Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Year of No Sugar

Posted on September 8, 2019 by smellincoffee

Year of No Sugar pub. 2014 Eve O. Schaub 320 pages Eva Schaub’s life was changed at a birthday party for children, when a conversation with a fellow mom  made her aware of something called “corn syrup”,  Being the curious … Continue reading →

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Health Week 2019

Posted on September 7, 2019 by smellincoffee

Welcome to Health Week!    I haven’t done anything like this before, but lately I’ve been focusing a lot on personal cross-training, as well as trying intermittent fasting with an eye of breaking through an old plateau,  and so diet and … Continue reading →

Posted in General, history | Tagged | 6 Comments

The dance of nature

Posted on September 6, 2019 by smellincoffee

So to be crystal clear: everything out there is influencing the evolution of everything else. The bacteria and viruses and parasites that cause disease in us have affected our evolution as we have adapted in ways to cope with their … Continue reading →

Posted in history, quotations, science | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Of Romans, manly saints, and the beginning of the end

Posted on September 4, 2019 by smellincoffee

I spent much of August crawling through the first volume of Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.  I was very careful, in making my list, that I specified “Volume I”: I  had little interest in trying … Continue reading →

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Stoic advice on overcoming anger

Posted on August 31, 2019 by smellincoffee

In the last couple of weeks I’ve  read a few books on nonviolence communication and  conflict management (How To Be Your Own Bodyguard; Verbal Judo (re-read); and How to Survive Aggressive People).    Tonight, in a similar vein,  I encountered a … Continue reading →

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Shutting Out the Sun

Posted on August 29, 2019 by smellincoffee

Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation © 2006 Michael Zielenziger 352 pages Shutting Out the Sun introduces itself with what readers will assume is its subject: the plight of an increasing number of young people who, … Continue reading →

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The Education of Henry Adams

Posted on August 23, 2019 by smellincoffee

The Education of Henry Adams © 1918 Henry Adams 324 pages   Who is Henry Adams, and why would anyone read about his education?    Personally, I discovered this book through a personal interest in his family; Henry’s great-grandfather was John … Continue reading →

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How to Survive Aggressive People

Posted on August 22, 2019 by smellincoffee

Surviving Aggressive People: Practical Violence Prevention Skills for the Workplace and the Street © 2014 Shawn Smith 268 pages Most of us have encountered aggressive people in our lives, and if we work with the public we probably do so … Continue reading →

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The Sky’s the Limit

Posted on August 16, 2019 by smellincoffee

Star Trek TNG:  The Sky’s the Limit © 2007 various 400 pages The original Star Trek struggled in ratings, especially after being shifted to a late-evening slot of doom in its third season, and was canceled prematurely in 1969.    It … Continue reading →

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What We Left Behind

Posted on August 15, 2019 by smellincoffee

A few months back I caught wind of the fan-funded What We Left Behind: A Look Back at Deep Space Nine, and naturally  I preordered.  I watched (and loved) it tonight, and though it has nothing to do with books,  … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 2 Comments