Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Review: Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War

By Scott J. Pearson | April 21, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War by Paul Scharre My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book, written by a non-technologist with extensive military experience, describes the intersection of artificial intelligence with United States military affairs. It uses terms like “autonomy” and “semi-autonomy” extensively. Autonomous weapons are weapons that can identify their own targets. Semi-autonomous weapons can track pre-identified targets (that is, targets previously identified by humans). Semi-autonomous weapons are currently…

Psychology

Review: Theories of Career Development

By Scott J. Pearson | April 19, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Theories of Career Development by Samuel H. Osipow My rating: 3 of 5 stars This textbook provides a summary of the field of career development theories in psychological and occupational practice. I read it because I am working with a career-development group in my work, and I wanted a summary of where the field has been in the past. This book’s primary audience is twofold: career counselors and researchers. As such, it summarizes the progression…

Fiction-Stories

Review: Foundation

By Scott J. Pearson | April 14, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Foundation by Isaac Asimov My rating: 3 of 5 stars Asimov is obviously quite brilliant. His books took a “quantum leap” forward in the integration of science and literature in the 1950s. His success can be seen in the fact that his books do not seem all that impressive today. Indeed, stories about nuclear power, holograms, and power through knowledge are normal today – thanks in no small part to books like the Foundation. Like…

Management-Business

Review: Platform: The Art and Science of Personal Branding

By Scott J. Pearson | April 13, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Platform: The Art and Science of Personal Branding by Cynthia Johnson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Johnson claims expertise in the field of digital marketing. Working in the world of software and playing in the world of writing, I can benefit from learning how to leverage the digital world in better selling myself and my work. This book certainly taught me a few things. For one, Johnson is great at analyzing how to take…

Biography-Memoir History

Review: James Madison and the Making of America

By Scott J. Pearson | April 12, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

James Madison and the Making of America by Kevin R.C. Gutzman My rating: 4 of 5 stars James Madison was a genius. He was the main crafter of the United States Constitution and its main defender/expositor in the Federalist Papers. He saw human and governmental problems more deeply than anyone else in his era. We have him to thank for our world’s embrace of democracy and self-government. Nonetheless, he might not succeed as a politician…

Writing-Communication

Review: You Are A Writer

By Scott J. Pearson | April 9, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

You Are A Writer by Jeff Goins My rating: 0 of 5 stars This book is a short introduction into the mindset and practices that writers today can succeed with. It places a principle that writers are mainly designed to write. Nonetheless, there are also other marketing, technology, and networking skills that can help writers, like me, to succeed financially in their ventures. Goins takes the position opposite of Hemingway and stereotype that writers ought…

Writing-Communication

Review: A Moveable Feast

By Scott J. Pearson | April 7, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway My rating: 0 of 5 stars This memoir, published posthumously, covers Hemingway’s early days in Paris, right after he decided to leave journalism to become a writer of fiction. He was married, a father, constantly writing, friends with some very intelligent and very successful writers (Gertrude Stein and Scott Fitzgerald), and – to use his words – “very poor and very happy.” In this series of short essays, he…

Fiction-Stories Software-Technology

Review: I, Robot

By Scott J. Pearson | April 6, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov My rating: 0 of 5 stars This book from the 1950s is one of the most respected works of science fiction in the English language. It tells the story of how “robots” (what we’d probably now call computers and artificial intelligence) end up taking over the world. Fortunately, Asimov’s dystopian tale has ended up not becoming true – in the timespans described by the book, at least. Computers are often…

History Poetry

Review: Poems on Slavery.

By Scott J. Pearson | April 2, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Poems on Slavery. by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow My rating: 4 of 5 stars This collection, published in 1842, vividly describes the predicament of slavery. It makes a case of natural philosophy of why slavery is immoral. Works like Longfellow’s began to sway the northern U.S. towards the the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery (through the bloody carnage of the Civil War, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution). What…

Software-Technology

Review: The UNIX Programming Environment

By Scott J. Pearson | March 30, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

The UNIX Programming Environment by Brian W. Kernighan My rating: 0 of 5 stars This book, copyright 1984, is not one’s typical software read. Typical books on software deal with the latest and greatest that’s coming down the pike. Instead, this book is a reminder of what is great in the UNIX operating system. It harkens back to the days when assembly coding was common and programming in C was considered more cutting edge. So…