Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Deke!

Posted on September 23, 2016 by smellincoffee

Deke! U.S. Manned Space Flight from Mercury to the Shuttle© 1994 Deke Slayton and Michael Cassutt352 pages Don Slayton knew he wanted to fly as a kid, but he never imagined going as high as the moon  His story is … Continue reading →

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Hillbilly Elegy

Posted on September 22, 2016 by smellincoffee

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis© 2016 J.D. Vance272 pages Imagine a childhood in which the most stable person in your life once methodically marinated her passed-out drunken husband with lighter fluid, then set him … Continue reading →

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America First

Posted on September 21, 2016 by smellincoffee

America First: Its History, Culture, and Politics© 1995 Bill Kauffman296 pages For slightly over a year prior to the attack at Pearl Harbor, there existed a civic organization of nearly a million people called the America First Committee. It dedicated … Continue reading →

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Words from little America

Posted on September 18, 2016 by smellincoffee

“There are many, many Americas — there’s a televised America, one that consists of The View and Katie Couric and Jenner — there’s that America. But then there’s the America I experience, the America you never see on television. It’s … Continue reading →

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Turbulent Skies

Posted on September 18, 2016 by smellincoffee

Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation© 1995 T. H. Heppenheimer408 pages What a century was the 20th, which turned everyday life into the stuff of yesteryear’s science fiction. Who would believe at its dawning that one day people would … Continue reading →

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Bloodletter

Posted on September 14, 2016 by smellincoffee

Bloodletter© 1993 K.W. Jeter276 pages Constable Odo has noticed something very strange about the Cardassian freighter docked with Deep Space Nine. Despite its identification as an utterly harmless freighter, dangerous only to the subspace version of bugs splattered on the … Continue reading →

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War Drums

Posted on September 13, 2016 by smellincoffee

ST TNG: War Drums© 1992 John Vornholt276 pages Imagine Lord of the Flies with Klingons, and set the pack of nigh-feral boys against a small community of settlers who only just arrived themselves.  Such is the set up of War Drums, … Continue reading →

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The Better Man

Posted on September 11, 2016 by smellincoffee

ST: The Better Man© 1994 Howard Weinstein294 pages McCoy: “I should have told you about this in my quarters, not yours.” Kirk: “Why? Some kind of weird protocol?” McCoy: “No, I’ve got a better liquor selection.” Fresh from a refit, … Continue reading →

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How to Live

Posted on September 11, 2016 by smellincoffee

Musonius Rufus on How to Live© 2012 Ben White112 pages Virtus isn’t just for the men any more.  Musonius Rufus is the forgotten Stoic, a man hailed alongside Socrates as nigh-saintly by Origen, but now almost forgotten. More’s the pity, because … Continue reading →

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How the Scots Invented the Modern World

Posted on September 10, 2016 by smellincoffee

How the Scots Invented the Modern World:The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It © 2001  Arthur Herman400 pages An elderly patron at the library has adopted me as his go-to source for … Continue reading →

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