Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Artemis

Posted on August 4, 2018 by smellincoffee

Artemis© 2017 Andy Weir320 pages “This is a results-oriented profession. The moon’s a mean old bitch. She doesn’t care why your suit fails. She just kills you when it does.” Jazz Bashara only wanted to engage in a little industrial … Continue reading →

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Machine Man

Posted on August 2, 2018 by smellincoffee

Machine Man© 2009 Max Barry277 pages Who knew crushing your limbs in the industrial machinery at work could be so addictive?  When Charlie Neumann accidentally crushed his leg in a fit of absentmindedness and was fitted with state-of-the-art prosthesis, he … Continue reading →

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Reads to Reels: Ready Player One

Posted on August 1, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Redbox technician hadn’t long placed copies of Ready Player One in my local machine before I eagerly rented one. I experienced the  book a few weeks back, enthralled by the story and Wil Wheaton’s delivery of it,  and so … Continue reading →

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Among the Wild Cybers

Posted on July 31, 2018 by smellincoffee

Among the Wild Cybers© 2018 Christopher L. Bennett 256 pages In the not-so-distant future, humanity’s exploration of the cosmos has begun in earnest — driven in part by the plight of Earth, with collapsing ecosystems forcing outward movement.  Among the Wild … Continue reading →

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We the Living

Posted on July 28, 2018 by smellincoffee

We the Living © 1936  Ayn Rand 528 pages   “I fear for your future, Kira,” said Victor. “It’s time to get reconciled to life. You won’t get far with those ideas of yours.” “That,” said Kira, “depends on what … Continue reading →

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The Ends of the World

Posted on July 25, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth’s Past Mass Extinctions© 2017 Peter Brannen336 pages Earth has tried to kill us five times before, and now it’s at it again. (To be fair, … Continue reading →

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Brave New World Revisited

Posted on July 24, 2018 by smellincoffee

Brave New World Revisited© 1958 Aldhous Huxley144 pages Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1931)  transported readers to a deeply creepy nightmare-vision of the future, in which man had disappeared as an independent being, instead becoming the raw materials for a new, … Continue reading →

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From Russia with Love

Posted on July 19, 2018 by smellincoffee

From Russia with Love© 1957 Ian Fleming253 pages I’ve tried three times to read any of Ian Fleming’s Bond novels, because he was an actual intelligence officer writing spy novels. Bond in the abstract is an interesting character, a posh … Continue reading →

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Anne of Avonlea

Posted on July 19, 2018 by smellincoffee

Anne of Avonlea© 1909 Lucy Maud Montgomery366 pages I recently took my niece to see a production of “Annie” at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and it put me in a mood to revisit Anne of Green Gables, another red-headed heroine … Continue reading →

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A Crack in Creation

Posted on July 11, 2018 by smellincoffee

A Crack in Creation:  Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution© 2017 Jennifer Doudna and Sam Sternberg “No longer at the mercy of the reptile brain, we can change ourselves. Think of the possibilities.” – Carl Sagan A … Continue reading →

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