Scott J. Pearson

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

By Scott J. Pearson | March 15, 2025March 20, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

Much as it’s hard to critique a William Shakespeare or a Mark Twain, it’s hard to critique Virginia Woolf. She pioneered women’s literature in the early twentieth century and helped lay its foundation for an incredibly successful, bustling marketplace in today’s world. Despite nagging misogyny, women writers receive deserved respect because of Woolf’s proposals to let women’s genius work. So in one sense, this book offers a distilled, timeless essay worthy of historical study for…

Designing Matrix Organizations That Actually Work: How IBM, Procter & Gamble, and Others Design for Success

By Scott J. Pearson | March 12, 2025March 12, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

I work in software at a research lab in an academic medical center. We produce new software to address large problems, locally and globally. Although our organization’s formal structure is hierarchical, our informal structure very much resembles a matrix – not uncommon in research labs. In business, a matrix organization occurs when people report to more than one manager. In my work, most teams I’m near are cross-functional. I recently moved from a developer role…

Psychology

Autonomy & Rigid Character

By Scott J. Pearson | March 8, 2025March 8, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

Rigid thinking is a huge problem in contemporary America. Politically, inflexibility and a lack of dialogue are holding democracy back. Socially, many of us are so stretched that we are unable to entertain new ideas. When rigid, we become defensive and dug in. We are unwilling to admit when we’re wrong. Relationships can decay. At its worst, these behaviors snowball into psychopathologies like compulsions, obsessions, paranoia, and even schizophrenia. Although David Shapiro’s book was written…

Society

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity & Love

By Scott J. Pearson | March 5, 2025March 5, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

bell hooks is a well-known black feminist author. She notes that dealing with the fundamental feminist problem of patriarchy requires helping men find better ways through life. She also notes that many men are themselves hurt by patriarchy. Men are often held back from their best lives because of shortsighted stereotypes of masculinity. In this book, she offers her reflections on how to help men heal from a culture of domineering and to enhance their…

Software-Technology

Writing Effective Use Cases

By Scott J. Pearson | March 3, 2025March 3, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

The first thing I noticed is that this book is almost 25 years old. That’s an eternity in computer science, especially in a non-mathematical subject. It was written under the “waterfall” paradigm of software development, before agile took over most of the software engineering world. Instead of a page or two, waterfall specifications could require a binder of dozens, if not hundreds, of pages. This book describes “use cases” instead of the “user stories” that…

Society

Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

By Scott J. Pearson | March 2, 2025March 1, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

I heard of bell hooks years ago, but have put off reading her for some time. I recently began to work alongside a mostly female team at my job, so I’m reading several feminist texts to appreciate their life and work experiences better. After reading this short work, I wish I would have read her sooner because her perspective was so healing! I liked it so much that I immediately purchased another book of hers,…

Fiction-Stories Religion-Philosophy

Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis

By Scott J. Pearson | March 1, 2025March 1, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

With evangelicals attempting a hold on political power in the name of morality, this book is as relevant today as it was when it was first penned around 100 years ago. Personally, I’m a devout Christian and coordinate a Sunday School class. I’m also a lover of truth and, like Sinclair Lewis, find the evangelical movement’s unwillingness to accept uncomfortable truths troublesome. This book scandalized the American public in 1927, and its study of humans’…

Science Writing-Communication

Getting to the Heart of Science Communication: A Guide to Effective Engagement

By Scott J. Pearson | February 27, 2025February 27, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

The young field of science communication has developed to address the gap between academic science and local communities. Scientific knowledge has explained most natural process, but some mastered processes remain unexplained to individuals in the community. Instead of just relying on overcommitted professors, scientists with interests in communications have begun careers specifically to fill the gap. In this book, Faith Kearns describes this emerging field’s evolution, challenges, and speculative future. One common misconception contends that…

Society Writing-Communication

Outspoken: Why Women’s Voices Get Silenced & How to Set Them Free

By Scott J. Pearson | February 22, 2025February 22, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

Unlike with men, women’s places in society have long been under debate. Many women face pressure to quiet their voices and opinions merely because of their gender. When that happens, though, society loses the individual contribution of women’s minds and spirits. Instead of growing forward together, we lose someone’s unique gifts. In this book, voice coach Veronica Rueckert attempts to liberate women’s voices from these oppressive patterns so that they can give back better. As…

Software-Technology

How Google Tests Software

By Scott J. Pearson | February 17, 2025February 16, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

I learned to develop software in the 1990s and started full-time work in the 2000s. I took time off to study other fields and returned to the practice in 2012, about the time this book came out. In the last 13-or-so years, I’ve noticed that the art of testing software has changed significantly. Twenty-five years ago, I started to code in an academic lab where we did our own testing out of necessity. In industry,…