Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

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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Images of CS Lewis’ World

Posted on September 9, 2016 by smellincoffee

CS Lewis: Images of his World © 1973  Douglas R Gilbert, Clyde S Kilby 144 pages Last year I was tasked with the lamentable duty of weeding our history, literature, and science sections, and so in consequence spent several weeks methodically … Continue reading →

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Smoking Guns, Sinister Schemes, and Still More Dangerous Blondes

Posted on September 7, 2016 by smellincoffee

Faced with the specter of a three-day weekend, but late-summer heat still too oppressive to venture out in, I enjoyed a little classic-movie marathon. I mention this here because while it’s not a read-to-reels post, all three movies are based on … Continue reading →

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Murder at Fenway Park

Posted on September 3, 2016 by smellincoffee

Murder at Fenway Park© 1994 Troy Soos252 pages 1912, Boston. The Titanic is only a few weeks lost to the North Atlantic bottom, but Mickey Rawling’s mind isn’t on one of the biggest maritime disasters of history. No, he’s just been … Continue reading →

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Rescue Warriors

Posted on September 3, 2016 by smellincoffee

Rescue Warriors: The U.S. Coast Guard, America’s Forgotten Heroes© 2009 David Helvarg384 pages When Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, the Coast Guard was the first on the scene, with helicopters in the air saving lives long before FEMA … Continue reading →

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