Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Successful Technology Consulting: How to Become a Top Dollar IT Consultant

By Scott J. Pearson | July 25, 2026July 25, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

This short work introduces the reader to a career in IT consulting. Written by Eetu Niemi, a ten-year veteran of the field, it describes what IT consulting actually looks like and presents options about which kind of positions entrants should look for based on their personal values and life traits. Importantly, he distinguishes between management consulting and IT consulting. Management consulting can pay more but is much more demanding in terms of hours and expectations.…

Fiction-Stories

The Book Witch: A Novel

By Scott J. Pearson | July 21, 2026July 21, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Rainy March is a book witch, and her job is to enter into stories to ensure that no one causes magical mayhem. Mayhem means that their plots would be rewritten, or that their words would be even erased, or, worst of all, that the book burners might get to them. She follows strict rules to do her job with excellence, and she’s saved some of the best plots in all of literature. Like many good…

History Society

American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent & the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union

By Scott J. Pearson | July 17, 2026July 17, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Jon Meacham, one of our nation’s leading historians, has chosen the texts of dozens of speeches about American progress across its history and even pre-history. Its story is not one of inevitable progress but progress amidst continual dissent. There have always been strong, powerful voices standing in the way of a more perfect union. Seeing them displayed in this way forcefully suggests that struggle is always needed to propel this nation’s aim of a “more…

Artificial Intelligence Healthcare

A Giant Leap: How AI is Transforming Healthcare & What That Means for Our Future

By Scott J. Pearson | June 29, 2026June 29, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

There is no doubt that generative AI is a disruptive technology that will continue to have impacts in the coming years if not decades. Representing one-fifth of the American economy, healthcare is one area where AI has perhaps the most promise to do good. Since much of healthcare runs on textual material, generative AI’s ability to process material and respond appropriately brings a huge “wow” factor. UCSF clinician and informaticist Robert Wachter brings those ideas…

Healthcare History Religion-Philosophy

Medicine & Health Care in Early Christianity

By Scott J. Pearson | June 29, 2026June 29, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Historian Gary Ferngren seeks to usurp overly simplistic historical interpretations of Christian attitudes towards healthcare. Many, like the famous church historian Adolf von Harnack, say that the first few centuries of the church were dominated by a healing faith that did not trust physicians. Others posit the early church as having a very antagonistic view to the medicine of the day because they viewed it as pagan. Through copious citations to the primary literature, he…

Science Writing-Communication

The Narrative Gym for Science Graduate Students & Postdocs

By Scott J. Pearson | June 25, 2026June 25, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Communication to the wider non-scientific world is a constant challenge to scientists. We rely on the public for funding, and we aim to contribute to their lives. Yet our communication sometimes can get into a rut by communicating to a small inner circle of scientific colleagues instead. So the authors suggest applying a simple framework to enhance the reader’s ability to communicate by focusing on the crux of effective communication. The authors focus on graduate…

Biography-Memoir History

The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation

By Scott J. Pearson | June 24, 2026June 24, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Most histories by politicians are automatically suspect. They tend to portray a political agenda instead of a search for historical truth. Jim Clyburn’s history of the first eight black congressmen from South Carolina is different. Why? As the ninth black congressman (nearly a century later), he has unique access to a rich cultural history surrounding these men, much of which has been erased in wider white SC society. His political agenda is simple: To unearth…

Indie Leadership Management-Business

The Executive Mindset: Unlocking the Strategic Power Inside Every Manager

By Scott J. Pearson | June 21, 2026June 21, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Learning to think like the “next level up” is a challenge in any professional group. As the saying goes, what got you here isn’t going to get you there. The gap between management and leadership remains large. As you move up an organization’s chart, mentoring is harder to come by and free passes to make mistakes become fewer. Reading books like Bobby Lampkin’s provide opportunities to level up your thinking and behavior to bring further…

Indie Writing-Communication

Narrative is Everything: The ABT Framework & Narrative Evolution

By Scott J. Pearson | June 9, 2026June 9, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Randy Olson spent half of his career as a Harvard-PhD scientist and the other half as a Hollywood screenwriter. His love for theory combined with his love for narrative, and he built an “ABT Framework” to describe the fundamentals of narrative. ABT stands for “and… but… therefore…” It contends of an assertion AND perhaps another, BUT then a contradiction and conflict to that perspective. THEREFORE, there comes a resolution. In this book, he explores this…

Program Management Software-Technology

Software Measurement & Estimation: A Practical Approach

By Scott J. Pearson | June 8, 2026June 8, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Metrics around software can be a difficult to attain. Some (Agile) suggest making up estimates and then making metrics based off of those estimates. Others (function points) build entire abstract schemes based on difficult-to-attain calculations. Either way, predicting and measuring progress are complex tasks, but they are necessary to communicate to management and to provide appropriate managerial oversight. In this book, the authors seek to provide practical methods to assure that projects are on track…