Category Archives: history

Conquerors

Posted on October 25, 2019 by smellincoffee

Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire © 2015 Roger Crowley 364 pages Roger Crowley’s Conquerors is a history that starts with hope and ends in horror, at least of the slasher-film kind. Suffice it to say, if you … Continue reading →

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American Rifle

Posted on October 18, 2019 by smellincoffee

American Rifle: A Biography © 2008 Alexander Rose 512 pages The quintessential American firearm is the rifle,   which through centuries of colonization and growth,  has served in both myth and fact.  I use myth not in the modern disparaging sense, … Continue reading →

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The Histories of Herodotus

Posted on October 10, 2019 by smellincoffee

One doesn’t study history for very long, at least in the West,  before running into Herodotus.  I’ve meant to read him for years,  given his reputation as one of the earliest, if not the earliest,  historian —  that is, someone … Continue reading →

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The Jungle

Posted on October 8, 2019 by smellincoffee

The Jungle © 1906 Upton Sinclair 475 pages Welcome to The Jungle, but we don’t have fun and games. We have despair, ruin, and death.    The Jungle begins as the story of the Rudkus-Lukoszaite family, who have arrived in America … Continue reading →

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FREEEEEEEDOOOOOOMMMMM!

Posted on October 5, 2019 by smellincoffee

This has nothing to do with reading, but last night I celebrated a huge milestone. My student loans are….no more! Vanquished! Signing my master promissory note in summer 2007,  preparing to go to college: Making the final-final payment of $0.16 … Continue reading →

Posted in history | 12 Comments

The Sea Wolves

Posted on October 1, 2019 by smellincoffee

© 2014 Lars Brownsworth 300 pages “Deliver us, Lord, from the hands of the Northmen!”    While that exact prayer may be apocryphal,  the sentiment certainly resounded in communities from Ireland to Cordoba to Constantinople.  In two of the final centuries … Continue reading →

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Tick, tick, tick

Posted on October 1, 2019 by smellincoffee

It’s October 1,  meaning only three months remain  in 2019 to meet my reading goals.  How am I doing?  Classics Club: I am slightly ahead of  schedule, despite at one point being a month and a half behind.  However,  the … Continue reading →

Posted in General, history | 2 Comments

The Faith Healers

Posted on September 26, 2019 by smellincoffee

© 1987  James Randi 328 pages Recently I chanced to watch a lecture by “The Amazing” James Randi, a professional magician who, in the 1980s,  began investigating paranormal racketeers — and exposing them.   As someone who used people’s assumptions to … Continue reading →

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The Federalist Papers

Posted on September 24, 2019 by smellincoffee

  “It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing … Continue reading →

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Spark

Posted on September 23, 2019 by smellincoffee

© 2008 308 pages Are you fat? Exercise! Are you  stressed? Depressed? Exercise! Do you have ADHD? Exercise!  Do you fear dementia? Exercise!  Do you want to learn more, and more quickly? Exercise! Do you struggle with an addiction to … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews, science | Tagged , , | 2 Comments