Author Archives: smellincoffee

Unknown's avatar

About smellincoffee

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

Is Reality Optional?

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” – F.A. Hayek From economist and cultural critic Thomas Sowell come this amusingly-titled collection of essays,  loosely gathered … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Mary Roach in bed, Frank Underwood’s crib notes, and a love story for libraries

It’s been a week of …very different books here. First up, Mary Roach’s Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. All of Roach’s previous other works, all mostly-humorous attempts to review the science of taboo or often overlooked subject, … Continue reading

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, science | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Firefly: Generations

Firefly: Generations© 2020 Tim Lebbon384 pages A map won in a card game, given importance by River’s intuition, Kaylee’s recognition of an old name, and the fact that several people tried to murder Mal to take the map back, leads … Continue reading

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

Whole Earth Disicpline

Whole Earth Disicpline: An Ecopragmatist Approach © 2010 Stewart Brand344 pages Sustainability is context, not a gadget or a single technology. From Stewart Brand, a lifelong environmentalist and creator-editor of the Whole Earth Catalog, comes this fascinating argument that the … Continue reading

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Drowning in books

This is something of a catch-up post. I’ve been slowly reading The Dictator’s Handbook, an impressively cynical analysis of political science, and had hoped to finish it by Election Day so I could post an amusingly-timed review. Between the hurricane … Continue reading

Posted in General, history, science fiction | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Top Ten Nonbookish Hobbies

Today’s TTT should be especially fun, and perhaps more varied than these lists usually go – -we’re talking about Nonbookish Hobbies! PC Gaming. A hobby, a vice, call it what you will; if I’d put as much time into anything … Continue reading

Posted in General | 10 Comments

Scaling Mount Doom: October 2020

So hey, it turns out having COVID is really good for working on one’s literary goals. I realized when trying to reconcile my list with goodread’s that I never reported reading The Demon’s Brood: A History of the Plantagenet Dynasty … Continue reading

Posted in General | Tagged | 2 Comments

Zeta Aftermath

Well, when my coworkers and I bid each other goodnight on Wednesday, we didn’t realize it would be nearly a week before we came back! Although we knew the system was headed our way, we’ve had so many gulf systems … Continue reading

Posted in General | 4 Comments

Zeta

Zeta hit last night. Surreal 3 hrs, I will say. Total power loss in county. Will be days before I’m back online. No damage to my home but many friends and famy were not so lucky. I’ve been cleaning up … Continue reading

Posted in General | 12 Comments

ST: The Long Mirage

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Long Mirage© 2017 David R George III300 pages Bajor is a planet in crisis, as a sect which argues that that Prophets are not gods is growing in prominence, commingling with the revelation that … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 2 Comments