Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

This week: hot rocks, war in the east, and Holly Golightly

Posted on September 8, 2014 by smellincoffee

This week the to-be-read list shrank, as I finished Richard Fortey’s Earth — an introduction to the processes that shape the Earth, while at the same time a travelogue to the planet’s most beautiful hotspots.  Fortey is both tourist and … Continue reading →

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Progress of the War (Reading)

Posted on September 2, 2014 by smellincoffee

The ninth month of the year means ‘tis time to review how my Great War reading is shaping up. The summer has seen not only a terrific book on the Italian-Austrian front (The White War), but at least two books on … Continue reading →

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The Red Baron

Posted on September 1, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Red BaronManfred von Richthofen© 1969 ed. Stanley Ulanoff240 pages The average man on the street may not know the first thing about the Great War, but he’ll have heard of the Red Baron. Attribute that to a silly song, … Continue reading →

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The Age of Steam

Posted on August 22, 2014 by smellincoffee

A Brief History of the Age of Steam© 2007 Thomas Crump288 pages For most of human history, transportation over land has been prohibitively expensive, limited to highly lucrative goods like silk. Trade grew from the rivers, as did civilization. But … Continue reading →

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Drink

Posted on August 16, 2014 by smellincoffee

Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol© 2008 Ian Gately546 pages “We should thank God for beer and burgundy by not drinking too much of them.”  – G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy A substance that a third of the world institutionalizes as a … Continue reading →

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Thank You For Smoking

Posted on August 14, 2014 by smellincoffee

Thank You for Smoking© 1994 Christopher Buckley272 pages Nick Naylor may be one of the most hated men in America, because his job is to serve as the legal guardian and advocate of Big Tobacco –and he is very, very … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Tending the Epicurean Garden

Posted on August 8, 2014 by smellincoffee

Tending the Epicurean Garden© 2014 Hiram Crespo185 pages Stoicism is not the only Greco-Roman school of practical philosophy experiencing a revival these days. Epicureanism, long reduced to a synonym for food-and-wine-snobs,  has found an audience within the increasingly secularized west, … Continue reading →

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The Men Who Lost America

Posted on August 7, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of an Empire© Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy480 pages The Men Who Lost America is a rare history of the American Revolution, one which follows not the revolutionaries, but their … Continue reading →

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This week: war, war, war

Posted on July 28, 2014 by smellincoffee

This past week has been a quiet one, as I’ve been devotedly reading through Castles of Steel, an 800+ page history of the naval war between Britain and Germany during World War I.  I’m just starting Jutland, and after that … Continue reading →

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Fighting Traffic

Posted on July 22, 2014 by smellincoffee

Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City© 2008 Peter Norton396 pages Stroll into the middle of any American city today, and provided you are not in Detroit, odds are better than not you will be … Continue reading →

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