Category Archives: Politics and Civic Interest

A Walk Around the Block

Posted on January 15, 2021 by smellincoffee

A Walk Around the Block: Stoplight Secrets, Mischievous Squirrels, Manhole Mysteries & Other Stuff You See Every Day (And Know Nothing About)© 2020 Spike Carlsen336 pages One of my favorite books to think back on is Scott Huler’s On the … Continue reading →

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Mary Roach in bed, Frank Underwood’s crib notes, and a love story for libraries

Posted on November 13, 2020 by smellincoffee

It’s been a week of …very different books here. First up, Mary Roach’s Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. All of Roach’s previous other works, all mostly-humorous attempts to review the science of taboo or often overlooked subject, … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, science | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

A Bright Future

Posted on October 15, 2020 by smellincoffee

A Bright Future: How Some Nations have Solved Climate Change and How the Rest can Follow© 2019 Joshua Goldstein & Staffan Qvist245 pages It is past time for the global community to take climate change seriously. In order to make … Continue reading →

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Of Putin, Hamilton, wars, and corona

Posted on September 27, 2020 by smellincoffee

I entered quarantine on Tuesday, immediately after having my COVID test done. Since then my physical condition has improved (coughing is minimal, energy levels are much better) although until I test negative I’m still locked away from the public. I’ve … Continue reading →

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Go Directly to Jail

Posted on August 27, 2020 by smellincoffee

Go Directly to Jail: The Criminalization of Almost Everything © 2004 ed. Gene Healy 194 pages What good are laws so numerous they cannot be known, or so opaque they cannot be understood?  James Madison knew enough to ask that … Continue reading →

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The Great Ron Paul

Posted on August 21, 2020 by smellincoffee

The Great Ron Paul: The Scott Horton Interviews, 2004-2019 © 2019 ed. Scott Horton 315 pages Selected quotes Who is Ron Paul?    That question was on posters across my university campus in 2008, and I couldn’t help but be curious.   … Continue reading →

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The Left, The Right, and The State

Posted on August 11, 2020 by smellincoffee

The Left, The Right, and the State © 2009 Lew Rockwell 556 pages “Society is held together not by a state but by the cooperative daily actions of its members.” Who’s up for six hundred pages of essays on politics … Continue reading →

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Losing an Enemy

Posted on January 8, 2020 by smellincoffee

Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy 472 pages © 2017 Trita Parsi Losing an Enemy is now a profoundly depressing book,  being an extensive history of an agreement that could have started erasing fifty years of … Continue reading →

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A Warning

Posted on January 2, 2020 by smellincoffee

A Warning © 2019 A Senior Trump Administration Official 272 pages In 2018, a disturbing op-ed ran in The New York Times declaring the existence of a secret band of White House staffers who were ‘working diligently’ to frustrate part … Continue reading →

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Rubbish!

Posted on December 18, 2019 by smellincoffee

Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage © 1992 William Rathje and Cullen Murphy 250 pages Given that historians often use the contents of middens to glean information about societies which have long faded away, it’s only fair to see what our … Continue reading →

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