Author: Scott J. Pearson

I write software about biomedical careers, and I write book reviews.
Leadership Management-Business Presentation

Power Cues: The Subtle Science of Leading Groups, Persuading Others & Maximizing Your Personal Impact

By Scott J. Pearson | by Scott J. Pearson

We’d like to think that our social lives and businesses are meritocracies, but they clearly aren’t. The best ideas don’t always win, and much depends on how one presents themselves. In a world where people make quick judgments about leaders, quickly conveying trust matters more than ever before. Communications expert Nick Morgan teaches us how to master those soft skills of leadership. Generally, this book is filled with solid advice about public speaking in settings…

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Fiction-Stories

History of the Rain: A Novel

By Scott J. Pearson | by Scott J. Pearson

Ruthie Swain’s poet-father died recently, and she seeks to rekindle his memory through rereading his entire personal library. She ends up retelling his life and her grandfather’s life through this meandering yet meaningful tale of rural County Clare, Ireland. It concludes with deeply emotional moments all the way through the last chapter. I was moved to tears at multiple points, telling my wife, “I hate novels that make me cry because I love novels that…

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Biography-Memoir Religion-Philosophy

Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Søren Kierkegaard

By Scott J. Pearson | by Scott J. Pearson

Søren Kierkegaard’s writings have long entranced me since I first ran across it as a teenager. He brought a thoughtful and philosophical approach towards the Christian life that didn’t center around being merely “churchy.” Indeed, as this biography testifies, he ran into conflicts with the institutional church throughout his life. Clare Carlisle details how Copenhagen received this eccentric bachelor before his eminence grew after his death. She particularly focuses on his love life as the…

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Healthcare Research-Education

Institutional Review Board Member Handbook

By Scott J. Pearson | by Scott J. Pearson

Institutional Review Boards, or IRBs, review human-subjects research to ensure that they ethically affirm the rights of the participants in their research. I have some projects about to undergo IRB review, and though I’ve had successful reviews in the past, I wanted to better understand the issues involved in IRB approval. This book offered a concise, evidence-based summary of those very issues. The book is written primarily for those who are about to serve on…

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Religion-Philosophy Society

What the Amish Teach Us: Plain Living in a Busy World

By Scott J. Pearson | by Scott J. Pearson

I work in technology research. In my office, I have currently four screens for two laptops in addition to my smartphone. I have over 20 years of formal education. I’m not exactly against technology and make a strange candidate to study the Amish. Regardless, I’m deeply religious and see limits in what technologies can give us. I like living off the grid when possible. Technology, to me, should always be a means, and never an…

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Indie Software-Technology

29 Guidelines for Successful Pair Programming

By Scott J. Pearson | by Scott J. Pearson

Among software engineers, pair programming occurs when two coders join together to write code together. It’s an incredibly efficient and focused means of knowledge transfer. However, developers are also known for having prickly, sometimes difficult personalities, and these personal hangups can get in the way of effective pair programming. Author Oozie Ligus has logged over 700 hours of time pair programming and offers his advice on how to build an effective relationship. Following “extreme programming”…

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Leadership Management-Business

The Power of Going All-In: Secrets for Success in Business, Leadership & Life

By Scott J. Pearson | by Scott J. Pearson

This book’s conclusion encourages readers to reread this book again at a later time. At the beginning of the book, I would find that admonition a bit pompous; even halfway through, I would have laughed at the suggestion. However, the book finishes much stronger than it begins, and in that light, I can see the value of rereading it for several reasons. First, this quick read is organized in short, digestible segments that are easy…

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Healthcare

Contemporary Public Health: Principles, Practice & Policy

By Scott J. Pearson | by Scott J. Pearson

Many public-health books are either focused on one specific topic or introduce the entire field to a reader. The latter mainly appeal to those taking public health in academic settings. This book, however, consists of an anthology of various public health experts writing about America’s public healthcare system. It seeks to bring readers of introductions to a knowledge level more congruent with the contemporary landscape, as the title suggests. What is public health? Public health…

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Society

The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture

By Scott J. Pearson | by Scott J. Pearson

I don’t reside in the natural audience of this book. Professionally, I work developing technologies at an academic medical center in a city. Therefore, my orientation is for technology, and I’m generally ignorant about agriculture. I acknowledge those biases. I read this book because I’ve long been curious about agrarian-type thinkers like GK Chesterton. I respect Wendell Berry’s fiction about small-town America, and I seek to understand the world better, including perspectives different than me.…

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Biography-Memoir Family

Lucky Child: A Daughter of Cambodia Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind

By Scott J. Pearson | by Scott J. Pearson

Any book that makes me pour tears in the last chapter is worth five stars to me, and this book fit that bill to a tee. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the war in Cambodia with the Khmer Rouge opened a limited slots for one family to emigrate to Vermont. The quota only allows room for three: an older brother, his wife, and one sister. The rest of the family had to separate.…

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