Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

The Men Who United the States

Posted on December 27, 2013 by smellincoffee

 The Men Who United the States: America’s Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible© 2013 Simon Winchester496 pages The Men who United the States is a storied account of how the American people came to … Continue reading →

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The Phantom Menace

Posted on December 26, 2013 by smellincoffee

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace© 1999 Terry BrooksThe Phantom Menace was the first movie in the new ‘prequel’ trilogy of the Star Wars saga, which told the story of a promising young Jedi who was seduced by the Dark … Continue reading →

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This week: Christmas reads, science in the city, and social telegraphy

Posted on December 24, 2013 by smellincoffee

Dear readers:             A blessed Yuletide and a merry Christmas to those of you in the northern hemisphere, as we celebrate the rebirth of the Sun – or the birth of the Son, if you prefer. The library is closing … Continue reading →

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Black Rednecks and White Liberals

Posted on December 22, 2013 by smellincoffee

Blacks Rednecks and White Liberals© 2005 Thomas Sowell360 pages Thomas Sowell’s provocatively-titled Black Rednecks and White Liberals casts a critical eye toward  conventional understandings of race, class, and history, collecting a half-dozen extensive essays in one volume. Although each essay … Continue reading →

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Things that Matter

Posted on December 21, 2013 by smellincoffee

Things that Matter: Three Decades of Passion, Pastimes, and Politics© 2013 Charles Krauthammer400 pages Things that Matter collects articles spanning at three decades, largely culled from The New Republic, giving voice to psychologist-turned-cultural observer and journalist Charles Krauthammer as he … Continue reading →

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Into Thick Air

Posted on December 17, 2013 by smellincoffee

Into Thick Air© 2003 Jim Mauser388 pages             Jim Mauser might be interested in the view from the Seven Summits, the highest points of each continent, were it not for the fact that they have … Continue reading →

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Little House on the Prairie

Posted on December 17, 2013 by smellincoffee

© 1933 Laura Ingalls Wilder I would say that Little House on the Prairie brings back fond memories, but in truth the volume I remember so happily was Little House in the  Big Woods, which recounts author Laura Ingalls Wilder’s accounts of growing … Continue reading →

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The Other Side of Western Civilization

Posted on December 15, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Other Side of Western Civilization: Readings in Everyday Life,© 1979 ed. Stanley Chodorow363 pages The Other Side of Western Civilization collects readings in social history ranging from antiquity to the Renaissance. Its subtitle Readings in Everyday Life is largely … Continue reading →

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Things Fall Apart

Posted on December 10, 2013 by smellincoffee

Things Fall Apart© 2013 Harry Turtledove400 pages What was the difference? Just a little timing. There wasn’t a person in the world who didn’t have a story like that. If you’d been a little late or a little early, if … Continue reading →

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This week: Nature Wants to Kill You with Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, and Harry Turtledove

Posted on December 9, 2013 by smellincoffee

Craving manly tales of outdoor adventure, I checked out a handful of short-story collections by Ernest Hemingway and Jack London. I started with the titular story of Hemingway’s The Snows of Kilamanjaro, having seen the movie earlier in the week. and … Continue reading →

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