Category Archives: Religion and Philosophy

Commandos, Inklings, and powershell

Posted on May 11, 2022 by smellincoffee

If you can’t tell, dear readers, I’m in something of a reading funk — nibbling at many books but not immersed in any. Life has gotten busy recently: I’m now officially on a transplant list, a friend was just married, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, historical fiction, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The way of men – pagan and Christian

Posted on January 10, 2022 by smellincoffee

Late last year I re-read Jack Donovan’s The Way of Men, written for identifying what it means to be a man, and what men need and want. Donovan argues that men are largely driven by the need for the respect … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Selected quotes from Anti-Politics

Posted on September 22, 2021 by smellincoffee

“Power and authority, as substitutes for performance and rational thought, are the specters that haunt the world today. They are the ghosts of awed and superstitious yesterdays. And politics is their familiar. Politics, throughout time, has been an institutionalized denial … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, quotations, Religion and Philosophy | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Selections from The Unbroken Thread

Posted on September 16, 2021 by smellincoffee

“The great benefit to be derived from reading pre-modern authors is to come to realise that after all we [moderns] might have been mistaken.” – C.F.J. Martin  [C.S. Lewis] argued that instinct, science’s go-to answer to our central question, just … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations, Religion and Philosophy | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

The Philosopher Book Tag

Posted on July 23, 2021 by smellincoffee

Spotted at Thoughts on Papyrus, and couldn’t resist borrowing! Thales is considered the first known philosopher. Which text introduced you to philosophy or which text would you like to read to get you into philosophy? Oddly enough, a sermon from … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflection, Religion and Philosophy | Tagged | 2 Comments

The Virtue of Selfishness

Posted on July 8, 2021 by smellincoffee

The Virtue of Selfishness© 1964 Ayn Rand174 pages How many books and movies have moved audiences by portraying a character who, struggling with persistent unhappiness, is pushed by their despair through to the realization that they’ve been living their life … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Return of the Primitive

Posted on June 30, 2021 by smellincoffee

Return of the Primitive© 1971 Ayn Rand, The New Left© 1999 Ayn Rand and Peter Schwartz290 pages   The Return of the Primitive  collects Ayn Rand’s  written responses to the eruption of the student movement in the late sixties,  particularly … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Three cheers for anarchy — three reads, anyway

Posted on June 1, 2021 by smellincoffee

While everyone else was honoring dead soldiers by buying things, shooting off fireworks (dear neighbors: why?), and grilling out, I was in bed all weekend with a case of food poisoning. Naturally, I wound up reading books about anarchism and … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reflection, Religion and Philosophy, science fiction | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Beyond Tenebrae

Posted on March 25, 2021 by smellincoffee

Beyond Tenebrae: Christian Humanism in the Twilight of the West© 2019 Brad Birzer258 pages Most people, including myself until a few years ago, would describe humanism as a worldview championing the possibility of, and the need for, humans living moral, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Camino Winds | Jesus the Son of Man

Posted on March 3, 2021 by smellincoffee

Amid a category 4 hurricane that levels homes and floods an entire town, a man is murdered. The police shake their heads, insisting he was merely struck by storm debris. But falling limbs don’t leave blood splatter inside a home … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments