Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

People Habitat

Posted on January 10, 2023 by smellincoffee

People Habitat: 25 Ways to Think About Greener, Healthier Cities© 2014 F. Kaid Benfield304 pages The built environment can have an enormous effect on human happiness, facilitating  it or obstructing it; think of the frustration of  taking care of errands … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Chasing New Horizons

Posted on January 6, 2023 by smellincoffee

Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto© 2019 Alan Stearns & David Grinspoon320 pages For most of my life, and I’ll warrant for most of yours, Pluto was the Great Unknown in the solar system.  Take any … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

The World-Ending Fire

Posted on January 3, 2023 by smellincoffee

The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry© 2018 Wendell Berry and Paul Kingsnorth360 pages What a way to finish 2022, in reading this superb collection of Wendell Berry’s essays.  Berry has published no small amount of essay collections himself, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A year’s end…

Posted on December 28, 2022 by smellincoffee

Welcome to the liminal space between  the years, as we all recover from Christmas and brace ourselves for a weekend full of fireworks.  Reading activity is definitely ebbing down for me,  and has been for much of December — I’ve … Continue reading →

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Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

Posted on December 19, 2022 by smellincoffee

Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley© Peter Kreeft 1982 182 pages The scene: ….well, we’re not sure. Somewhere out in the ether. The players: C.S. Lewis, Aldous Huxley, … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Postcards from Ed

Posted on December 18, 2022 by smellincoffee

Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast© 2007 ed. David Petersen337 pages “Saving the world is only a hobby. Most of the time I do nothing.” Although I was first drawn to Ed Abbey by his nature … Continue reading →

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Lost on Purpose

Posted on December 12, 2022 by smellincoffee

Lost on Purpose: The Adventures of a 21st Century Mountain Man© 2015 Patrick Taylor187 pages The real adventure for me was letting go of everything I had defined as important and conducting another experiment with my life. Lost on Purpose … Continue reading →

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Unsettled

Posted on December 7, 2022 by smellincoffee

Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters© 2021 Steve Koonin320 pages Over the last twenty years, ‘climate change’ has been subject to the same abuse as ‘terrorism’: it’s levied so often with such enthusiasm … Continue reading →

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Sean of the South and the Old Man’s Boy

Posted on December 6, 2022 by smellincoffee

Sean Dietrich and his wife Jamie’s collective world was shaken when their doctor said the C word.  Cancer.  The emperor of all maladies,  the ticking timebomb in each of us.   Rather than crumbling into a  weeping ball of woe-is-me,  … Continue reading →

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Sid Meier’s Memoir

Posted on November 30, 2022 by smellincoffee

Sid Meier’s Memoir: A Life in Computer Games© 2020 Sid Meier304 pages Dear readers, I cannot tell you how much of my life has been spent in worlds of Sid Meier’s making –  discovering his talent for historically-grounded but  still-compelling … Continue reading →

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