Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Bodies & Barriers: Queer Activists on Health

By Scott J. Pearson | November 14, 2022November 14, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Healthcare matters, almost by definition, are anxiety-ridden events. Few, if any, people go to doctors for mere enjoyment. If added to that anxiety lies further anxiety about who one loves or how one feels comfortable about their own body, the outcome of a medical transaction can be negatively impacted. Negative healthcare outcomes can lead to decreased quality of life or even length of life. Few people would wish for this, even for people who think,…

Mid-Career Crisis: Why Some Sail Through While Others Don’t

By Scott J. Pearson | November 12, 2022November 12, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Early career development gets the bulk of social attention, and rightly so because starting a career takes work. Failure to do so can lead to vast social and economic consequences. But the middle of a career also deserves some attention, as Basu points out in this book. It has its own host of crises. Successful resolution of these can lead to even greater career fulfillment in later days; failure to resolve these, however, can lead…

Presentation Writing-Communication

Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students

By Scott J. Pearson | November 8, 2022November 8, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Graphic design is an important help to any venture. In the age of electronic communication, it has become only more important to capture the public’s attention. Distractions abound, but well-thought visuals stand the chance of garnering a glance. Of course, only deeper substance will sustain interest in a written work, but interest will never be piqued without visual appeal. Lupton’s work seeks to enlighten those who deal with type in some format about the graphical…

Fiction-Stories

Uncharted Waters: A Short Story

By Scott J. Pearson | November 5, 2022November 5, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

A traditional love triangle occurs when one party forms an amorous relationship with two other people. However, it’s a relatively unexplored (i.e., “uncharted”) topic when those two other people fall for each other. Strict gender roles have historically prevented authors from going there, but in this short story, Hepworth pushes the envelope to explore a new facet of a love triangle. Ella and Chloe are both passengers on a cruise ship off the coast of…

Mentoring

The Mentoring Guide: Helping Mentors & Mentees Succeed

By Scott J. Pearson | November 5, 2022November 5, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Mentoring relationships are point-blank critical to career development. They’re not just for the school setting but for anyone interested in a growing career. This book, written by three MDs in academic medicine, delineates the principles of mentoring based on research and experiences. It concisely teaches how to be both an effective mentor and an effective mentee (an under-appreciated virtue). Finally, it has a lengthy appendix (around 50 pages) that provides summaries of articles about mentoring,…

Psychology Society

Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection & Bridging Divides

By Scott J. Pearson | November 2, 2022November 2, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

In recent decades, American society has collectively forgotten the virtue of fostering belonging in others. There seem to be many causes contributing to this central effect – political partisanship, technology, police injustices, lingering racism, the capitalistic thrust of media, and more. Cohen, a Stanford psychology professor, takes aim at this rich topic by presenting a comprehensive theory driven by research and then drawing out several practical applications. He does so to help modern social problems…

Biography-Memoir Religion-Philosophy

Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved

By Scott J. Pearson | October 29, 2022October 29, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

In her early career, Bowler had accomplished some of her life’s major goals. She earned a PhD and wrote the first religious history of the prosperity gospel movement. She got a teaching position at a prestigious divinity school (Duke). She was married and started a family with her partner. Then she received a diagnosis of stage IV colon cancer. Obviously, this rocked her life. Soon enrolling in a clinical trial, she responded to chemotherapy, but…

Fiction-Stories

The Deluge: A Novel

By Scott J. Pearson | October 25, 2022October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Few issues have as far-ranging of a potential impact as climate change. Like nuclear weapons or global war, it has a very real potential to end human life on this planet, yet it is not (yet) taken seriously in political conversations in America. Instead, we dilly-dally about old debates like whether authoritarianism or democracy is a better form of practical government. In this book of futuristic fiction, Markley tries to predict how the American experiment…

Management-Business Mentoring

The Mentor’s Toolkit for Career Conversations

By Scott J. Pearson | October 10, 2022October 10, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Many students and people in their early careers need to learn how to think and act about careers. To them, learning this understanding can be an “elephant in the room” holding them back from achieving their goals – and personal happiness. Mentoring is one way to help these people get their lives on track. This tool is especially used in educational settings. However, mentoring is harder than it first appears. To help mentee-mentor relationships get…

Kids Society

PEREMOHA: Victory for Ukraine

By Scott J. Pearson | October 8, 2022October 8, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

The plight of the Ukrainian people in 2022 has been seen and felt across the world. Most humans sympathize with a country whom a rival invaded for doing nothing but existing. Generally, I have mixed feelings about war because it’s incredibly destructive towards universal human life, but the philosophical category of a just war surely exists for situations like these. The Ukrainian military needs to be supported to defend their right to exist. This short…