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.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Posted on September 21, 2018 by smellincoffee

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom© 2003 Cory Doctorow202 pages In the not-very-distant future,  death is an inconvenience, and material goods are no longer scarce. Instead, the currency of society is reputation,  and Jules needs all of his reserves … Continue reading →

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The Water Will Come

Posted on September 20, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World© 2017 Jeff Goodell332 pages Complex problems of enormous scale rarely have a patent solution. There are, however, rational responses. In The Water Will Come, Jeff … Continue reading →

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

Fire and Fury

Posted on September 16, 2018 by smellincoffee

Fire and Fury © 2018 Michael Wolff 336 pages “You look at the operation of this White House, and you have to say…’Let’s hope to God we don’t have a crisis.” – Bob Woodward, CBS Sunday Morning interview Even its … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Fly Girls

Posted on September 11, 2018 by smellincoffee

Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied the Odds and Made Aviation History© 2018 Keith O’Brien352 pages “Women must try to do things as men have tried. Where they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.” – … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Antiquity

Posted on September 10, 2018 by smellincoffee

Antiquity: The Civilization of the Ancient World© 2003 Norman F. Cantor256 pages Perhaps western history is all Greek to you. In that case, Norman Cantor’s Antiquity may shed a little light on the subject. It is a brief work, scarcely over … Continue reading →

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

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Posted on September 9, 2018 by smellincoffee

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory© 2014 Caitlin Doughty272 pages Memento mori — remember your death. Young Caitlin Doughty couldn’t help but remember it; as a child she was traumatized by the memory of another girl … Continue reading →

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Funkytown

Posted on September 7, 2018 by smellincoffee

Well, dear readers, I appear to be in a reading funk. I’e read very little since early August, with only two serious reads within the last month and only a few novels besides that.   I don’t want for books to … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | 12 Comments

Centauri Dawn

Posted on September 4, 2018 by smellincoffee

Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri: Centauri Dawn© 2000 Michael Ely292 pages Earth was a sad memory for the crew and colonists of the good ship Unity, who fled its radioactive remains in hopes of building a new society near a not-too … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Old Man’s War

Posted on September 2, 2018 by smellincoffee

Old Man’s War© 2005 John Scalzi320 pages Boot camps on Earth may promise to make a new man out of you, but the intake camps of the Colonial Defense Forces do it for real. At the tender age of seventy-five, … Continue reading →

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Yesterday’s News: The Shangri-La

Posted on September 1, 2018 by smellincoffee

When the United States government formally announced that the Doolittle raid — a flight of B-17s over Tokyo in early 1942 — had been carried out, President Roosevelt informed a reporter that the bombers had been launched from a secret … Continue reading →

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