Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Best Team Ever: The Surprising Science of High-Performing Teams

By Scott J. Pearson | July 31, 2023September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Recent decades have witnessed the fields of neuroscience and psychology advance the insight that feeling a part of a vibrant community enhances a group’s success, however that is defined. This simple insight can be applied to many endeavors, ranging from civic organizations to businesses. When structured correctly, belonging can attract skilled employees while producing first-rate results. In this book, David Burkus seeks to instill readers with virtues that enhance a team’s well-being and success. Burkus’…

Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health

By Scott J. Pearson | July 30, 2023October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Attaining mental health from pervasive mental illness presents a contemporary challenge to the American healthcare system. Decades of progress in the basic science have not resulted in progress among outcomes, sadly. This reflects a broader observation that scientific advances have not been accompanied by necessary social advances. After a lifetime spent bettering patients’ lives as a psychiatrist and researcher, Thomas Insel here points the way to what an America with true mental health would look…

Indie Software-Technology

Software Quality Assurance 101: Best Practices Made Easy

By Scott J. Pearson | July 25, 2023October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Quality assurance (QA) is an essential part of software development. It helps ensure that newly developed software actually does what it’s intended to. This seems like a deceptively easy task at first, but testing is, in truth, a skilled art-form. In this book, Rachelle Rood and Jessica Parker attempt to orient those just entering the field how to approach their work. They break down complex topics while pointing practitioners how to add value to software…

Management-Business Software-Technology

World Class IT: Why Businesses Succeed When IT Triumphs

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

In the years following this 2009 book, the central place of information technology (IT) in the business world has only become recognized more and more. The COVID pandemic accelerated trends whereby IT plays a critical role in global business culture. Peter High’s book fixed the paradigm for how successful IT might be leveraged for business success. Almost 15 years later, the question then becomes: Is it still relevant? Yes, I argue. This classic helps us…

Management-Business Writing-Communication

What Editors Do: The Art, Craft & Business of Book Editing

By Scott J. Pearson | July 21, 2023August 13, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Since the advent of Amazon and self-publishing via the Kindle, the business of writing has become much more complex. Many can put their own book out to the public directly through self-publishing, but professional editors can still prove their worth through focused skills. Though not wonder-workers, editors can bring a text from good to very good or from very good to great. Peter Ginna’s anthology highlights precisely these skillsets through dozens of guest writers who…

Indie Leadership Management-Business

At the Heart of Management: Process, Tools & the Ubiquitous Exponential Law

By Scott J. Pearson | July 20, 2023September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Management and leadership, often coupled together, require a certain amount of experience and training, and much of this is inaccessible through education alone. Like Lino Ciceri, who comes from the background of a chemist, we may have rigorous scientific, technical, or engineering skills, but by themselves, these do not equip us with the skills and character for leading teams. Ciceri tries to fill this gap with this guide to how to think as a manager.…

Management-Business Writing-Communication

Effective Emails: The Secret to Straightforward Communication at Work

By Scott J. Pearson | July 19, 2023August 13, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Email is a staple of the modern business workplace. A new employee can find that it’s easy to make dozens of simple mistakes. An experienced employee can find that they aren’t as effective or efficient as their job requires them to be. The trouble is that all of these rules of communication are unwritten and seemingly inaccessible. To help us raise our email “game,” Chris Fenning provides this concise guide to realize our best intentions…

Religion-Philosophy Research-Education Science

On Being a Scientist: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in Research

By Scott J. Pearson | July 16, 2023October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Ethics in scientific research is an issue appearing periodically in the news… and often not in a good way. Perhaps some ethical lapse has led to a field’s struggles with millions of dollars worth of effort lost. Or perhaps someone falsified results and misled the public. Or governments might exploit research that was supposed to benefit humanity and redirected it to harming people. All these fall under the headline of “Responsible Conduct in Research,” more…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Crossing the Chasm: Marketing & Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers

By Scott J. Pearson | July 14, 2023July 14, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Most technology products begin with technologists playing in their environments. They then pick up steam when early visionaries figure out how to use it to expand their individual platforms and gain a competitive edge. However, many, if not most, products die there and never find their way to mainstream use. In this classic book, Geoffrey Moore explains why. The motives that drive these first two groups are different than the motives of mainstream customers, whom…

Family Psychology Research-Education

The Self-Driven Child: The Science & Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives

By Scott J. Pearson | July 8, 2023August 13, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Like many, I had parents who tried to engineer their lives for “success,” but paid no attention to my passions, interests, and approach to life. Firsthand, I’ve seen that parenting style’s folly and futility and want to take a different angle with my daughter and with other children I have influence over. Enter The Self-Driven Child. This book helped concretize abstract beliefs into a coherent philosophy. It distills basic child psychology into a workable format…