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.

Eat, Poop, Die

Posted on March 11, 2024 by smellincoffee

Now there’s a sign you won’t see decorating someone’s living room. Their bathroom, maybe. Eat, Poop, Die: How Animals Make Our World takes a look at the way animals shape ecosystems. It begins with the absolutely fascinating study of Surtsey, … Continue reading →

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

Video Game of the Year

Posted on March 8, 2024 by smellincoffee

I came of age with video games, arriving in the world around the same time as Mario, and have enjoyed their maturation into a genuine art form, with sophisticated storytelling that makes most Hollywood offerings look like a middle school … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , | 9 Comments

The Way to Go

Posted on March 6, 2024 by smellincoffee

Longtime readers here know that I love reading about transportation, and not just Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Ships, horses, bicycles — if it moves, I’ll follow and read books about it happily. A few years ago I delighted in the … Continue reading →

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Wednesday blogging prompt: Nonfiction

Posted on March 6, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s blogging prompt from Long and Short Reviews is ‘what nonfiction have you read lately’. After an early-year start dominated by fiction, nonfiction is at last beginning to regain its usual dominance of my reading pile. It began with some … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | 12 Comments

Teasing Tuesday x 3

Posted on March 5, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is weird or funny things we’ve done online searches for as a result of a book. I know I do this all the time, but I can’t really remember any. Instead, I’m going to list….’cryptic phrases in my … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Troubled

Posted on March 4, 2024 by smellincoffee

Selected Quotations Imagine that your first memory is that of being three years old and seeing your mother, a drug addict who ties you to chairs to get high without interruption, being arrested. Imagine being bounced around ten different foster … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Quotes from Rob Henderson’s “Troubled”

Posted on March 4, 2024 by smellincoffee

Each of my three names was taken from a different adult. Robert was the name of my biological father, who abandoned my mother and me when I was a baby. I have no memory of him. In fact, the only … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations | 1 Comment

AI killed the internet star, ooh wah ooh

Posted on February 29, 2024 by smellincoffee

Quoting from “Here lies the internet, killed by generative AI” on the amount of ai-generated trash that is now beginning to overwhelm real content, including children’s videos that parents use to babysit their kids. What will be the cognitive/developmental consequences … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | 2 Comments

February 2024 in Review

Posted on February 29, 2024 by smellincoffee

February continued 2024’s atypicalness, with fiction continuing to outstrip nonfiction by a healthy margin. Granted, I was in bed for over a week, meaning novels, comedy sketches, and soup were my fare instead of histories, lectures, and fajitas, and even after … Continue reading →

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Movie Watch: February

Posted on February 28, 2024 by smellincoffee

Favorites in bold, rewatches excepting. GROUNDHOG DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!, 1993.  This is possibly my very favorite movie, its only competition being Philadelphia Story with Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, and Katherine Hepburn.  Bill Murray plays a jerk of a reporter who finds himself … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | 2 Comments