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.

Demonic Males

Posted on January 22, 2016 by smellincoffee

Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence© 1996 Dale Peterson and Richard Wrangham350 pages Why is the world run by violent men?  Demonic Males  argues that human males are by violent by nature,  a trait we share with … Continue reading →

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

Loose Tweets Fry Gunships

Posted on January 22, 2016 by smellincoffee

“‘Is a badge on Foursquare or a check-in worth your life?’ That question, now commonly asked by the U.S. Army of its soldiers, is not rhetorical when even terrorists are taking advantage of geo-tagged data. For instance, when American military … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations | Tagged | 3 Comments

Data and Goliath

Posted on January 20, 2016 by smellincoffee

Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World© 2015 Bruce Schneier400 pages, including 160 pgs of citations. You’re being watched — all the time, no matter where you go or what you do. Not … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Reads to Reels: The Last Kingdom

Posted on January 16, 2016 by smellincoffee

Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Stories series begins with a young boy losing his father and brother to a Viking raid.  Incensed, the child attacks them on his own – and as amuses the lord leading the invasion that he adopts the … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Dictator

Posted on January 15, 2016 by smellincoffee

Dictator○ 2015 Robert Harris416 pages “Why should you be the one to stop Caesar?!” “Who else is there?” It is the twilight of the Roman republic.  Liberty and the rule of law are in tatters, withered by an alliance of … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Destiny, Disrupted

Posted on January 12, 2016 by smellincoffee

Destiny, Disruted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes© 2009 Tamim Ansary416 pages When Tamim Ansary was a boy, he loved history. Specifically, he loved narrativehistory, the kind of drama that brought the past to life.  The problem was that the … Continue reading →

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

Picking Up

Posted on January 11, 2016 by smellincoffee

Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City© 2014 Robin Nagle304 pages When young Robin Nagle stumbled upon a communal dumpsite in the middle of an otherwise picturesque meadow, she was … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Be it Hereby Resolved

Posted on January 6, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Broke and the Bookish’ theme for Top Ten Tuesdays this week concerns New Years resolutions, naturally. I’m not usually one for resolutions, or even paying attention to the New Year, but it’s as good a time as any to … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | 2 Comments

Adieu to you, and you and you and you —

Posted on January 5, 2016 by smellincoffee

As 2015 was ending I finished up a couple of works which merit mentioning. Firstly is Jane Austen’s Emma.  I have read Austen before (Pride and Prejudice), intrigued by mention of Darcy as a model gentleman,  Emma was thus my … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

10 Titles that Win

Posted on January 4, 2016 by smellincoffee

I remarked recently that How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had it Coming is the best title I’ve encountered in eight years of reading and blogging.   What kind of company does it keep? Drawing from the last five years, … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | 7 Comments