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 Age of Steam

Posted on August 22, 2014 by smellincoffee

A Brief History of the Age of Steam© 2007 Thomas Crump288 pages For most of human history, transportation over land has been prohibitively expensive, limited to highly lucrative goods like silk. Trade grew from the rivers, as did civilization. But … Continue reading →

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This week: TBR progress

Posted on August 18, 2014 by smellincoffee

This past week I was positively underwhelmed by The Bishop in the West Wing, a mystery novel by Andrew Greeley, a Catholic priest.  I’d hoped the novelty of a priest writing about a priest solving mysteries could make for an … Continue reading →

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Drink

Posted on August 16, 2014 by smellincoffee

Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol© 2008 Ian Gately546 pages “We should thank God for beer and burgundy by not drinking too much of them.”  – G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy A substance that a third of the world institutionalizes as a … Continue reading →

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To Reign in Hell (Rise and Fall of KHAAAAAAAAAAN #3)

Posted on August 15, 2014 by smellincoffee

To Reign in Hell: the Exile of Khan Noonien Singh©  2006 Greg Cox384 pages “No! This is not the end!  Khan Noonien Singh will never surrender, not to this accursed planet and not to the treacherous vagaries of fate. Hear … Continue reading →

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Thank You For Smoking

Posted on August 14, 2014 by smellincoffee

Thank You for Smoking© 1994 Christopher Buckley272 pages Nick Naylor may be one of the most hated men in America, because his job is to serve as the legal guardian and advocate of Big Tobacco –and he is very, very … Continue reading →

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

This week: demon rum

Posted on August 11, 2014 by smellincoffee

This week I finally finished Huckleberry Finn, though I’m not sure why it’s generally ranked higher than Tom Sawyer.  Presumably its assumed merit comes from it dealing with more serious themes, as a boy on an adventure has to choose between … Continue reading →

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Tending the Epicurean Garden

Posted on August 8, 2014 by smellincoffee

Tending the Epicurean Garden© 2014 Hiram Crespo185 pages Stoicism is not the only Greco-Roman school of practical philosophy experiencing a revival these days. Epicureanism, long reduced to a synonym for food-and-wine-snobs,  has found an audience within the increasingly secularized west, … Continue reading →

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The Men Who Lost America

Posted on August 7, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of an Empire© Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy480 pages The Men Who Lost America is a rare history of the American Revolution, one which follows not the revolutionaries, but their … Continue reading →

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And now, for something completely different:

Posted on August 3, 2014 by smellincoffee

Yesterday I spent the day in the area of Mobile, Alabama, and Dauphin Island, the latter of which is breathtakingly beautiful. I’ve never been to Mobile, but I wanted to visit because it seems so strange; a city technically part … Continue reading →

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Castles of Steel

Posted on July 31, 2014 by smellincoffee

Castles of Steel© 2004 Robert K. Massie880 pages Everyone’s recipe for cooking up the First World War is slightly different, but one essential ingredient is that of the arms races between various countries,  especially the Anglo-Germanic quest for naval supremacy. … Continue reading →

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