Scott J. Pearson

The Son and Heir: A Memoir

By Scott J. Pearson | July 12, 2020August 13, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

The author, an award-winning Dutch journalist with professional expertise on Russia, writes his family history that is well-grounded in the European experience. This family of riches and complexities has ties to Latvia, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Like most memoirs, this work can be seen as the author making sense of his own complex life here. Münginghoff died in April of 2020, shortly before this translation was published. Overall, this is a tragic story, not…

Fiction-Stories

The Night Watchman: A Novel

By Scott J. Pearson | July 6, 2020July 6, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Set in the 1950s, this story resides in the literary area of fictionalized memoir (though written about a family member’s experiences) or historical fiction. Erdrich writes about the struggle of a Native American tribe (the Chippewas) to retain the land on their reservation. This land was deeded to them in perpetuity by the United States government. However, U.S. Congress sought to disregard (discard?) these treaties and to take over autonomous land. The fight to overcome…

Books

What I’m Reading in July 2020

By Scott J. Pearson | July 3, 2020July 3, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

This month, I’m going to highlight a few of the books that I’ve been specifically asked to review. I get these books ahead of release or with a request to promote. So I download them, read them, and review them. This process is a lot easier now that we have the Internet. One does not have to physically mail a book in order to send it to a reviewer. Thus, procuring a book review is…

Humanities Psychology

Recovery’s Edge: An Ethnography of Mental Health Care and Moral Agency

By Scott J. Pearson | June 29, 2020June 29, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

The American mental health system is one without much hope, without much money, and without much publicity. In this academic exploration, Myers seeks to bring a clear lens of careful observation to the situation. Often, exposure to the system makes observers disillusioned and hopeless. To that narrative, she provides a counter-narrative based on first-hand experience and research. All in all, she succeeds in her attempt. She spends an extended period of time investigating mental health…

History Software-Technology

Biomedical Computing: Digitizing Life in the United States

By Scott J. Pearson | June 28, 2020June 28, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Confession: I work in the field of biomedical computing as a software developer. After journeying through a BS in computer science and medical school, I desire to devote much of my life towards advancing this field along with other bookish pursuits. So this book, by its title, caught my interest. November does an excellent job of chronicling the advance of applying computing towards biomedical pursuits. Much of the early advances in computing came at the…

Fiction-Stories

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

By Scott J. Pearson | June 25, 2020June 25, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Stone’s protagonist is super-smart student Justyce in his senior year at a high school in Atlanta. Thing is, he’s black. As such, he was falsely arrested at the beginning of the novel. He and his best friend were shot after an incident of presumed racial profiling. His best friend died, and Justyce has to testify in the case against the shooter. Justyce also must deal with reverse racist issues. He falls in love with a…

History Personal Essays

South Carolina State History: An Essay

By Scott J. Pearson | June 24, 2020June 24, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

In Charleston, South Carolina, history is everything. The city welcomes travelers from all over the world and sells its sometimes beautiful, sometimes tragic history to everyone. This is one of the oldest cities in the “New World.” It was the site of Revolutionary and Civil War battles. Indeed, Fort Sumter, guarding its harbor, was the starting point of the Civil War. My wife’s family arrived in Charleston in the 1600s. One of her ancestors signed…

Cybersecurity Indie Software-Technology

Cybersecurity: Advanced and Effective Measures to Secure Your Cyber Networks

By Scott J. Pearson | June 22, 2020November 23, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

This book attempts to provide basic and practical measures that can guide an IT professional into more security expertise. It claims that it can teach the reader methods on how to detect vulnerabilities. It succeeds in surveying the technologies relevant to the task, but it falls short in the execution of writing. Lewis, no doubt, is a good security professional. However, he does not explain a topic thoroughly. He is too terse and concise. He…

Fiction-Stories

Someone Else’s Secret

By Scott J. Pearson | June 21, 2020June 21, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

This story begins as a tale following two girls coming-of-age while learning to overcome their need to be accepted, and it ends as a story of justice and triumph of the human spirit over circumstances. Over the way, its action leads the reader to confront the truth about the characters’ secrets and about her/his own life. Lindsey is working as a nanny for a summer about to begin her “real life” as a museum curator.…

Personal Essays

Words and Police Brutality

By Scott J. Pearson | June 20, 2020June 20, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

There has been a lot of discussion in America recently on police brutality. Much of the rhetoric has centered around “structural racism” versus a “few bad apples.” As portrayed in political circles, the constructs behind these seem irresolvably opposed to each other. Structural racism contends that problems need to be solved through reforms in the system while others say that police officers should be filtered through means of enhancing personal responsibility. I do not have…