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.

Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light

Posted on February 20, 2025 by smellincoffee

Lisbon is a history of how Portugal’s president-dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar carefully navigated between his own Scylla and Charybdis, attempting to keep Portugal out of the Second World War despite its longstanding alliance with England, and the fact that … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews, World Affairs | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Red Dead’s History

Posted on February 19, 2025 by smellincoffee

As a student of history who also plays a lot of video games which touch on history, I wonder sometimes what skewed version  of history unread players take from it.  Tore Olsson takes that same question and applies it to … Continue reading →

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WWW Wednesday

Posted on February 19, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Just yesterday, I finished reading One No, Many Yeses by Paul Kingsnorth. It’s one of his earlier books, set back when he was still more of an activist than a mystic-farmer-critic. WHAT are you … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Savage Gods

Posted on February 18, 2025 by smellincoffee

Savage Gods is a challenging book to review because of its nature: it is a meditation, or perhaps a rumination, by the author on his continuing search for meaning and the role of writing and the word in that search. … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Top Ten More Books I Didn’t Review

Posted on February 18, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s treble T is “Book we didn’t review”. In 2020 we did a similiar topic, “Books We Loved But Didn’t Review”, and I gaze upon that list I realize: I still haven’t reviewed `em. Well, most of them. I did … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Sidetracks

Posted on February 15, 2025 by smellincoffee

Gary Oberg grew up in Minnesota hunting and fishing, and has continued to do so for seventy years — mostly for fun, but sometimes for business as he was also a mechanical engineer who designed reels and other sporting equipment. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Ends of the Earth

Posted on February 13, 2025 by smellincoffee

When Neil Shubin was a young biologist, he got his start looking for fossils in the poles, where now frozen wastelands were once jungles teeming with life. Doing science at the poles is uniquely challenging and physically demanding, sometimes to … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

WWW Wednesday + Long and Short Reviews Prompt

Posted on February 12, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Um…Bloodlands, from a week ago. (I’m reading, I promise, I’m just reading too many things at once.) I also finished reading And Then You Die of Dysentery, but I don’t know if that counts … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Top Ten Love Freebie + Teaser Tuesday

Posted on February 11, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is a “love freebie”, so I’m going to go with substacks I “love” reading. But first, the tease! Polar ice can take almost infinite shapes as it crystallizes, moves, and melts. The area around McMurdo Station exhibits this … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 18 Comments

Bloodlands

Posted on February 7, 2025 by smellincoffee

On a scale of 1 to 10, how demoralized, depressed, and soul-dead do you want to be? Ten? Well, have I got a book for you! Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin examines the grim fate of Eastern Europe from … Continue reading →

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