Tag Archives: food and drink

Killer Blondes and Killer Wheat

Posted on August 29, 2016 by smellincoffee

A few weeks ago I read Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man, a murder-mystery from the same Pinkerton agent turned author who produced The Maltese Falcon.   I was sold by the opening line: I was leaning against the bar in a … Continue reading →

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Driving with the Devil

Posted on May 4, 2016 by smellincoffee

Driving with the Devil:  Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR© 2006 Neil Thompson411 pages Oh Rapid Roy that stock car boy He’s the best driver in the lan’ He say that he learned to race a stock … Continue reading →

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An Economist Gets Lunch

Posted on February 17, 2016 by smellincoffee

An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies© 2012 Tyler Cowen293 pages Imagine going out to eat with someone who really likes to talk about food, and imagine that this person is also an economist. That’s An Economist Gets Lunch, … Continue reading →

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Last Call

Posted on July 1, 2015 by smellincoffee

Last Call: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition © 2010 Daniel Okrent 480 pages “Law and order should not ruin the lives of law-abidin’ people! Like that stupid law of Prohibition they had in the old days. Gangsters had to go … Continue reading →

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Drink

Posted on August 16, 2014 by smellincoffee

Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol© 2008 Ian Gately546 pages “We should thank God for beer and burgundy by not drinking too much of them.”  – G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy A substance that a third of the world institutionalizes as a … Continue reading →

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An Edible History of Humanity

Posted on July 11, 2014 by smellincoffee

An Edible History of Humanity© 2010 Tom Standage288 pages Tom Standage offers a course in human history set at the dinner table, beginning with agriculture and moving swiftly to the green revolution.  His A History of the World in Six … Continue reading →

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The World Until Yesterday

Posted on June 19, 2014 by smellincoffee

The World Until Yesterday© 2012 Jared Diamond481 pages             Earth has been the province of mankind for hundreds of thousands of years, and for most of the time he has transversed it in small tribal groups, … Continue reading →

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Human Scale

Posted on May 15, 2014 by smellincoffee

Human Scale© 1980 Kirkpatrick Sale500 pages             Human Scale is an ambitious assault on big business, big government — the very concept of Bigness. Opening with biology, Kirkpatrick Sale first establishes his basic operating principle:  for … Continue reading →

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The Simple Living Guide

Posted on March 23, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living© 1997 Janet Luhrs444 pages Life distracts easily and passes by without being noticed. The Simple Living Guide is written as an antidote, one which both prompts people to … Continue reading →

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This week at the library: desire, war, and traditions

Posted on February 10, 2014 by smellincoffee

Dear readers: It’s been a slow start for February despite the miserable weather that keeps everyone indoors, possibly because I’ve spent the last week nursing a cold and it’s easier to watch movies than to coordinate book-holding, page-turning, and nose-tending … Continue reading →

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