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.

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe

Posted on February 1, 2019 by smellincoffee

The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe: How to Know What’s Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake© 2018 Dr. Steven Novella, Bob Novella,  Cara Santa Maria, Jay Novella, and Evan Burnstein512 pages …wow.  Okay, so…back in 2006 I … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Odd Egg Editor

Posted on January 30, 2019 by smellincoffee

Odd-Egg Editor © 1990 Kathryn Tucker Windham 170 pages Anyone who grew up in Selma, Alabama, prior to 2011 had heard of Kathryn Tucker Windham, and odds were they cherished her.  A master storyteller, she inspired an annual Tale-Tellin’ Festival … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Our Time Has Come

Posted on January 30, 2019 by smellincoffee

Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World ©  2018 Alyssa Ayres360 pages The India of the 21st century is more than  the word’s back office;  by some measures, it has already overtaken Japan as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, World Affairs | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Recent Additions to my To-Read List

Posted on January 29, 2019 by smellincoffee

Today the Artsy Reader Girl is hosting top ten lists on recent additions to TBR piles. These are books which are either on my to-read Goodreads list,  are Amazon bookmarks, or were books I took a photo of in the … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | 16 Comments

The Whale

Posted on January 27, 2019 by smellincoffee

The Whale, or, Moby-Dick © 1851 Herman Melville 630 pages The Whale, alternatively called Moby-Dick,  is a comprehensive  19th century guide to whaling and whales from a novelist who decided to take a hand at writing nonfiction. Such a thing … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments

Reading Freely

Posted on January 25, 2019 by smellincoffee

The start of a new year seems as appropriate a time as ever to launch into something I’ve been mulling over since 2016: a re-branding that invigorates this blog with purpose, and takes me a baby step away from the … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | 7 Comments

Heavens on Earth

Posted on January 24, 2019 by smellincoffee

Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopiapub. 2018 Michael Shermer320 pages Alone among the animals, human beings live in the knowing shadow of our own mortality.  It is rarely a specter which is embraced,  and … Continue reading →

Posted in science | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Someone please do this to Congress

Posted on January 24, 2019 by smellincoffee
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Short rounds and the week ahead

Posted on January 23, 2019 by smellincoffee

On Saturday the library was partially evacuated owing to a tornado warning, and today Father Winter has well and truly hit the town.  I’m currently reading a scrutiny of political utopias, transhumanism, and religious-spiritual ideas about life beyond death (from … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The Limits of Partnership

Posted on January 18, 2019 by smellincoffee

The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the 21st Century © 2014 Angela Stent 384 pages The Limits of Partnership examines the Russo-American relationship through four presidential administrations,  reviewing what progress was made  or conflicts each American executive had with his … Continue reading →

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