Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

The Fear Index

Posted on October 16, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Fear Index© 2009 Robert Harris304 pages Dr. Alexander Hoffman is a brilliant physicist-turned-financier who may be losing his mind.  It’s not as if the software he designed to manage investments in stocks, securities, and the like isn’t still successful; … Continue reading →

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The Box

Posted on October 8, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger© 2006 Marc Levinson376 pages It’s not every day an invention completely revolutionizes its industry, let alone the world. And yet that’s what the shipping container, … Continue reading →

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The New Faithful

Posted on October 5, 2013 by smellincoffee

The New Faithful: Why Young Adults are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy© 2002 Colleen Caroll320 pages  Every action produces its reaction, and to Colleen Carroll decades of religious liberalism have born their fruit in the form of young people flocking back to … Continue reading →

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Taft 2012

Posted on October 3, 2013 by smellincoffee

Taft 2012© 2012 Jason Heller246 pages In another world, William Howard Taft vanished from history after his presidential term. Rather than going on to become a Supreme Court Justice, he simply — disappeared. He became the world’s most famous missing … Continue reading →

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Crabgrass Frontier

Posted on October 3, 2013 by smellincoffee

Crabgrass Frontier:  The Suburbanization of the United States© 1985 Kenneth Jackson432 pages For thousands of years, people lived in either the country or the city, but with the coming of the industrial revolution that changed, and especially in America.   … Continue reading →

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Uncommon Carriers

Posted on October 2, 2013 by smellincoffee

Uncommon Carriers© 2006 John McPhee256 pages Uncommon Carriers invites readers to spend a day in the life of a truck drivers, ocean-going cargo ship and riverbound freight tugboat pilots, train engineers, UPS aviators, and — just for good measure — … Continue reading →

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This week at the library: bikes, Greeks, stuff, and eeeeeevil

Posted on September 30, 2013 by smellincoffee

Dear readers: September’s winding-down for me has been busy for me, and especially today. All three meals were taken with friends while out and about; it was a day filled with a country drive and a long walk through beautiful … Continue reading →

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Field Grey

Posted on September 29, 2013 by smellincoffee

Field Grey© 2011 Phillip Kerr384 pages Bernie Gunther survived Hitler’s Germany and a Soviet prison camp, so when he’s forcefully detained by the American  Navy on the open seas and interrogated, he’s not too much impressed by their attempt at … Continue reading →

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Home Economics

Posted on September 28, 2013 by smellincoffee

Home Economics© 1987 Wendell Berry192 pages The term economics originally referred to household management, and to Wendell Berry, that’s what it should remain still. Home Economics collects essays on the meaning and relation of economy to human life. In it, … Continue reading →

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The Working Poor

Posted on September 28, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Working Poor: Invisible in America© 2004 David Shipler352 pages “Like my daddy used to say — ‘Son, life’s hell to pay for when you’re poor — cause  always just outside the door’s another Hard Time.’”    (Jerry Reed) The … Continue reading →

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