Tag Archives: Society and Culture

The Shallows

Posted on May 23, 2012 by smellincoffee

The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing To Our Brains© 2010 Nicholas Carr276 pages How many tabs do you have open right now? Neil Postman thought we were undoing ourselves with a distracting and busy fusion of information and entertainment … Continue reading →

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

Fast Food Nation

Posted on April 30, 2012 by smellincoffee

Fast Food Nation: the Dark Side of the All-American Meal© 2001 Eric Schlosser362 pages I underestimated Fast Food Nation. I’d expected a heated attack on the subject from a nutritional standpoint, but Eric Schlosser’s history and overview of fast food’s … Continue reading →

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

It’s a Sprawl World After All

Posted on April 25, 2012 by smellincoffee

It’s a Sprawl World After All: the Human Cost of Unplanned Growth — and Visions of a Better Future©  2005 Douglas E. Morris245 pages Shortly after the Second World War, the United States completely changed its approach to urbanism.  Abandoning … Continue reading →

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

Nickle and Dimed

Posted on April 18, 2012 by smellincoffee

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America© 2001 Barbara Ehrenreich221 pages In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich asked her editor at Harpers Weekly a question for which neither had an answer: how do people get by on the meager wages … Continue reading →

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

This Week at the Library (14 March)

Posted on March 14, 2012 by smellincoffee

Reviews: 200 pages; © 2012 A family of four sits at a table in a nice restaurant, heads bowed. But they’re not pausing for reflection or prayer; they’re in the middle of a meal, and all attempting to check their … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Asphalt Nation

Posted on February 14, 2012 by smellincoffee

Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back© 1997 Jane Holtz Kay418 pages Lord, Mister Ford, I just wish you could see what your simple horseless carriage has become! It seems your contribution … Continue reading →

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

Desert Solitaire

Posted on February 10, 2012 by smellincoffee

Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness© 1968 Edward Abbey269 pages Journey to the expansive southwestern American desert and take it in — the vast stretches of open ground, bounded by mountains and broken by marvelously intriguing rock formations that … Continue reading →

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

Bowling Alone

Posted on January 7, 2012 by smellincoffee

Bowling Alone: the Collapse and Revival of American Community© 2001 Robert D. Putnam544 pages Every so often I read a book that strikes my brain as lightening, forever altering my thinking and earning a permanent place both on my bedside … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

The City in Mind

Posted on December 29, 2011 by smellincoffee

The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition© 2001 James Howard Kunstler272 pages The study of civilization is nothing less than the study of the culture of cities. Humanity has survived on the Earth for hundreds of thousands of … Continue reading →

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

In Defense of Food

Posted on December 5, 2011 by smellincoffee

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto© 2009 Michael Pollan256 pages Michael Pollan’s seminal work, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, established that there’s no such thing as a free, or even a cheap, lunch.  The low-cost processed foods that the American diet … Continue reading →

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