Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Astronaut Wives Club

Posted on September 7, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Astronaut Wives Club© 2013 Lily Koppell288 pages When a gang of test pilots joined the Mercury program, they and those who followed them didn’t have an inkling of what was to come– and their wives, their unwitting partners in … Continue reading →

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Two Sides of the Moon

Posted on September 5, 2013 by smellincoffee

Two Sides of the Moon© 2006 Alexei Leonov and David Scott448 pages Remember the fifties, those fat complacent days when the Future seemed a century away? Then up went Sputnik, gave the world a butt-kick, and made it clear tomorrow … Continue reading →

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From History’s Shadow

Posted on September 2, 2013 by smellincoffee

Star Trek: From History’s Shadow © 2013 Dayton Ward 388 pages The geocentrists were right: Earth is the center of the universe. Or at least, it was in the 20th century, for how else can you explain how many extraterrestrials, … Continue reading →

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Radicals for Capitalism

Posted on September 1, 2013 by smellincoffee

Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement© 2008 Brian Doherty740 pages Libertarianism has been in the news recently: Julian Assange referred to its rising wave in the Republican party as America’s best hope for halting … Continue reading →

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This week at the library: economics, law, and the truth about living like cavemen

Posted on August 26, 2013 by smellincoffee

The previous week’s reads:  The Making of the Fittest, Sean B Carroll | Save the Males, Kathleen Parker | The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt Dear readers: This past week I read Trains and Lovers, a short novel in which four … Continue reading →

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The Righteous Mind

Posted on August 26, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion© 2013 Jonathan Haidt528 pages The Righteous Mind begins with a question, seriously posed: why  can’t we all get along? To find the answer, Jonathan Haidt delves into the … Continue reading →

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Save the Males

Posted on August 24, 2013 by smellincoffee

Save the Males: Why Men Matter and Why Women Should Care© 2008 Kathleen Parker215 pages It’s not a man’s world any more. Far from it, Kathleen Parker writes: in America, men have not only been dethroned but imprisoned by a … Continue reading →

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The Making of the Fittest

Posted on August 22, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution304 pages© 2006 Sean B. Carroll Sean B. Carroll’s The Making of the Fittest examines the genetics of evolution, relating to readers not only how changes come about … Continue reading →

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This week at the library: genes, love on a moving train, and war

Posted on August 19, 2013 by smellincoffee

Dear readers: This past week I finished two books on meaning and morality and a bit of natural history. I enjoyed Shubin’s Your Inner Fish, but de Botton’s work on religion and Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind were both extraordinary. … Continue reading →

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What Are People For? (Comments & Selections)

Posted on August 19, 2013 by smellincoffee

What Are People For?© 1990, 2010 (2nd Edition) Wendell Berry210 pages Did the Lord say that machines oughta take the place of livin’? (“John Henry“, Johnny Cash) Wendell Berry is a softly outspoken critic of the triumph of inhumanity. What … Continue reading →

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