Tag Archives: trains

The Hidden History of Chilton County

Posted on February 6, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Hidden History of Chilton County© 2022 Billy J. Singleton144 pages Forget Georgia peaches. The best to be had are in Chilton County, Alabama,  which has been so long proud of its peach orchards that the local water tower, visible … Continue reading →

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Romance of the Rails

Posted on March 21, 2019 by smellincoffee

Romance of the Rails: Why the Trains We Love Are Not the Transportation We Need© 2018 Randal O’Toole300 pages “These are the 1930s again, with all the charm and romance, all the gaiety! That was a carefree world, Danny, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Atlas Shrugged

Posted on February 27, 2018 by smellincoffee

Atlas Shrugged © 1957 Ayn Rand 1168 pages Sometimes the chains that bind us are made by our own hands.   Dagny Taggart knew as a young girl that she wanted to grow up to be the master of her family’s … Continue reading →

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Infrastructure: A Field Guide

Posted on September 14, 2017 by smellincoffee

Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape© 1999, 2014 Brian Hayes544 pages Here at last is a book for those of us who constantly gaze out the car window at the fixtures on utility poles, or drums mounted in … Continue reading →

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The Works

Posted on November 25, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Works: Anatomy of a City© 2005  Kate Ascher240 pages Cities are, for my money, mankind’s most astonishing invention. Their complexity is stupefying — system within system, handling tons of material at any given time, whether the subject is cars … Continue reading →

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Week of Enchantment: Las Cruces

Posted on October 14, 2016 by smellincoffee

That, dear readers, is always a promising way to start the day. I stayed at the Big Chile Inn, an older place formerly run by a family but now owned by a corporation. Its interior courtyard was lush, and I … Continue reading →

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Murder on the Orient Express

Posted on April 16, 2016 by smellincoffee

Murder on the Orient Express© 1934 Agatha Christie256 pages “Why does everyone on this train tell lies?!” A dark and snowy night; the Orient Express, rolling from Istanbul to Paris, slows to a stop in the wilderness, trapped by the … Continue reading →

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Adieu to you, and you and you and you —

Posted on January 5, 2016 by smellincoffee

As 2015 was ending I finished up a couple of works which merit mentioning. Firstly is Jane Austen’s Emma.  I have read Austen before (Pride and Prejudice), intrigued by mention of Darcy as a model gentleman,  Emma was thus my … Continue reading →

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Engines of War

Posted on July 17, 2015 by smellincoffee

Engines of War: How Wars Were Won and Lost on the Railways368 pages© 2010 Christian Wolmar An army marches on its stomach, but for a hundred years it rode to victory only on the rails.  It was Napoleon who observed … Continue reading →

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The Age of Steam

Posted on August 22, 2014 by smellincoffee

A Brief History of the Age of Steam© 2007 Thomas Crump288 pages For most of human history, transportation over land has been prohibitively expensive, limited to highly lucrative goods like silk. Trade grew from the rivers, as did civilization. But … Continue reading →

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