Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

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Posted on December 17, 2008 by smellincoffee

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed © 2005 Jared Diamond 560 pages plus index A few years ago, I read Guns, Germs, and Steel by this same author, who put forth the idea that the success of world … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library (11/12)

Posted on December 11, 2008 by smellincoffee

Books this Update: Why People Believe Weird Things, Michael Shermer The Knight in History, Frances Gies This I Believe, Jay Allison and Dan Gediman It took an entire semester, but circumstances finally got the better of me and disrupted my … Continue reading →

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This I Believe

Posted on December 11, 2008 by smellincoffee

This I Believe: the Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and WomenVarious authors, edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman© 2006 For a few years now I’ve listened to an NPR feature called “This I Believe”, wherein a variety of individuals … Continue reading →

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The Knight in History

Posted on December 10, 2008 by smellincoffee

The Knight in History254 pagesFrances Gies This week I read The Knight in History, written by France Gies. Typically she and her husband co-author novels, but not in this case. I was somewhat wary about this particular book because military … Continue reading →

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Why People Believe Weird Things

Posted on December 6, 2008 by smellincoffee

Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time2nd edition © 2002, Michael Shermer313 pages, plus extended bibliography and index Having been a skeptic for a few years now, I’ve heard this book referenced a lot … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library (3/12)

Posted on December 2, 2008 by smellincoffee

Books this Update: A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens Colonization: Down to Earth, Harry Turtledove Armageddon in Retrospect, Kurt Vonnegut Almost Everyone’s Guide to Science, Joshua Gribbin Women in the Middle Ages, Frances and Joseph Gies This past week encompassed Thanksgiving, … Continue reading →

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Women in the Middle Ages

Posted on December 2, 2008 by smellincoffee

Women in the Middle Ages© Frances and Joseph Gies 1978236 pages, plus index, notes, and bibliography. Again this week I read from Frances and Joseph Gies’ series on daily life in the medieval era. The book is divided smartly into … Continue reading →

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A Christmas Carol

Posted on November 30, 2008 by smellincoffee

A Christmas CarolCharles Dickens For a number of years now, I have made a tradition of watching A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart. I do not recall the first time I watched the movie, but it became an instant favorite. … Continue reading →

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Almost Everyone’s Guide to Science

Posted on November 30, 2008 by smellincoffee

Almost Everyone’s Guide to Science© 1998 John Gribbin200ish pages What’s this? Science? With no history of- or -fiction added to it? Can it be? After so many months? Yes! The Thanksgiving holiday afforded me the opportunity to do more reading … Continue reading →

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Colonization: Down to Earth

Posted on November 29, 2008 by smellincoffee

Colonization: Down to Earth© 2000 Harry Turtledove618 pages I continued reading Turtledove’s Colonization series this week. “Down to Earth” is the second book in said series, which is about Earth in the 1960s. The Lizards have held the southern hemisphere … Continue reading →

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