Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Living with CMT: A Mother & Son Journey through Charcot Marie Tooth Disease

By Scott J. Pearson | October 16, 2021October 16, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

A close friend of mine was recently diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). It’s a disease of the nerves (a neuropathy) that especially affects the distal parts of legs and arms. I’ve had a longtime curiosity about how diseases affect life, and I like to read. Therefore, I bought this book to empathize with his experience more. Here, Johnson describes her lifelong experiences on a particularly difficult life journey with CMT. She does so with the…

HIV/AIDS Politics Poverty

Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS-Ravaged Africa

By Scott J. Pearson | October 16, 2021October 16, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

One of the biggest accolades often put on George W. Bush’s US presidency is addressing the AIDS pandemic in Africa. That required an international effort, and Stephen Lewis, a former Canadian ambassador and UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, details how that effort fell short on many fronts. He calls out contradictions between the aims and implementation of US policy. In so doing, he exposes how both the US and the UN become embroiled…

Fiction-Stories Politics

It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

By Scott J. Pearson | October 11, 2021October 11, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

This book’s ironic title indicates the “average American’s” complacency towards political concerns – a theme as relevant today as it was during the Great Depression. This book, written at the height of the Depression in 1935, imagines what would happen if a populist/fascist won the presidential election of 1936. Fascism was already taking root in Italy and Germany, and it was on the rise in America (primarily through Senator Huey Long, as the afterword explains).…

Biography-Memoir History

Eisenhower: The White House Years

By Scott J. Pearson | October 11, 2021October 11, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

After 70 years, Eisenhower remains a respected president with a mostly positive influence. Not only did he lead the Allies to victory in World War II, but as president, he also organized the world for a lasting peace. He continued to develop the American economy so that over time, America would win the Cold War against communism while not annihilating the world in the process. Newton analyzes these issues in careful detail, but he tends…

Software-Technology

Designing Secure Software: A Guide for Developers

By Scott J. Pearson | October 9, 2021October 9, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

Software security is an important yet neglected issue. Most developers will immediately recognize its importance because, with the Internet, so much of the computing infrastructure (the “surface”) is vulnerable to attack. Yet it’s simultaneously neglected because it relies on mastering the unknown – an unsurmountable topic. Reviewing security issues in one’s own code is often a painful process, much like reading an editor’s notes on one’s own writing. Into this ongoing conversation, Kohnfelder, a developer…

Psychology

Have a Great Dream: Book 1; The Overview

By Scott J. Pearson | October 8, 2021October 8, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

Sleep typically takes up around 1/4 to 1/3 of our lives, and dreams are a major part of sleep. Yet the process of dreaming is still not well understood, especially by the general public. Many decades ago, psychological pioneer Carl Jung provided an framework to understand our dreams through, and in this book, Dalfen builds upon his framework with a professional lifetime helping others interpret their dreams. In so doing, she helps the reader gain…

Religion-Philosophy Software-Technology

The Question Concerning Technology by Martin Heidegger

By Scott J. Pearson | September 26, 2021October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Technology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries can be as much of a problem as a help. As an instrument, it can make mass killing much easier. Indeed, nuclear bombs enable the world to potentially destroy itself in less than an hour. Yet technology can enable human flourishing as well. For instance, I develop software professionally that I hope will help my domain (medical research) advance. How are we to understand technology, a concept as…

Society

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

By Scott J. Pearson | September 25, 2021September 25, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

Recent events have caused many thoughtful Americans to reflect on our social cohesion and structures. In this book, Wilkerson performs this task through the educated lens of social theory and builds a compelling case for what needs to change in American culture. She does so by constructing a comprehensive, historical account of injustices done by “the dominant caste” to “the lower caste.” In so doing, she identifies how American society can still have enduring social…

Biography-Memoir Healthcare

A Mighty Force: Dr. Elizabeth Hayes & Her War for Public Health

By Scott J. Pearson | September 24, 2021September 24, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

The Great Depression and World War II precipitated much change in the world around America and in America itself. These times witnessed America’s transition from a inwardly struggling economy into an international leader for human rights. Coal-mining towns transitioned from being operated by companies into independent villages responsible for their own self-government. As described in Biederman’s biography, the forgotten but strong figure Dr. Elizabeth Hayes led the way in pushing for modernization of these coal…

Fiction-Stories

Jayber Crow: A Novel

By Scott J. Pearson | September 19, 2021September 19, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

This book is the first one I’ve read by Berry, but the author has come to me highly recommended by consumers of literature. Jayber Crow sits in a series of books about a small town named Port William in Kentucky. Like much of rural life, the relationships among its inhabitants are intertwined, even incestuous. The book, set in the early-to-late twentieth century, describes the life story of Jayber Crow, an orphan and a barber. As…