Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr

By Scott J. Pearson | November 25, 2023November 25, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Memoir has become a popular field in recent decades. The novitiate often thinks that anyone can write about their own life. The experienced one knows that this task is actually incredibly hard, both in penning the work and in emotionally admitting truth to yourself. Bestselling memoir author and writing professor Mary Karr writes about values and practices she finds helpful. Importantly, she cites other authors alongside her own experience to ground her work not just…

Fundamentals of Clinical Trials, Fifth Edition

By Scott J. Pearson | November 24, 2023November 24, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

In the past century, clinical research has grown dramatically as the number of questions about healthcare has increased. The current paradigm of evidence-based medicine describes the practice of prescribing medicines based on their tested strength instead of an individual’s limited experience. Of course, to make such judgments, a rich bed of research evidence needs to exist, and this book succinctly describes how such questions are investigated for eventual dissemination. This book’s language is succinct and…

Biography-Memoir Personal Essays

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

By Scott J. Pearson | November 19, 2023November 19, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Written during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, James Baldwin’s biographical essays teach Americans what it’s like to be a black man in our society as it emerged from Jim Crow. Even sixty years later, it still resonates with me as I seek to understand my African-American young mentee. Certainly, much progress has been made as reading these essays shows, but Baldwin shows even then what progress we can still…

Biography-Memoir Society Software-Technology

The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration & Discovery at the Dawn of AI

By Scott J. Pearson | November 16, 2023November 16, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Artificial Intelligence (AI) finds its place all over newspapers and magazines these days. It’s seen as a field ripe for economic impact. Few, however, have followed this field over prior decades when progress quite wasn’t so quick. Stanford professor Fei-Fei Li is one of the researchers who helped lay the foundation for modern AI. Here, she tells her personal story alongside the story of this field. She reminds us that human considerations should never voyage…

Presentation Writing-Communication

Virtual Presentation Mastery: Tips from the Coach to Some of the World’s Best Speakers – And Me

By Scott J. Pearson | November 15, 2023November 15, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

The global COVID pandemic changed global business culture. People began to work from home, and suddenly, most meetings and presentations happened virtually instead of in person. The technology began to outpace theory as few of us knew how to present virtually well. Obviously, a good starting approach builds off of existing practice, so many began the journey of adapting our presentations to tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. A few years later, the pandemic has…

Religion-Philosophy

Confessing Our Faith: The Book of Confessions for Church Leaders

By Scott J. Pearson | November 12, 2023September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

The Presbyterian Church resides in the Reformed Protestant tradition of theology and faith. Contrary to the belief of some churches that split from it, this tradition is a living, broad tradition that continues to reform itself. That is, it recognizes that it continues to develop historically as new challenges confront the church – and humanity. It also is an open faith that does not claim a monopoly on the truth. Its historic creeds are published…

Fiction-Stories History

Salt & Broom

By Scott J. Pearson | November 9, 2023November 9, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is an eminent, classic work of fiction. It speaks of an English teacher who falls in love with a wealthy landowner, only to encounter inevitable obstacles. An early ode to feminism, Jane finds happiness by being herself, not conforming to a social ideal. It’s one of my favorite stories from the early Victorian era. In this retelling, Sharon Lynn Fisher recasts this intriguing story in modern language, only with the…

History Society

Anti-Intellectualism in American Life

By Scott J. Pearson | November 7, 2023September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

The title of this awarded book from the 1960s immediately stood out to me in light of recent political events, and it did not disappoint. From its earliest days, a distinct class of intellectuals has sought a strong role in American society. Puritan divines, for all their shortcomings, set in motion an intellectual movement that continues to this day, especially throughout New England. America’s national founding generation also consisted of intellectually informed men to orient…

Society

Black Lives, American Love: Essays on Race & Resilience

By Scott J. Pearson | November 7, 2023October 22, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

After the horrific murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the most racially biased US presidential administration in about a century, America faced an uproar on a scale not seen since the 1960s. “A racial reckoning,” boomed the press while corporations funded new efforts for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Astute observers noted that real change would consist not in ephemeral gestures but in lasting structural change. Three years later, the uproar has died down. Some…

History Software-Technology

The Things We Make: The Unknown History of Invention from Cathedrals to Soda Cans

By Scott J. Pearson | November 5, 2023November 5, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Engineering is a vocation that usually doesn’t get the deep treatment in modern literature. Popular portrayals often play off an inventor’s brilliance and introversion, but don’t poke around in depth about what made an innovation successful. Instead of one distinct epiphany to an individual, inventions often follow a series of efforts by a community. These efforts often include many failures and halted efforts. Society has less tolerance for these difficulties and prefers a story of…