Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Kinfolk

Posted on September 11, 2024 by smellincoffee

It’s the early seventies. Come to rural Park, Alabama, a town that don’t have much goin’ on except its occasional American Legion meetings, a place that ain’t even on most maps. There’s a fella, Nub, and everyone knows he’s the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Teaser Tuesday Time

Posted on September 10, 2024 by smellincoffee

“You mean you ain’t going to drink no more?” “I mean I’m taking it one day at a time.” “But if you don’t drink no more, then how come you got beer in your refrigerator?” “Hard to say goodbye.” “And … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 5 Comments

DNA is Not Destiny

Posted on September 9, 2024 by smellincoffee

When I first learned about DNA, I formed a very elementary notion of it being a bit like lego blocks: this bit was the blonde hair, that gene was green eyes, that sort of thing. Later on, as I began … Continue reading →

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

The Dispossessed

Posted on September 6, 2024 by smellincoffee

So you say you want a revolution? Well, brother, you must be the revolution. Shevek of Anarres is a brilliant physicist who is on the cusp of a breakthrough that could revolutionize humanity’s use of space and time, but he’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

The Calculating Stars

Posted on September 5, 2024 by smellincoffee

The night is young and you’re so beautiful, can’t we get into the swing of – what was THAT?! The Calculating Stars opens with a rocket scientist and a math genius/former WASP pilot having a romantic night in the mountains, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Disaster!

Posted on September 3, 2024 by smellincoffee

I stumbled upon this title nearly twenty years ago while touring my community college’s library and checking out what it had to offer. I found a couple of titles (Disaster! and Good Life in Hard Times: San Francisco’s Twenties and … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

First into Nagasaki

Posted on August 28, 2024 by smellincoffee

George Weller, a reporter for the Chicago Daily News, arrived in Japan only to be told that its southern islands were off-limits to reporters, dashing his hopes of being able to see what this new super-bomb had done to Nagasaki. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Miss Benson’s Beetle

Posted on August 26, 2024 by smellincoffee

Margery Benson has had it. A heartbreak ruined her great passion in life, studying beetles, and for the last decade she’s wasted away teaching a subject she’s not interested in to children who are even less interested in it. After … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Time to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Posted on August 24, 2024 by smellincoffee

Nearly eighty years ago, a single B-29 bomber flew over the Japanese city of Hiroshima and dropped a single bomb, baptizing humanity into a dark new era once the blinding white glow had ended. In the fifties and sixties, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, World Affairs | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Sunlight at Midnight: St Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia

Posted on August 22, 2024 by smellincoffee

I must confess to not knowing much at all about Russian cities: say Moscow, and I think of the Kremlin and the subway art; say St. Petersburg, and I have some hazy idea that it was built in the model … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments