Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

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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Of Neanderthals and dogs and extinction level events

Posted on July 8, 2018 by smellincoffee

Time for science short rounds! Last week I read The Invaders,  a much-anticipated work about how dogs gave humans a competitive edge over their neanderthal cousins. This brief book posits that human beings function like invasive species, and after establishing … Continue reading →

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How the Post Office Created America

Posted on July 5, 2018 by smellincoffee

How the Post Office Created America:  A History© 2016 Winifred Gallagher336 pages Once the conduit of revolution, then a mainstay of communities both rural and urban, the post office has fallen on rough times as of late.   Amid speculation that … Continue reading →

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How To Watch TV News

Posted on July 3, 2018 by smellincoffee

How to Watch TV New© 1992 Neil Postman, Steve Powers192 pages (2008 edition) Don’t. Well, that was easy.  From television insider Steve Powers and technological critic Neil Postman comes this slim book, How To Watch Television News, which explains how … Continue reading →

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The Art of Invisibility

Posted on June 28, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Art of Invisibility: The World’s Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data© 2017 Kevin Mitnick320 pages So, you want to be invisible online? Great. All you’ll need is three … Continue reading →

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Forgotten Founders

Posted on June 22, 2018 by smellincoffee

America’s Forgotten Founders© 2011 ed. Gary Gregg II185 pages After reading several thoughtful full-length biographies in this series, I expected the same quality in miniature from this collection. That is not the case at all; after a lengthy opening essay … Continue reading →

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