Tag Archives: anarchism

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

Short rounds: human scale and bad religion

Posted on January 27, 2024 by smellincoffee

This week I’ve been finishing two works of nonfiction: Kirkpatrick Sale’s Human Scale Revisited and Ross Douhat’s Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics.  Human Scale Revisited is, as its title implies, an update to Sale’s original Human … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Politics and Civic Interest, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The Heinlein Interview

Posted on October 18, 2023 by smellincoffee

I am closing in on the end of Astounding, which bills itself as a history of golden-age SF, and so far the most interesting aspect of it was the largely-uncommented-on political history of Robert Heinlein. We meet him as an … Continue reading →

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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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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 →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Betrayal of the American Right

Posted on January 27, 2022 by smellincoffee

The Betrayal of the American Right© 2007 Murry Rothbard231 pages When I began exploring politics and forging my own ideas, I steered leftward out of hatred for the war on terror and Bush’s burgeoning police state. I soon discovered, however, … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Anti-Politics

Posted on September 19, 2021 by smellincoffee

Anti-Politics: A Collection of Agorist Essays© 2021 ed. Sal Mayweather165 pages If you’re still waiting for your masters for permission to live after nearly two years of “two weeks to flatten the curve”, don’t bother reading further. This isn’t your … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Project Hail Mary | #agora

Posted on June 7, 2021 by smellincoffee

Ryland Grace just woke up strapped to a medical bed with two dead roommates. That’s not the least of his problem, though: he’s in space, and he doesn’t know why. Eventually, he’ll figure that out; his memory will return. But … Continue reading →

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

Do you Vonu?

Posted on June 4, 2021 by smellincoffee

Vonu: A Strategy for Self-Liberation© 2018 Shane Radliff127 pages In 1968, a frustrated man named Tom Marshall ventured into the woods along with his wife to conduct a living experiment. Was it possible, he wondered, to create a life for … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments