 2022 by smellincoffee

I expect to leave the recovery-suite of the hotel at the end of this week and eturn home, though I’ll be returning to Birmingham every two weeks for checkups for the next few months. During this multiweek siesta, I’ve mostly … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Letters to an American Lady

Posted on July 5, 2022 by smellincoffee

Letters to an American Lady(c) 1967 C.S. Lewis, ed. Walter Hooper150 pages I was pleased recently to discover that Letters to an American Lady, a collection of letters from C.S. Lewis written to an anonymous southern woman in the 1950s … Continue reading →

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Joy Davidman on infirmity and humility

Posted on July 5, 2022 by smellincoffee

Once I would have pitched in and helped my housekeeper—but now, because I have to walk with a stick and have only one hand free, I’m more nuisance than help and can only sit on the sidelines and give advice … Continue reading →

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