Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Old Man’s War

Posted on September 2, 2018 by smellincoffee

Old Man’s War© 2005 John Scalzi320 pages Boot camps on Earth may promise to make a new man out of you, but the intake camps of the Colonial Defense Forces do it for real. At the tender age of seventy-five, … Continue reading →

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Yesterday’s News: The Shangri-La

Posted on September 1, 2018 by smellincoffee

When the United States government formally announced that the Doolittle raid — a flight of B-17s over Tokyo in early 1942 — had been carried out, President Roosevelt informed a reporter that the bombers had been launched from a secret … Continue reading →

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The Believing Brain

Posted on August 31, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies – How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them As Truths© 2011 Michael Shermer400 pages The human brain is an incredible organ, capable of storing vast amounts of information and … Continue reading →

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Agent to the Stars

Posted on August 28, 2018 by smellincoffee

Agent to the Stars© 1997, 2005 John Scalzi286 pages They’re heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere.  Extraterrestrials exist, and they’ve been watching our television.  The good news is they don’t hold it against us — though they don’t want to meet any of our politicians.  … Continue reading →

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Death of a Reader

Posted on August 27, 2018 by smellincoffee

This is why I keep mine in multiple, short stacks that support each other like bricks.  

Posted in Reviews | 5 Comments

Real Dissent

Posted on August 23, 2018 by smellincoffee

Real Dissent: A Libertarian Sets Fire to the Index Card of Allowable Opinion© 2014 Tom Woods356 pages Note: I read this in August 2016, but the review of it languished as a draft. In most presidential elections, 2016 being an … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Finding My Antonia

Posted on August 22, 2018 by smellincoffee

This morning I spotted a used copy of my Antonia in a used bookstore and picked it up for the daunting price of $0.25,   having previously enjoyed Cather’s works in O Pioneers! and Death Comes For the Archbishop.   Seeing it reminded me … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | 5 Comments

Distractions old and new

Posted on August 21, 2018 by smellincoffee

One of Isaac Asimov’s robots short stories features a curious problem:  a robot is running in circles, unresponsive to commands. The troubleshooters who feature in the story quickly realize that there’s a logic conflict:  the robot’s in-built orders, both to … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | 9 Comments

Pirate Cinema

Posted on August 16, 2018 by smellincoffee

Pirate Cinema© 2012 Cory Doctorow384 pages All Cecil B. DeVille wanted to do was make movies. He didn’t mean to ruin his family’s lives or start a revolution. In the not-too-distant future,  consumer electronics have concealed chips which monitor and … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

The New Tsar

Posted on August 14, 2018 by smellincoffee

The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin© 2012 Steven Lee Myers592pages When the Soviet Union collapsed abruptly at the dawn of the 1990s, the world order changed overnight. Optimists predicted the ‘end of history’.   Such an end … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments