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.

Teaser Tuesday (12 June)

Posted on June 12, 2012 by smellincoffee

Teaser Tuesday once again! How wide the gates of hell gaped, how searing the flames would be, how agonizing the lake of fire, and how long would all eternity stretch if he did not stand now, fetch his sword, and … Continue reading →

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Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Posted on June 10, 2012 by smellincoffee

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture© 2012 Peggy Orenstein260 pages When did every little girl become a princess to be bedecked in pink and fawned over? Such is the question posed by … Continue reading →

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Why We Get Fat

Posted on June 9, 2012 by smellincoffee

Why We Get Fat: and What To Do About It© 2011, 2012 Gary Taubes267 pages The secret of weight, we are told, is as simple as physics, as the laws of thermodynamics. If we take in more energy in eating … Continue reading →

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Cheap

Posted on June 8, 2012 by smellincoffee

Cheap: the High Cost of Discount Culture © 2009 Ellen Ruppel Shell  296 pages  A few weeks ago I read Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, which is a critical history of  the 20th-century trend in business toward cheaper … Continue reading →

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A Blaze of Glory

Posted on June 7, 2012 by smellincoffee

A Blaze of Glory© 2012 Jeff Shaara464 pages Come all you gallant soldiers, a story I will tell About the bloody battle on top of Shiloh’s hill It was an awful struggle; it’ll cause your heart to chill All from … Continue reading →

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Teaser Tuesday (5 June)

Posted on June 5, 2012 by smellincoffee

There is a Chinese proverb that says, “When the wind changes direction, there are those who build walls and those who build windmills.” What will we do?  p. 24, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why America Needs a Green Revolution. Thomas … Continue reading →

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Books in the News

Posted on June 4, 2012 by smellincoffee

Every so often I see news articles which touch on subjects I’ve been reading about; I used to link to them in weekly review posts from time to time, but I may start doing it in this format. For Consuming … Continue reading →

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The Witch of Hebron

Posted on June 3, 2012 by smellincoffee

The Witch of Hebron © 2010 James Howard Kunstler 334 pages The future isn’t what it used to be. When the oil wells ran dry, the global economy and every nation built on petroleum collapsed. This is the dawn of … Continue reading →

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Why We Get Sick

Posted on June 2, 2012 by smellincoffee

Why We Get Sick: the New Science of Darwinian Medicine© 1994 Randolph M. Nesse, M.D; George C. Wiliams, Ph.D.290 pages Years ago I read an exceptional book on evolution by David Sloan Wilson. I say exceptional because it advocated for … Continue reading →

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Suburban Nation

Posted on June 2, 2012 by smellincoffee

Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream© 2000, 2010 Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck294 pages Compare a modern American city to its European counterparts, or even an older American city, and the … Continue reading →

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