Tag Archives: Politics-CivicInterest

Short rounds: C.S. Lewis and the anthropology of sanitation workers

Posted on November 27, 2023 by smellincoffee

First up, C.S. Lewis’ The Pilgrim’s Regress. Lewis dashed this off immediately after converting to Christianity in 1933, and it’s a fictional and fantastical rendering of his own journey throughout the twenties as he fell away from his childhood faith, … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

With Good Intentions? The Myth of Progress

Posted on November 25, 2023 by smellincoffee

Wait, wait, wait. Before I comment on this book, I want to say first that patience is a virtue, and so is persistence. I stumbled on Bill Kauffman nine years ago, possibly via Front Porch Republic, and was immediately taken … Continue reading →

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Racism, medieval feasting, and housing

Posted on November 21, 2023 by smellincoffee

Between work and school projects my list of read-but-unreviewed titles is growing, so…alas, it’s short rounds time. First up, The Color of Law, on how housing segregation was purposely pursued, not merely tolerated, by the federal government — primarily through … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

How Social Media Rewired Our Minds

Posted on November 2, 2023 by smellincoffee

One of my core beliefs is that we live in a world which we made for ourselves, and yet which is not fit for ourselves. Our eyes expect to see what they do not see, our arms reach for which … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 8 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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Facebook

Posted on October 12, 2023 by smellincoffee

“Look at us,” my buddy chuckled. It was the halfway point of a 3-hour night class, and we’d been given a fifteen minute break to hydrate, caffeinate, and evacuate. Four people immediately flowed into the student common area and occupied … Continue reading →

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

September 2023 in Review

Posted on October 2, 2023 by smellincoffee

September was a quieter month for leisure reading than the last have been, in part because of grad school — I’m constantly reading articles related to information science for class, both the assigned pieces and those I can find connected … Continue reading →

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Selected quotes from “41: A Portrait of my Father”

Posted on August 5, 2023 by smellincoffee

41 is a biography of George H.W. Bush by his son, George W. Bush, and is written with affection, not objectivity. Bush offers that as a disclaimer at the very beginning. This is a tribute, written by a man who … Continue reading →

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The Last Republicans

Posted on August 3, 2023 by smellincoffee

I was interested in reading this book even before my unexpected presidential reading tangent of this last month, in part because of my age: George H.W. Bush was the first president I remember, and holds that title somewhat fixedly in … Continue reading →

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The Fight of his Life

Posted on August 2, 2023 by smellincoffee

“I’ll tell ya one thing, and I’m not ashamed to say it,” to borrow from my favorite Sopranoes antagonist, Phil Leotardo, “but my estimation of Chris Whipple as an author just plummeted. ” His Gatekeepers, a history and assessment of … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments