Category Archives: history

The dance of nature

Posted on September 6, 2019 by smellincoffee

So to be crystal clear: everything out there is influencing the evolution of everything else. The bacteria and viruses and parasites that cause disease in us have affected our evolution as we have adapted in ways to cope with their … Continue reading →

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Of Romans, manly saints, and the beginning of the end

Posted on September 4, 2019 by smellincoffee

I spent much of August crawling through the first volume of Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.  I was very careful, in making my list, that I specified “Volume I”: I  had little interest in trying … Continue reading →

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Stoic advice on overcoming anger

Posted on August 31, 2019 by smellincoffee

In the last couple of weeks I’ve  read a few books on nonviolence communication and  conflict management (How To Be Your Own Bodyguard; Verbal Judo (re-read); and How to Survive Aggressive People).    Tonight, in a similar vein,  I encountered a … Continue reading →

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Shutting Out the Sun

Posted on August 29, 2019 by smellincoffee

Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation © 2006 Michael Zielenziger 352 pages Shutting Out the Sun introduces itself with what readers will assume is its subject: the plight of an increasing number of young people who, … Continue reading →

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More short rounds: hackers and silly vicars

Posted on July 28, 2019 by smellincoffee

Needing a quick break from all the classics,  I read The Hacker Crackdown, a bit of cybersecurity history.  Sterling first delivers the background of the telecommunications system in the United States, specifically the expansive growth of AT&T and its recent … Continue reading →

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Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder and The Birth of the American Mafia

Posted on July 8, 2019 by smellincoffee

The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia © 2009 Mike Dash 416 pages Although Prohibition is generally blamed for the rapid growth of the Mafia,   First Family demonstrates that America’s  mob problem began … Continue reading →

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American Detective

Posted on June 22, 2019 by smellincoffee

American Detective: Behind the Scenes of Famous Criminal Investigations© 2018  Thomas Reppetto312 pages I’ve been playing through L.A. Noire lately, and its use of real-life crime (the Black Dahlia case)  prompted me to look for anything written about it. American … Continue reading →

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Top Ten Favorite History Reads

Posted on June 8, 2019 by smellincoffee

My PC was in the shop this past Tuesday (trying to figure out why a new graphics card wasn’t working — turns out the card itself is defective), so I missed the “Books from Your Favorite Genre” list done on … Continue reading →

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English broadside

Posted on May 1, 2019 by smellincoffee

Well…this has been the saddest Read of England, and the saddest reading month, since my college days.  At least the few I read were all fairly good! Read of England isn’t quite over, as I’ll be working on a few … Continue reading →

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American Gun

Posted on April 12, 2019 by smellincoffee

 American Gun© 2013 Chris Kyle336 pages Think of English history, and longbows, tall ships, and shieldwalls may come to mind; think of France, and perhaps the image is knights charging across an open field. But American history, from the colonies … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , | 7 Comments