Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence

By Scott J. Pearson | March 31, 2026March 31, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

In the West, so many histories of Africa only focus on a depressing narrative that conveniently neglects many inspiring parts. Omitted are the triumphs of empires and heights of humanity shown in the African people; instead, only colonialist attitudes are amplified to disparage the Africans as an inferior continent. Many of us intuit that these negative narratives are lacking somehow, but we don’t have any new information to replace it. The Oxford-educated, Sudanese-born Zeinab Badawi…

Leaderwired: The AI-Era Leadership Playbook for Transforming How You Think, Decide & Lead

By Scott J. Pearson | March 22, 2026March 22, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Change is the key challenge to any leader because there’s no great way to predict its course. New things arise, and no clear direction exists. All we can do is to prepare ourselves and our mindsets to embrace new challenges with a realistic yet positive attitude. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a key case in point. As a paradigm-shifting technology, it is changing the way workplaces operate, and those who don’t adapt well – or don’t…

Indie Program Management Software-Technology

Beyond Delivery: How Technical Program Managers Lead Change & Grow with Impact

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

Technical Program Managers (TPMs) are a recent phenomenon, particularly in larger organizations that use a lot of IT to achieve value. They combine the technical role and a leadership role in one function to enhance technical value. However, today’s literature on how to excel as a TPM is relatively sparse. Johnathan Stephen Sexton adds his experiences as a Walmart TPM to the mix in this book of homespun wisdom. As a very experience-driven account, he…

Biography-Memoir

Finding My Way: A Memoir by Malala Yousafzai

By Scott J. Pearson | March 20, 2026March 20, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Malala, as she is simply called, is widely known as the girl who stood up to the Taliban for girls’ education. She paid for it by being shot in the face, but amazingly survived. She spent the rest of her youth in Manchester in Britain, protected by a security detail against would-be assassins. She started an international fund called the Malala Fund to aid girls’ education in needy countries. This book does not tell that…

Leadership Management-Business

Ownership Unlocked: 4 Principles to Build Self-Driven Teams That Take Initiative, Innovate & Win

By Scott J. Pearson | March 10, 2026March 10, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Employees’ psychological ownership of their projects is a secret weapon to increase their productivity and effectiveness. Increasing ownership of their projects is a trait I seek to encourage among the software developers I work with. Their ownership not only keeps me from making too many tiny decisions for them, but it also tends to increase the quality of their work. It lets me know that they’re gaining self-confidence and investment in their work towards mastery…

Management-Business

The Art of Gathering: How We Meet & Why It Matters

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

Humans are “social animals,” so Aristotle said long ago. We gather together to get things done, whether those gatherings are familial, a work conference, religious, or a party. What makes a good gathering work? Are there universal rules that govern gatherings’ format so that you can construct it to achieve a given goal? Yes, says Priya Parker, and this book seeks to show us how. I help organize biannual academic conferences as a part of…

Program Management Software-Technology

Technical Program Manager’s Handbook: Second Edition

By Scott J. Pearson | March 6, 2026March 6, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Technical Program Management represents a hot field to work in. In today’s world, many have skills to be software developers, and many know how to manage a program of projects, but few combine those skills to manage an entire program of software development projects. In an increasingly digital world, these combined skills are both marketable and valuable and define what a technical program manager (TPM) does. They are force multipliers to projects and organizations who…

Biography-Memoir Healthcare Society

The Cure for Women: Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi & the Challenge to Victorian Medicine That Changed Women’s Lives Forever

By Scott J. Pearson | March 2, 2026March 2, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

By the end of the Victorian age, men had dominated medical practice for centuries, but women were beginning to make inroads into the profession. A few, Mary Putnam Jacobi being the first, made inroads in European training centers and returned to the US to integrate women into American medicine. In this book, Lydia Reeder narrates their struggle and eventual victory that depathologized being a woman. By pursuing their personal questions, these women physician-scientists brought obstetrics…

Leadership Management-Business

Superteams: The Science & Secrets of High-Performing Teams

By Scott J. Pearson | February 28, 2026February 28, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

In today’s workplace, teams represent the instrument of enacting change. Yet anyone who’s served on a team realizes that team dynamics are key to maintaining a healthy atmosphere to make those contributions. Many books suggest ways to improve teams, but relatively few of them are based on critical studies to discern if their ideas actually work. Ron Friedman’s book, in contrast, begins as a study. He identifies top-performing teams in terms of output and nicknames…

Psychology Religion-Philosophy

The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us & Divides Us

By Scott J. Pearson | February 22, 2026February 22, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Sometimes, it seems all we do on the Internet and social media is argue about whose activities are most superior and most important. We all want to “matter,” but we can develop elaborate defensive arguments about who gets there the best. Many times, our own need to matter gets in the way of recognizing what matters to other people. And yet needing to matter at something is one of the deepest human longings. We need…