Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

One Life at a Time, Please

Posted on January 18, 2023 by smellincoffee

One Life at a Time, Please© 1988 Ed Abbey204 pages Ed Abbey’s final few years were spent in obsessive work, as he knew he was dying and wanted to make provisions for his family.  The Fool’s Progress and One Life … Continue reading →

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Adventures with Ed

Posted on January 17, 2023 by smellincoffee

Adventures with Ed: A Portrait of Abbey© 2003 Jack Loeffler308 pages “He walked across the desert at least a thousand times,” Tom Russell sang of Abbey in his “Ballad” thereof. Jack Loeffler was with him many of those times, as … Continue reading →

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Pests

Posted on January 11, 2023 by smellincoffee

Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains© 2022 Bethany Brookshire368 pages Humans believe in and have attempted to create, a very orderly world. There are our cities and homes, where the only animals that belong are those there for our amusement, … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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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