Tag Archives: Society and Culture

Jayber Crow

Posted on July 3, 2013 by smellincoffee

Jayber Crow: the Life Story of Jayber Crow, Barber of the Port William Membership, As Written by Himself© 2000363 pages “Telling a story is like reaching into a granary full of wheat and drawing out a handful. There is always … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library: Star Wars, bikes, and evil farms

Posted on June 7, 2013 by smellincoffee

Fool’s Bargain, Timothy ZahnJust Ride, Grant PetersonAgainst the Grain, Richard Manning This week my  local library began officially offering electronic books via membership in a regional e-book collective.  Although I much prefer real books (see my printed-book snobbery? “real books”, … Continue reading →

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Salt, Sugar, Fat

Posted on June 6, 2013 by smellincoffee

Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us© 2013 Michael Moss480 pages Between the fresh produce, meat, and dairy sections that ring the perimeter of the average supermarket,  millions of unique foodstuffs are offered and advertised. But their apparent … Continue reading →

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The Long Emergency

Posted on June 2, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century© 2005 James Howard Kunstler336 pages Well, we’re in for it. Such is the lesson of The Long Emergency, which predicts that the … Continue reading →

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1984

Posted on May 18, 2013 by smellincoffee

1984© 1949 George Orwell326 pages 1984 needs no introduction. Written in 1949, it envisioned a world of constant surveillance, perpetual war, and a state with  complete control over people’s minds. Concepts from it – “Big Brother”, “thought police”,  and “doublethink” … Continue reading →

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Garbage Land

Posted on May 16, 2013 by smellincoffee

Garbage Land: on the Secret Trail of Trash© 2006 Elizabeth Royte335 pages Where does the garbage go? In an impressive attempt to answer that most pressing question of modern life, Elizabeth Royte spends a year following her trash to landfills, … Continue reading →

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The New Jim Crow

Posted on April 27, 2013 by smellincoffee

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness © 2010 Michelle Alexander 290 pages             In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander argues that the United States’ drug laws, coupled with its law … Continue reading →

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The Plain Reader

Posted on April 24, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Plain Reader© 1998 various authors, edited by Scott Savage272 pages What really matters?  Such is the question explored by the contributing authors of The Plain Reader, a collaboration between Amish and Quaker communities to express how living simply allows … Continue reading →

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Walkable Cities

Posted on January 31, 2013 by smellincoffee

Walkable Cities: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time© 2012 Jeff Speck312 pages   For most of human history, cities were limited to the area that people could cover on foot within a day, but the advent … Continue reading →

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Hamlet’s Blackberry

Posted on December 28, 2012 by smellincoffee

Hamlet’s Blackberry: Building a Good Life in the Digital Age© 2011 William Powers288 pages Getting online used to require sitting in front of a computer terminal and waiting for it to dial in, oh so slowly. It was a choice … Continue reading →

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