Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Short rounds: of cybercities and medicinal ectasy

Posted on March 8, 2018 by smellincoffee

Recently I’ve read a couple of books that I wasn’t particularly impressed with, but  they weren’t stinkers enough to merit one of those rare-but-fun-to-write negative reviews.  They’re in that “I can manage a paragraph of mixed interest and disappointment” grey … Continue reading →

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This Is Your Brain on Parasites

Posted on March 7, 2018 by smellincoffee

This is Your Brain on Parasites: How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Brains and Shape Society© 2016 Kathleen McAuliffe299 pages Are you under the influence?  There’s a chance that you may be, even if you haven’t darkened the door of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , | 1 Comment

How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life

Posted on March 6, 2018 by smellincoffee

How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness© 2014 Russ Roberts269 pages\ An economist and a rabbi walk into a bar and co-author a work on the meaning of life. That’s not the … Continue reading →

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Springing forward

Posted on March 4, 2018 by smellincoffee

At the library I’ve put out the gardening books, which means it’s officially springtime! …at least, in central Alabama.  I’m still not certain we’re past the threat of a sudden frost, but I am looking forward to my annual spring … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Gut

Posted on February 28, 2018 by smellincoffee

Gut: The Inside Story Of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ© 2015 Giulia Enders271 pages Through the teeth, past the gums, look out stomach, here we come! Gut is a tour of your innards, of the surprisingly clean but bustling twists … Continue reading →

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

Atlas Shrugged

Posted on February 27, 2018 by smellincoffee

Atlas Shrugged © 1957 Ayn Rand 1168 pages Sometimes the chains that bind us are made by our own hands.   Dagny Taggart knew as a young girl that she wanted to grow up to be the master of her family’s … Continue reading →

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The Silent Intelligence

Posted on February 26, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Silent Intelligence: The Internet of Things© 2013 Daniel Kellmereit, Daniel Obodovski166 pages A couple of years ago I created a Digital World label in recognition of the fact that the Internet was no longer a discrete service that one could … Continue reading →

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Quick note

Posted on February 23, 2018 by smellincoffee

I am deep in the country house/dog sitting for some friends, armed only with my kindle and a few books.  One of these days I’ll get a laptop, but until Monday evening I am PC less. Typing is laborious on … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | 19 Comments

9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America

Posted on February 19, 2018 by smellincoffee

9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America and 4 Who Tried to Save Her©  2016 Brion McClanahan354 pages It is my dearest hope that by the time Donald Trump leaves the West Wing, the office of the presidency will have been … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 15 Comments

House of Rain

Posted on February 17, 2018 by smellincoffee

House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest © 2007 Craig Childs 482 pages Throughout the southwest United States and northern Mexico there are ruins from a people long gone, people remembered as the Anasazi. The name … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments