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.

Why We Hate and How to Heal

Posted on February 15, 2019 by smellincoffee

Them: Why We Hate and How to Heal  © 2018 Ben Sasse 272 pages The tenor of civil ‘discourse’ in America today is disheartening and distressful, in part for at least over a decade there has been little discourse at all, … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Becoming Mrs Lewis

Posted on February 12, 2019 by smellincoffee

Becoming Mrs Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis © 2018 Patti Callahan 415 pages Few books transfix me in the way that Becoming Mrs Lewis did; I suppose it helps to have a strong affection … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Top Ten Couples Redux

Posted on February 12, 2019 by smellincoffee

Eight years ago, in another Top Ten Tuesday,  I almost managed to think up ten literary couples I liked. I’ve read…more books since then, so can I think of ten more? 1. Jayber Crow and Mattie. Jayber Crow (Wendell Berry) … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged | 21 Comments

Ghost in the Wires

Posted on February 9, 2019 by smellincoffee

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker© 2011 Kevin Mitnick, William Simon. Forward by The Woz.393 pages CYBERPUNK introduced me to the story of Kevin Mitnick, a teenage phone phreaker turned celebrity hacker,  who boasted that … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Ever wonder how those Animorphs covers were made?

Posted on February 8, 2019 by smellincoffee

  The Lazy Game Reviewer,  YouTube’s favorite guide to retrotech, Sims reviews, and computer oddities, finds the program used for  the covers and tries his hand at it. Pretty cool if you were into Animorphs like me! 

Posted in Reviews | 7 Comments

Status Anxiety

Posted on February 7, 2019 by smellincoffee

Status Anxiety© 2004 Alain de Botton 306 pages Who said “comparison is the thief of joy”?  If they hadn’t, Alain de Botton would, as here he argues that most of our misery comes from the constant comparison of ourselves to others … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Well, this is unsettling

Posted on February 7, 2019 by smellincoffee

  In the last couple of months I’ve received spam comments that were eerily good at sounding human. Only the fact that they have nothing at all to do with the posts gives away that they’re spam, but what really … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 7 Comments

The measure of a man

Posted on February 6, 2019 by smellincoffee

I am presently reading Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton, and in it he quotes a bit from Michel de Montaigne which is worth sharing. “A man have have a great suite of attendants, a beautiful palace, great influence and a … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations | Tagged | 2 Comments

The Big Ones

Posted on February 5, 2019 by smellincoffee

The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us (and What We Can Do About Them)© 2018 Lucy Jones256 pages Earth is not a peaceful place; even it were stripped of all life, it would still teem with energy, from … Continue reading →

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

Happy City

Posted on February 3, 2019 by smellincoffee

Happy City: Transforming Our Lives through Urban Design© 2013 Charles Montgomery368 pages City air makes one free, but — happy? Throughout the 20th century, Americans fled the urban centers seeking Arcadian bliss. They didn’t find it, and despite an abundance … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments