Tag Archives: science

The Hidden Life of Deer

Posted on February 17, 2024 by smellincoffee

There’s a buck mounted in my living room, but it’s not a head: it’s a large photograph of one standing at a stream in the woods, dawn light softly illuminating the morning mist. I find deer, second to horses, utterly … Continue reading →

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Distracted by Alabama

Posted on January 10, 2024 by smellincoffee

Jim Brown moved to Alabama in the 1970s to teach history at Samford University, and became fascinated by Alabama, both by its wild biodiversity and its people and their folk traditions, from shape-note singing to basket-weaving and herbalism. Distracted by Alabama … Continue reading →

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Science Survey ’23

Posted on December 31, 2023 by smellincoffee

I finished this year’s science survey early in the year — very early, in May — and ended up with 18 titles in total, which was below the 20 I’d hoped for. Taking a look at “Predicting….Science Survey 2023“, I see … Continue reading →

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Do you believe in…ghosts? Short rounds, ectoplasm edition

Posted on October 25, 2023 by smellincoffee

This past week I’ve finished two books about ghost-hunting: one from “the only full-time professional paranormal investigator”, Joe Nickell, and the other from journalist Will Storr. I’ve read both men before: Nickell’s Real Life X-Files from 2008, and Storr only … Continue reading →

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Of bones and marooned astronauts

Posted on August 10, 2023 by smellincoffee

Out of Orbit proved, despite the small scope of its subject, to be a most interesting and wide-ranging little history. When Columbia disintegrated in the skies above Texas and Louisiana in February 2003, it not only took with it seven … Continue reading →

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Of blood and brilliant butlers

Posted on June 22, 2023 by smellincoffee

Rose George has previously shared with readers her voyages across the world following cargo ships and movements to make sanitation both more eco-friendly and readily available to poorer communities. In Nine Pints, she dips into the circulatory system. The result … Continue reading →

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Adventures with the Enemies of Science

Posted on May 30, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Heretics / The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science© 2014 Will Storr368 pages Outside ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field. Will Storr will meet you there, because at this point he’s not sure that there’s … Continue reading →

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In the air and across the Cosmos

Posted on May 25, 2023 by smellincoffee

This month’s science reading served up two surprises, both pleasant. When I arrived at university and joined the Astronomy Club, which met once a month to aim a giant telescope at the skies and gasp as we saw Saturn’s rings … Continue reading →

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Scenes from Prehistoric Britain

Posted on April 28, 2023 by smellincoffee

Scenes from Prehistoric Life: From the Ice Age to the Coming of the Romans© 2021 Francis Pryor320 pages Scenes from Prehistoric Britain is a curious mix of extreme detail and fanciful speculation, visiting twelve sites in (mostly) prehistoric Britain that … Continue reading →

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The Beauty of the Beastly

Posted on April 20, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Beauty of the Beastly© 1995 Natalie Angier304 pages The Beauty of the Beastly is a fun collection of science pieces by Natalie Angier, ranging from macro to microbiology, with some science interviews added at the end. The reader will … Continue reading →

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