Tag Archives: animal domestication

From the horses’ mouth: Black Beauty and Traveller

Posted on April 26, 2021 by smellincoffee

This past week I’ve read two novels which feature a horse as the narrator, and I thought it might be fun to consider them together. The first, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, is something of a re-read for me: I … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

COVID Reviews #3: Romans, Dogs, and Saudis

Posted on October 2, 2020 by smellincoffee

I don’t know if anyone misses my usual chatty, sometimes florid reviews, but they’re impossible to do on a phone. More mini-reviews it is! Continuing my onslaught of the TBR pile, I finished Lives of Famous Romans, by Olivia Coolridge. … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Of love languages, cunning critters, epic battles, and cows

Posted on January 27, 2020 by smellincoffee

Time for some mini-reviews! Read but not reviewed in the last week or so have been: The Heart of the 5 Love Languages, Gary Chapman Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? Frans de Waal Shiloh: A … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews, science | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Of Neanderthals and dogs and extinction level events

Posted on July 8, 2018 by smellincoffee

Time for science short rounds! Last week I read The Invaders,  a much-anticipated work about how dogs gave humans a competitive edge over their neanderthal cousins. This brief book posits that human beings function like invasive species, and after establishing … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

TBR: And Then There was One

Posted on July 12, 2016 by smellincoffee

Dear readers,  we approach the end for the To be Read Takedown Challenge! Richard Francis’ Domesticated: Evolution in a Man-Made World proved disappointing, not because of the quality of content but the focus thereof.  Although Domesticated sells itself as a … Continue reading →

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

White Fang

Posted on June 29, 2016 by smellincoffee

White Fang© 1906 Jack Londonpp. 1- 101, Tales of the North. “An’ right here I want to remark,’ Bill went on, ‘that that animal’s familiarity with camp-fires is suspicious an’ immoral.’‘It knows for certain more’n a self-respectin’ wolf ought to … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Horses at Work

Posted on December 23, 2015 by smellincoffee

Horses at Work: Harnessing Power in Industrial America© 2008 Ann Norton Greene322 pages The quintessential image of horses in American history is the cowboy, of rough men moving cattle in the wilderness on horseback. But follow the cattle, and their … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Horse

Posted on December 8, 2015 by smellincoffee

Horse: How the Horse Has Shaped Human Civilization© 2006 J. Edward Chamberlin288 pages How do I love thee, O horse? Let me count the ways.   J. Edward Chamberlin’s Horse begins with one lonely native American mare separated from her tribe … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Horse in the City

Posted on November 21, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Horse in the City© 2007 Clay McShane, Joel A. Tarr242 pages To the American imagination, horses are the stuff of country dreams, of farms and cowboys. This is a recent conceit, however, as for most of American history humans … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Cattle

Posted on December 13, 2012 by smellincoffee

Cattle: an Informal Social History© 2001 Laurie Winn Carlson321 pages Consider…the cow. A humble creature, its dopey expression reveals no vast intelligence, and its barrel of a body gives it virtually no athletic ability, but it is remarkable if nothing … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments