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.

My Life with the Saints

Posted on September 15, 2017 by smellincoffee

My Life with the Saints© 2007 James Martin, SJ414 pages The church I grew up in consistently referred to Rome as the whore of Babylon, so needless to say I didn’t learn anything about saints. I knew Biblical personalities, sure, … Continue reading →

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

Infrastructure: A Field Guide

Posted on September 14, 2017 by smellincoffee

Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape© 1999, 2014 Brian Hayes544 pages Here at last is a book for those of us who constantly gaze out the car window at the fixtures on utility poles, or drums mounted in … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

The Black Ice

Posted on September 12, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Black Ice© 1993 Michael Connelly336 pages A body discovered in a sleazy motel on Christmas Eve connects a handful of otherwise dead cases, and sets Detective Harry Bosch against his own department, culminating in the pursuit of a half-chance … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Irma a wash-out

Posted on September 12, 2017 by smellincoffee

From the St. Augustine Record –  Castillo de San Marcos If I hadn’t known that a tropical storm was passing by last night, I would not have guessed it.  I knew all of the excitement would be on the east side … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 10 Comments

Isaac’s Storm

Posted on September 10, 2017 by smellincoffee

Isaac’s Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History© 1999 Erik Larson336 pages First news from Galveston just received by train that could get no closer to the bay shore than 6 mi  where the prairie was … Continue reading →

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

Eye of the Storm

Posted on September 10, 2017 by smellincoffee

Eye of the Storm: Inside City Hall During Katrina© 2007 Sally Forman260 pages Although Hurricane Katrina was not the biggest disaster to ever hit an American city, it was New Orleans’ greatest crisis — posing a near-existential threat to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

The Circle

Posted on September 9, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Circle 2013 Dave Eggers 507 pages Sharing is Caring. Privacy is Theft. Secrets are Lies. Imagine an internet transformed by a company  so innovative and ambitious that it had swallowed Facebook, Google, etc. whole.  It began with TruYou, a … Continue reading →

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

The Republic of Imagination

Posted on September 7, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Republic of Imagination: America in Three BooksOther edition subtitle: A Case for Fiction© 2014 Azar Nafisi352 pages When Azar Nafisi taught literature in Iran, she dreamed of America. Not the United States, the government of which had been making … Continue reading →

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

A Devil’s Chaplain

Posted on September 6, 2017 by smellincoffee

A Devil’s Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love© 2003 Richard Dawkins263 pages Charles Darwin mused that a devil’s chaplain might write quite a book on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering low, and horridly cruel works of nature.  A Devil’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Back from a country retreat

Posted on September 5, 2017 by smellincoffee

For the past few weeks I’ve been house and dog sitting deep in the country, enjoying a screened-in back porch with a view of a pecan orchard. I thought I’d be getting a lot of reading done, but it turns … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 5 Comments