Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Ready Player One

Posted on June 6, 2018 by smellincoffee

Ready Player One © 2011 Ernest Cline 354 pages Audible presentation read by Wil Wheaton, runtime 15 hr 46 min Who knew that School House Rock could save the world?  When an eccentric genius dies and leaves a will laden … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

The Paradise Snare

Posted on June 3, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Han Solo Trilogy: The Paradise Snare© 1997 A.C. Crispin338 pages Han Solo easily has the most personality of any of the original trilogy’s characters, but where did he come from? A.C. Crispin’s Solo Trilogy was the first to try … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged | 5 Comments

9 Dragons

Posted on June 2, 2018 by smellincoffee

9 Dragons© 2009 Michael Connelly544 pages Harry Bosch doesn’t know who they are.  He doesn’t know what they want.  If they’re looking for ransom,  he doesn’t have money, but he does have is a very particular set of skills, acquired … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

How Microsoft’s Mogul Reinvented an Industry

Posted on June 1, 2018 by smellincoffee

Gates: How Microsoft’s Mogul Reinvented an Industry-and Made Himself the Richest Man in America © 1994 Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews 560 pages   I recently watched Pirates of Silicon Valley, a questionably-acted movie based on the rise of  Bill … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Stuff Matters

Posted on May 29, 2018 by smellincoffee

Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World© 2014 Mark Miodownik272 pages Stuff Matters begins with a photo of the authorhaving coffee on the roof of his London flat, the table before him scattered with papers and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Exploding the Phone

Posted on May 25, 2018 by smellincoffee

Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws who Hacked Ma Bell© Phil Lapsley 2013416 pages WANTED HARVARD MIT Fine Arts no. 13 notebook. (121 pages) & 40 page reply K.K. & C.R. plus 2,800; battery; m.f. … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , | 9 Comments

The Ministry of Guidance Invites You Not To Stay

Posted on May 23, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Ministry of Guidance Invites You Not to Stay© 2010 Hooman Majd272 pages Hooman Majd left Iran for the first time as a young boy, barely eight months old, and when his own son was eight months old, Majd returned. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Alone

Posted on May 19, 2018 by smellincoffee

Alone: Britain, Churchill, and Dunkirk: Defeat Into Victory© 2017 Michael Korda544 pages Judging by most World War 2 histories, the war only heats up once Hitler’s rapid takeover of northern and western Europe is accomplished in the spring of 1940, … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Mirrors of the Unseen

Posted on May 16, 2018 by smellincoffee

Mirrors of the Unseen:  Journeys in Iran © 2006 Jason Elliot 432 pages Readers uninterested in the origins and history of Islamic art, metaphysics, or pigeons, should skip to the next chapter, here. In the late nineties, before Afghanistan was … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

California Dreamin’

Posted on May 15, 2018 by smellincoffee

At some point in 1997 I saw this cover in a now-defunct WaldenBooks and was intrigued, both by the shoes and that oddly simple title: “DUCKY”.    The book was a fictional diary, rendered in a font-like handwriting, and it … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged | 4 Comments